SSI Logo 06-24-09                Computer and Lightning - computer generated (big stock photo)
 
SPD Installations and
 NEC 285.12 Requirements
  
 
Call and WIN! 
 
Scroll down... 
to see the winner of a Bill Blass long sleeve dress shirt with SSI logo! 
 
 
Special Edition
SPD Installations
SPD Types
No Room for Excuses
 
Scroll down...
 
...to be inspired by our "Thought For The Day".
 
 
Quick Links
 
 
 
 
Warranty - 25 year
 
 
 

Frost & Sullivan

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Advantage Series ®
 
 Advantage Series units
 
 
ISO 9001:2008
Certified Manufacturing 
Facility
 
iso 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  Frost & Sullivan
 
 
 
Surge
Suppression
Incorporated® 
 
"Our Name Says It All" 
 
 
1-888-987-8877
 
Quick Reference
 
SURGE PROTECTIVE DEVICE (SPD) TYPES - ANSI/UL 1449-2006
 
Type 1 - Permanently connected SPDs intended for installation between the secondary of the service transformer and the line side of the service equipment over-current device, as well as the load side, including watt-hour meter socket enclosures and intended to be installed without an external over-current protective device.
 
IN  10 kA or 20 kA,
 
Type 2 - Permanently connected SPDs intended for installation on the load side of the service equipment over-current device; including SPDs located at the branch panel
 
IN 3, 5, 10 kA or 20 kA,
 
Type 3 - Point of utilization SPDs, installed at a minimum conductor length of 10 meters (30 feet) from the electrical service panel to the point of utilization, for example cord connected, direct plug-in, receptacle type and SPDs installed at the utilization equipment being protected.
 
Types 1,2,3 are generally Listed/Certified Products
 
No IN test required unless 10 meter marking eliminated.
 
Type 4 - Component SPDs, including discrete components as well as component assemblies. Type 4 Component SPDs are typically incomplete - that is, they are intended to be mounted in another housing.   Type 4 Component SPDs have conditions of acceptability (additional requirements that must be met in their final application and installation).
 
These products are recognized components.
 
 Tested in accordance with their installation application (Type 1, 2, 3)
 
 
ADDITIONAL MARKING REQUIREMENTS
 
VPR - Voltage Protection Rating - based on a 6 kV 3kA Combination Waveform Test Sequence. 
 
IN - Nominal Discharge Current Rating
 
MCOV - Maximum Continuous Operating Voltage
 
  
CHANGES IN TERMINOLOGY
 
 v  No longer will surge suppression products be referred to as TVSS devices but now they will be call Surge Protective Devices (SPD's)
  
v  The term Suppressed Voltage Rating (SVR) now becomes Voltage Protection Rating (VPR) and is determined by tests conducted using a different waveform (6 kV/3 kA Combination wave) at a different level than in the second edition (6 kV/ 500 A Combination wave).
  
v  There is also a new term to which we are going to have to pay particular attention. That term is "Nominal Discharge Current" and it is listed on spec. sheets as "IN". This

rating will also be required on the product label. The test is performed in conjunction with the VPR test and basically is a test demonstrating an amount of current that a SPD can tolerate on a repetitive basis and still survive and function properly.

 
 
NOTE:  There are several different current levels to which the manufacturer may have the test performed based on the SPD Type. These levels start at 20kA and 10 kA (for Type 1 devices) and down to 3kA for Type 2 devices. Type 3 devices do not undergo the Nominal Discharge Current Test, unless they are tested as a Type 2 device.
 
DO NOT confuse this term  with "Peak Surge Current". They are totally different terms in both definition and purpose.
 
Recommended Reading...
 Chicken, closeup                                          
'Who Moved
 My Cheese?'
 
 Author: 
Spencer Johnson, M.D.
 
An A-Mazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life.
 
National Electric Code (NEC)
2008 Article 285.12 

National Electric Code (NEC) 2008

ARTICLE 285 Surge-Protective Devices (SPDs), 1 kV or Less
II. Installation

285.12 Routing of Connections.

"The conductors used to connect the SPD (surge arrester or TVSS) to the line or bus and to ground shall not be any longer than necessary and shall avoid unnecessary bends." 

Testing has demonstrated that every inch of extra lead length on the leads of an SPD on installation results in an increase in let-through-voltage of approximately 20 volts down line to the "protected" equipment.  Look at these installations to see how poor installation practices can hamper the performance of an SPD:
  

Look at these installations to see how poor installation practices can hamper the performance of an SPD:

Lead Length Panel
 
With the size of the SPD, the extra cable and conduit is necessary to allow for installation.  It results in an increase in lead length of over five extra feet, which translates to an increase in let-through-voltage of over 1250 volts going to the "protected" equipment.                                     

