Surge Suppressor for wired zone

[heffneil]

I have a few zones that go outdoors. I am concerned that will get hit by lightening or some other surge. They are supervised so at least I will know if they are cut or shorted. I was wondering if there was some surge device I could use to insure that a surge won't knock out my panel and not affect the zone's readings. Any thoughts or ideas?

Thanks!

 

[up2late]

Ditek DTK-2LVLPF, will do two power limited zones.

 

[ano]

I have a few zones that go outdoors. I am concerned that will get hit by lightening or some other surge. They are supervised so at least I will know if they are cut or shorted. I was wondering if there was some surge device I could use to insure that a surge won't knock out my panel and not affect the zone's readings. Any thoughts or ideas?

Thanks!

Nobody has brought this up, but really, you shouldn't do that. That is what wireless zones are for. Buried underground is one thing, but exposed where it can be struck by lightning isn't a great idea. Even controlling a buried irrigation controller isn't a great idea. I've heard of a sprinkler head being hit, it travels to the valve, then the alarm panel, and that pretty much is the end of it. The reality is a surge protector likely won't help. If you can't use wireless, try to isolate it with an opto-isolator.

 

[up2late]

I think voltage can be induced on the wire regardless of being underground or not. I have used three of this style Ditek surge suppressor. Two were on aerial 5v data lines and one on a 24v fire alarm zone that was ran underground to the street water connection. I have not been back for this problem since, which is not a guarantee it will work, but each site had had this problem more than once before installing the suppressor. Make sure you have as short as possible connection to Earth ground (not electrical ground), no sharp bends, and minimum #14 wire.

Ano, I am interested in the opto-isolator. I have used them for data lines, but never a zone input. Do you know of one that supports this while preserving supervision?

Another (cheap) way to do this is to isolate the protection zones from the devices using a relay. This would disable the EOL supervision however.

 

[gatchel]

+1 for Ditek products