General information
Spikes, surges, zaps and transients are all terms used to describe temporary over-voltage power line disturbances.
These disturbances can be addressed with transient voltage surge suppressors. Transient Voltage Surge Supressor have many forms of construction and have one function, to reduce the chance of a voltage spike damaging the equipment that is connected to it. They have different ratings in the number of Joules dissapated Larger numbers are usually better.
For an effective TVSS; the devices have to be installed at the service entrance or very close to it, not where equipment is connected to the wall sockets. There are surge suppressors which fit to wall sockets, but those are not as good as a proper TVSS installed to a service entrance. This applies to both main power, telecommunication and radio/TV services.
Transient Voltage Surge Supressor will not stop the effects of a direct lightning strike. For successful lightning protection, you need a lightning arrestor system which makes sure that the the lightning does not directly hit your equipment.
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