[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Lightning Arrestors (was Geek Pig)



Original poster: "Christopher Boden by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <chrisboden-at-hotmail-dot-com>

>Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" 
><Tesla729-at-cs-dot-com>
>
>In a message dated 1/22/01 10:54:39 AM Pacific Standard Time,
>tesla-at-pupman-dot-com writes:
>


><< Does anyone know the internal construction of the arrestors? >>
>
>It's my understanding that they are basically an appropriate number
>of  HV (1800 volt?) MOVs in series. I know from experience that they
>don't burn out once they are called on to shunt an overvoltage peak.
>Once the voltage returns to normal operational levels, they are as good
>as new.
>
>David Rieben
>

Terry would be in a better position to answer this, but I'm willing to bet 
they're nowhere near that complicated. Consumers Power (and the NPG as a 
whole) subscribes to the Brute-Force system. This is why things (unless you 
live in CA) are so well overengineered. These are designed to be put into 
service in terrible conditions (we have -20 to 120 temps on a regular basis) 
and last for decades. These arrestors are from '75 to '83 as was ALL the 
gear we got. Aside from surface rust, a little fading, and some new friends 
(of the Arachnoid variety) they are all in mint condition. I think they are 
nothing more than a well sealed, insulated, spark gap, that's all. and I'm 
going to open one of each to make sure.  I'll post an autopsy of each on the 
website. I may try (as a scientific experiment, of course) discharging 
Groucho (Marx bank) and Thumper (50kJ cap array) though it, just to see what 
happens. But I don't think we can crank Thumper up to 12kV....hmmmmmmmm.



>
>


Christopher "B A N G....it WORKED!" Boden Geek#1
President / C.E.O. / Alpha Geek
The Geek Group
www.thegeekgroup-dot-org
Because the Geek shall inherit the Earth!

_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn-dot-com