Total Home Surge Protector

Steve

Senior Member
So I've been looking at this surge protector for a few years now at Ehx. I have been looking at the specs, asking lots of questions, etc and I truly believe this to be a superior unit to comparable systems. It is made by Josyln who is very big in commercial and industrial settings. A big benefit of the unit is that is does EMI/RFI and transient filtering in addition to the major surge protection. Stopping the big hit is important, but it's also important to smooth out internally generated small transients caused by things with motors, like the fridge, vacuums, etc. Over time, these constant mini spikes can do alot of damage and severely shorten the life of electronics including things like wall switches that can't otherwise be protected. They call this 'electronic rust' and just like real rust it will slowly eat away at your stuff.

So I finally bit the bullet and purchased this unit at Ehx this year. You can find some pictures of the installation here if you are interested.

It's really hard to do any real review or anything on the product since you need expensive equipment to visually see the line. But one standout from the rest is that they offer a lifetime replacement warranty whether the unit just quits or fry's doing its job.
 
What made you choose this over a meter-based model or the circuit-breaker based model? Both have shorter wires(directly attached to the bus) so they can clamp a surge much faster. Looks like a good model for an external surge suppressor, just wondering why.
 
Good question. The main reason is what I explained above in the filtering, not just major hit protection. The meter based ones and breaker ones don't have this and I think it's important for the big picture. Also, meter based ones are owned by the power company, they are in total control of it and you pay a monthly fee which adds up quickly. Granted, they will replace it if it ever breaks, but the TPS has a lifetime warranty so it will get replaced as well (and the hard work is done, so I could replace it in probably < 30 min). Breaker based ones are convenient but don't have near the same specs. If I had all kinds of extra room in my panel, which I don't even after replacing all my single breakers with tandems, I would probably but a breaker based one in there as another layer. Hmmm, come to think of it, there may be and extra breaker opening out by the main panel, perhaps I should look at that. If cost were not a factor, I would put another one of these outside as well, but at > $500 each that's not gonna happen so soon.
 
The meter based ones and breaker ones don't have [filtering, ... just major hit protection].

I'm confused. Looking at the installation instructions

  • Step 8: Connect the Green wire of the TTLP unit to the Ground terminal of the AC panel.
  • Step 9: Connect the White wire of the TTLP unit to the Neutral terminal of the AC panel.
  • Step 10: Connect the (2) black wires to the 2-pole, 30 AMP breaker.

it installs just like my Schneider 1175C -- a breaker-based one. Or am I missing something?

Chris D.
 
If you are referring to this unit then yes, that is similar (in concept) to what I have, an externally mounted unit. By "breaker based" I was referring to what I assume icellama21 was talking about which is not wired in, it snaps in place of a breaker, like this one. Yes, the external ones with wires like yours and mine connect to a breaker for connection to the bus and to shut off, but they are not plug in breaker replacement models. Hope that makes sense.

In either case, I don't see any filtering capability on those models.

Please don't get me wrong, I am not saying all other models are no good, the SquareD, Leviton, etc are all good devices, but most of the typical ones like this are surge only and do not do filtering as I have described.
 
If you are referring to this unit then yes, that is similar (in concept) to what I have, an externally mounted unit. By "breaker based" I was referring to what I assume icellama21 was talking about which is not wired in, it snaps in place of a breaker, like this one. Yes, the external ones with wires like yours and mine connect to a breaker for connection to the bus and to shut off, but they are not plug in breaker replacement models. Hope that makes sense.

In either case, I don't see any filtering capability on those models.

Please don't get me wrong, I am not saying all other models are no good, the SquareD, Leviton, etc are all good devices, but most of the typical ones like this are surge only and do not do filtering as I have described.

Here's the one I went with, it's supposed to be for commercial use but my electrician didn't mind installing it. I added the power event monitor also as it's an easy way to monitor what's going on. There was a long thread over at AVS regarding the quality of surge protection and this was deemed the best.

http://www.eaton.com/EatonCom/Markets/Elec...ector/index.htm
 
If you are referring to this unit then yes, that is similar (in concept) to what I have, an externally mounted unit. By "breaker based" I was referring to what I assume icellama21 was talking about which is not wired in, it snaps in place of a breaker, like this one. Yes, the external ones with wires like yours and mine connect to a breaker for connection to the bus and to shut off, but they are not plug in breaker replacement models. Hope that makes sense.

