« Reply #9 on: June 03, 2018, 04:06:46 pm »
That was really interesting. I guess these units are a trade off between size and money. Are there strike protectors you can install on the home electrical circuits?
Contact your electric utility. They generally offer lightning/surge protection devices that are installed at your service entrance/main breaker panel. These can be expensive (hundreds of $ with professional installation) but can save you thousands of dollars in damaged equipment. For a plug-in module, plug it into a surge suppression power outlet strip. Beware of inexpensive, "no-name" surge protection power strips---they frequently have poor performance.
And yes, the tradeoff is size, performance and cost. Here's a link to a good technical overview of the problem, and some history: https://www.onsemi.com/pub/Collateral/TND335-D.PDF
To add to this, I recall decades ago getting involved in surge protection and there are 3 levels - lightning suppression at the service entrance, surge suppression at the panel, and surge suppression at the equipment. Each level is intended to lower the surge to some level so each is needed to protect the equipment. And with each successful absorption of energy, the suppressor is weakened and may need serviced or replaced. Some high-end equipment will give you the joules rating of the suppressor with indicators when the sacrificial parts need replaced.

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