SURGE ARRESTERS: WHAT THEY ARE AND WHAT THEY ARE NOT
A surge arrester (SPD) can generally be described as a system that prevents instantaneous excess loads generated during lightning from entering the system by grounding them. There are three types: low voltage, medium voltage, and high voltage.
Low voltage surge arresters are further divided into three classes: B, C, and D. In Türkiye, unlike the rest of the world, their application areas have been determined by misguiding the consumer—often combined with a lack of technical knowledge. Since what they exactly are, their working principles, and even the distinction between current and voltage are not clearly understood, data has been produced through incorrect translations or by evolving information purely according to market needs.
To explain what a surge arrester is, what it does, and what it does not do in a language everyone can understand, the first thing we must do is define current and voltage, explaining that they are connected but not the same thing.
While current refers to the electron charges moving from one direction to another within a conductor, voltage refers to the potential difference required for these electrons to move.
When you look at surge arrester translations or descriptions, you see the first grave mistake here: while explaining what surge arrester classes do, they write “it conducts high voltage to the ground.” However, voltage is not conducted from one place to another; current is conducted.
There are two reasons for this: first, their lack of knowledge because they are not manufacturers but merely focused on sales; and second, connected to the first, they try to build a basis for claiming they solve high-voltage problems that exist in the consumer’s mind.
To give a definition of current-voltage that everyone can understand: Imagine a water pipe on a flat latitude. The water inside the pipe represents the current, and if there is no slope or it is not pushed by an electromotive force, it shows no movement. This electromotive force represents the voltage.
In its most general form, a surge arrester does not allow excess water trying to enter the water pipe—its equivalent in electricity being the cable—and throws it out; that is, it conducts it to the ground in electrical terms. However, systematically, as technical sales engineers are now expressing in videos, it cannot do anything about the high voltage that is generated.
To expand this example: we can take a shower with the same amount of water coming from the same source; when it comes faster, we can wash our car; if it is accelerated much more, we can even cut metal with the same amount, or even less, water.
This is the essence of the matter. With a surge arrester, you can throw dirty water or excess water trying to enter your system to the ground, but you cannot prevent the acceleration of the water—that is, the high voltage. This cannot prevent devices from burning out, just as water that should give your system a “shower” ends up “cutting through” metal because it arrives too fast.
As Trimbox, with our new generation surge arresters—which we originally designed in 2007 as a true patent holder without copy-pasting anyone’s resources—we protect your system against excess load grounding. Additionally, by preventing voltage peaks (i.e., preventing the water’s speed from increasing), we fully protect devices against lightning, transformer explosions, neutral failure, phase-neutral mix-ups, electrical fluctuations, and instantaneous pulses.
Furthermore, you solve issues such as surge arrester selection (from low sensitivity/high load transfer on the outside to high sensitivity/low load transfer on the inside, like Class B, C, D) and the associated costs of surge arrester prices with a single product.
You can purchase Trimbox new generation surge arresters as a high-quality product with the power of Class B and the sensitivity of Class D. In this way, you additionally prevent damages caused by overvoltage and instantaneous high-voltage pulses.
When you examine the EN 61643-11 type tests, which surge arrester tests are based on, you can see that a 1.5kV (1,500V) voltage pulse is applied, and at the end, it is checked whether the surge arrester is intact. Trimbox had a 15kV (15,000V) voltage pulse tested by TSE at METU (ODTÜ) laboratories, and by connecting a load in parallel, it tested whether the load—the actual job—was damaged or not.
In short, Trimbox new generation surge arresters have been tested with voltage pulses 10 times higher than even the highest quality equivalents in the world, and it has been confirmed that neither the product itself nor the load was damaged. No one, primarily the Chamber of Electrical Engineers, has yet questioned why loads are not used in surge arrester tests—meaning the main reason for sale is not to protect the device itself, but to protect the equipment in the installation it is connected to.
Simple precautions sometimes save lives. The best investment we can make for our family, our business, and our environment is protective measures. With Trimbox and GNDSeries, you can be protected from electricity-related damages and electrical contact fires caused by them.
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