In either case, I don't see any filtering capability on those models.

Please don't get me wrong, I am not saying all other models are no good, the SquareD, Leviton, etc are all good devices, but most of the typical ones like this are surge only and do not do filtering as I have described.

There is a Siemens device that does TVSS filtering, but it is not as good as an external model.

http://www.murrayconnect.com/NR/rdonlyres/...588/0/02_11.pdf

What is best if usually hard to determine, it depends on the origin of the surge and the general RLC characteristics of the components between the surge and the things you want to protect. If you have a very large service and are close to a potential surge source(such as an industrial area with large inductive loads, grid switches, etc), then the voltage spike may be very sharp in a surge. If it originates farther away you have the collective inductance and capacitance of the other homes, wires, etc in between to dampen it.

Having the extra few feet of small gauge wire to a panel-mount surge suppressor can make a difference for some surges, but in general will still have less inductance than a full circuit in your home. It should in theory be able to start clamping before the maximum voltage reaches your outlets, but the extra few ms can matter if the surge is very large. The meter approach will generally be the best, provided they install a good device. The farther upstream of your devices and the lower inductance of the path into the suppressor are important.
 
Wow! 1100!!

I think I paid $110 for mine, and it's wired into the panel in the location of one of the 2 pole breaker units. I don't think I spent more then 200

I think it is doing it's job, as there was a lightning strike near my house (between mine and my neighbor's house). Again, nothing scientific here...but...

My house didn't have ANY issues (knock on wood). My neighbor ended up getting quite a few new appliances...new TV, whirlpool tub, etc. something like 1/2 his house of electronics died in that. I didn't have any issues...

I don't know if this thing did it's job, or I was lucky...but I feel good about the $$I spent.

--Dan
 
I use the levinton one, Figure it is a pretty good name brand. It was about $200 so far I had a transformer blow and one phase went out. That was it other than that it has been doing it's job, I think, no surges so far.
 
Wow! 1100!!

I think I paid $110 for mine, and it's wired into the panel in the location of one of the 2 pole breaker units. I don't think I spent more then 200

I think it is doing it's job, as there was a lightning strike near my house (between mine and my neighbor's house). Again, nothing scientific here...but...

My house didn't have ANY issues (knock on wood). My neighbor ended up getting quite a few new appliances...new TV, whirlpool tub, etc. something like 1/2 his house of electronics died in that. I didn't have any issues...

I don't know if this thing did it's job, or I was lucky...but I feel good about the $$I spent.

--Dan
Careful - some of those devices only do their job 1 time, then you have to replace them. I have some individual wall units that sound a piezo after they are spent.
 
Here's the one I went with, it's supposed to be for commercial use but my electrician didn't mind installing it. I added the power event monitor also as it's an easy way to monitor what's going on. There was a long thread over at AVS regarding the quality of surge protection and this was deemed the best.

http://www.eaton.com/EatonCom/Markets/Elec...ector/index.htm
I received a quote for $900 for the Eaton 'Ultra', from an electrician. He said it's currently on sale, usual price $1100. 'Rated to 70 kA', '$75K protection',

Click on 'Residential Surge Protection Products', right column:
http://www.eaton.com/EatonCom/Markets/Elec...ntial/index.htm
 
Here's the one I went with, it's supposed to be for commercial use but my electrician didn't mind installing it. I added the power event monitor also as it's an easy way to monitor what's going on. There was a long thread over at AVS regarding the quality of surge protection and this was deemed the best.

http://www.eaton.com/EatonCom/Markets/Elec...ector/index.htm
I received a quote for $900 for the Eaton 'Ultra', from an electrician. He said it's currently on sale, usual price $1100. 'Rated to 70 kA', '$75K protection',

Click on 'Residential Surge Protection Products', right column:
http://www.eaton.com/EatonCom/Markets/Elec...ntial/index.htm

That's a great price! I have never seen these on sale. Will that have the S.M.A.R.T technology also? Here's mine installed:
 

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Can you tell me a little about 'S.M.A.R.T. Technology' - google fail.

Eaton offers meters with 'SMART technology', "monitoring, recording,and analyzing critical electrical patterns", but I can't find anything on surge protection.

BTW, I've found the CHSPULTRA online for $500.

Steve's documented install of his whole-home surge protector makes it look so easy.
 
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