Don't forget surge protection

Discussion in 'C-Bus Wired Hardware' started by Conformist, Jan 31, 2019.

  1. Conformist

    Conformist

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    Hey Guys

    Was called out to a site that had been hit by a surge. Seems a local transformer in the street pushed a bit too much voltage to all of the houses in the street. The result was the destruction on plenty of devices' power supplies in the home. This included 8 out of 10 C-Bus relay/dimmer units. The replacement of the units is an expensive exercise for the homeowner (well their insurer). the installation is about 12 years old and there is no surge protection. The standard of the installation is excellent but the omission of some simple surge protection is a big oversight.

    If you are working on projects or have any coming up, make sure you include these to give your customers a fighting chance. A few hundred dollars can save thousands (in this case, in excess of $10k if you includes the appliances that also were killed).

    As a footnote... If a relay or dimmer unit has been killed by a surge, there's a very good chance you can recover the configuration from the unit. Even without the mains connected to the unit, the C-Bus part is still there and you can suck out the config. This job was not one of mine so I had no database. Luckily, I recovered the config from each of the 8 dead units.

    Cheers

    Chris
     
    Conformist, Jan 31, 2019
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    Dave_F likes this.
  2. Conformist

    Damaxx

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    +1 on that Chris. Was one of the first things I was told at the Middy's showroom at Mulgrave many years ago and it proved to be some seriously solid advice. Installed mains surge protection as well as fine protection on all of my circuits that had C-Bus, computers, TV's and other AV gear at my last house. Got hit with a surge one night and found that every circuit that didn't have protection installed that had any electronics on it (bedside clocks, workshop radio, spa controller, etc) was cooked and dead. Hate to think how much I would have lost without mains protection.

    Built the new place and installed surge protection on everything I could. Switchboards grew in size, but worth the expense just so I don't have to deal with insurance companies.

    FWIW, I data log the phase to earth, phase to phase and phase to neutral voltages (in the new house and the last) along with my power usage. When my insurer began the usual 'we are not paying because' rubbish, even though there were many other claims from people in my street, the timestamped logs were enough to get the claim approved as they showed voltages well in excess of 600+ volts for around a second.
     
    Damaxx, Jan 31, 2019
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    Dave_F likes this.
  3. Conformist

    ashleigh Moderator

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    600V on mains...

    This is also why, kiddies, you should ensure you install devices that have the RCM marking (for Australia) or CE (Europe) and not buy that cheap tat on eBay.

    But some products don't have legitimate markings. That is, they are marked but not actually tested. If you have any doubts about a product, ask the distributor or person selling it for the electrical safety report. They probably can't get it immediately but they should know who to ask. If they can't get one in about 1-2 weeks... don't buy the product.
     
    ashleigh, Feb 3, 2019
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    jboer likes this.
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