ELK-950, Anybody using this?

[johndoe74]

Due to a surge that fried my M1's dialer recently, I've decided to get the ELK-950 to protect the dialer.

However, the instructions says that the best ground to use is the earth ground. I don't have access to that within 10' of my M1 location. It then also mention a receptacle ground is acceptable. But my research shows that if earth ground is not accessible, it's better not to use any ground at all.

So, how does M1 users here protect their M1 from phone line surges? And if you use ELK-950, do you hook it up to receptacle ground?

 

[upstatemike]

I have one grounded to a cold water pipe that is within 20' of the well feed. I do worry that the it is not bonded to the electrical ground so a potential ground loop is possible. I just haven't come up with a better idea yet.

You need to ground it to something or there isn't much point in having it.

 

[Steve]

In one install I am doing I have a 950 I am installing. I was planning on just grounding it to the outlet ground in the can. That outlet is fed directly from the breaker panel about 4 feet away. May not be the best but I gotta believe it is better than nothing.

 

[upstatemike]

In one install I am doing I have a 950 I am installing. I was planning on just grounding it to the outlet ground in the can. That outlet is fed directly from the breaker panel about 4 feet away. May not be the best but I gotta believe it is better than nothing.

If it is only 4 feet away it should be fine. The breaker box ground should be bonded to earth ground and should be a good option if you are that close to it.

 

[Spanky]

You must use an earth ground with the ELK-950 or might as well not use it. Put 6 to 10 feet of wire or more between the 950 and the M1 or whatever control you are using. This allows the lightning suppressors time to kick in before the lightning can get to the control. The 6 to 10 feet can be rolled up. Better yet wrap 20 turns of the wire around a nail. Anything to make an inductor to slow down the lightning.

The lightning suppression will be proportional to the quality of the earth ground. You would like to have all earth grounds entering the house at the same point, usually at the electrical box. This keeps a lightning transient from running up an earth ground stake at one end of the house, traveling through the house and exiting at another earth ground stake at the other end of the house. This is known as a single, unified ground.

Remember the old story about the cows killed in the pasture from lightning running through the ground and up one leg and down the other leg of the cow killing them. If your house has multiple legs connected to earth ground, it can have the same problem as the cow.

edited: can't spell!

 

[Steve]

You must use an earth ground with the ELK-950 or might as well not use it.

So, would a ground wire in a jbox that ultimately goes back to the breaker panel be considered an earth ground? What if that ground wire was not near the panel, but say 40 or 60 feet?

 

[Spanky]

Ideal earth ground:
Use 10 guage or larger copper wire.
Always run wire toward earth. Running away from earth creates induction.
Never bend the ground wire tighter than an 8 inch radius.
If running next to metal, bond the wire to the metal every few feet.
Use a unified, single earth ground stake, common to all other earth grounds.
In sandy soils, hit the ground stake with a hammer every year to break up glassification on the ground rod. Change the ground rod every few years.
Don't feel bad if you do not do this. No one else does.



A cheap lightning inductor:

Drive nails into a 2X4 and wrap 15 to 20 turns of each wire entering and leaving the control around a nail. This forms an inductor and helps slow down the lightning transients.

 

[upstatemike]

This is the same idea that is used by series mode (inductor based) AC surge protectors. The laws of physics puts absolute limits on how fast a surge can pass through an inductor.

 

[WayneW]

Always run wire toward earth. Running away from earth creates induction.

Is this like the expensive directional speaker wire? I don't understand.

 

[Scrambled]

Johndoe74-

How much did it cost to fix your elk? Mine has the same phone fault.



Steve

 

[johndoe74]

Steve,
ELK hasn't told me the cost of fixing the dialer. I RA'ed it last week and they won't receive it until tomorrow. I imagine they will first run some diagnostics and let me know the cost later. I will post the info here once I receive updates from them.