I1. Will this help protect a new UPB installation from lightning strikes? I understand that if the house takes a direct hit, all bets are off. But how sensitive are UPB devices to surges?
2. Will this affect the UPB signal strength?
One reason why home automation buffs recommend the 'whole house' protector (ie Leviton mode) - it does not adversely affect signals. Plug-in protectors have a history of weakening signals.
A properly earthed 'whole house' protector means direct lightning strikes without damage AND without you even knowing the surge existed. Only reason for surge protection is a surge that can actually overwhelm protection inside all appliances. Even in 1970, electronics were required to withstand 600 volts without damage. Any protector not for direct lightning strikes should be considered a scam. Protectors are installed to make direct lightning strikes irrelevant - as well as all other lesser surges.
Bad advise is that anything would be an improvement. We have traced surge damage directly to plug-in protectors that are too close to electronics and too far from earth ground. Protector gave the surge a destructive path that bypassed protection inside a computer. But then we never knew anything until surge paths were traced and replaced semiconductors made electronics work again. IOW we learn this before posting.
We also designed protection systems that suffered direct lightning strikes, and no damage even to the protector. In one case, the incoming surge was so large as to partially damage the electric meter - and no damage inside the house.
Don't know numeric specs of that Square D unit. Minimal protection is typically 1000 joules and 50,000 amps. Two of those protectors would make both last exponentially longer and perform better.
Many make the mistake thinking a magic box is protection. No surge protector is protection (or acts like a filter). A surge protector is only a connecting device to protection. How good is that connection? Only as good as the single point earth ground it connects to. Earth ground is the protection.
How does a ground wire connect from breaker box to earth? It must be short (ie 'less than 10 feet'). No sharp bends. No splices. It must meet all other protector ground wires (ie wire from the telco installed 'whole house' protector) at the common ground electrode. Separated from all other non-grounding wires. Not inside metallic conduit.
If those wiring rules are violated, a protector is compromised. See that quarter inch bare copper wire from breaker box? If over the foundation and down to a ground rod, then it must be fixed. It must go through the foundation and down to earthing. Eliminate sharp bends. Shorter. Away from other wires. If it goes to the water pipe, install minimally sufficient earthing to meet post 1990 National Electrical code - at least a ten foot ground rod. And all other surge protection connections (ie a direct wire connection from TV cable to that rod) must be short ('less than 10 feet').
Even a cold water pipe is no longer sufficient for earthing. Earth ground provides protection. Protectors are only as effective as that single point earth ground AND connections to it. Then nobody should even know a surge exists.
The ill informed spend too much time discussing the protector. Not enough time discussing the only thing that provides protection - earthing. Surge energy must dissipate harmlessly in earth. A surge permitted inside the building will go hunting for earth destructively through applainces. Surge energy must be kept out of the house - just another reason why plug-in protectors are not effective. Some plug-in protectors can make damage easier - as indicated by manufacturer numeric specs that do not even claim to provide protection.