   Lead Length Panel 1
                     SPD         Breaker location on Panel             Schedule, #13, 15, 17
 
Lead Length Panel 2
 Leads from SPD               Breaker #13, 15, 17 for SPD 
 
   Lead Length Panel 3 
 Over 6 ½ feet of extra lead length which equals approximately 1600 additional volts reaching the "protected" equipment downline from this electronic branch panel.
 
Lead Length Panel 4
        Branch Panel                                  SPD 
 
  Lead Length Panel 5
                    Dedicated  Breaker #29, 31 
 
Lead Length Panel 6
                 Dedicated Breaker #29, 31 
 
   
     Lead Length Panel 7    
      Leads    Dedicated Breaker   Leads             SPD

This installation also had an extra 6 ½ feet of lead length which allowed approximately 1600 excess volts to reach the "protected" equipment down line.

Proper installation requires the leads to be as short and straight as possible.  The below images show how the installation should be done:

Lead Length Panel 8 
Breaker  Phase Leads Nuetral Lead  Ground   SPD 
 
 
Lead Length Panel 9
Breaker  Phase Leads   Neutral    Ground        SPD 
 
 
Lead Length Panel 10
SPD   Phases    Neutral       Ground  Remote Lite Wires
 
 
Lead Length Panel 11 
       Breaker     SPD    SPD   Breaker 
 
 
Lead Length Panel 12
                        SPD         Breaker 
 
 
Lead Length Panel 13
          SPD  Ground    Phases     Neutral     Breaker
 
Lead Length Panel 14
Remote Lites  Breaker Phases Ground  SPD 
 
Proper installation, with all leads as short and straight as possible, will provide the maximum protection for the equipment down line.
 
No Room for Excuses
by Ron White
  
"The rich get richer and the poor get poorer." You have heard it a million times. However, my guess is that you have never heard it from the mouth of the "rich". Instead, this echo has most likely bounced into your ear, with its origins being an excuse. That's right: an excuse. Excuses are what many use to pacify their guilt of not accomplishing what they are capable of.
 
I am not suggesting that wealth is success. My inference is that success is the progressive realization of predetermined worthwhile goals. It may be something as simple as raising a family.
 
What do these names have in common? Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.
 
They were all president of the United States, right? They were all the most powerful man in the world at one point. However, I am looking for something else.
 
Richard Nixon was born in the home his father built. He won an award from Harvard his senior year of high school. However his family was unable to afford his leaving home for college. He instead attended Whittier College.
 
Gerald Ford was born as Leslie Lynch King Jr. In 1913, his mother left her abusive husband and took her son to live with her parents. She met Gerald R. Ford, whom she married and gave her child his name, Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. He was the only president to be adopted. Ford worked in his stepfather's paint and varnish store growing up. He coached boxing during college to afford his tuition.
 
Jimmy Carter was the first member of his family ever to go to college and his father was a peanut farmer.
 
Ronald Reagan was the son of an alcoholic traveling shoe salesman. He worked his way into show business by broadcasting baseball games. At the age of 40 he was divorced and his career was at a dead end.
 
Bill Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe IV. His father (a traveling salesman) died in an automobile accident three months before he was born. His mother married Roger Clinton, and Bill took that name. Clinton grew up in a turbulent family. His stepfather was a gambler and alcoholic who regularly abused his wife and sometimes Clinton's half brother Roger.
 
None of these men were born into wealth and prosperity, yet they each achieved the rank of the most powerful person in the world by working hard and not making excuses. These five presidents were born into normal families who struggled. Yet they refused to use that as an excuse.
 
Life is too short to make excuses. Set your goals and pursue them. If you have been dealt a "worse" hand than another, it may indeed be a gift that teaches you the value of hard work. Your story will be richer and your success sweeter when you achieve your dreams. Maybe, one day, I will cast a vote for you as president of the United States! 
 
 Ron White - Memoryinamonth.com
 
CONGRATULATIONS TO... 
    Mobile Phone on Wallet
Charles Landes 
Rexel, Fort Collins, CO
 
  Winner must call 1-888-987-8877 within 20 days to claim prize.
  Please provide shirt size and mailing address.
 
  
Look for a new exciting giveaway in the next
special edition newsletter to be released in early April!
 
Thought for the day:
 
"The difference between getting somewhere and nowhere is the courage to make an early start.  
The fellow who sits still and does just what he is told will never be told to do big things." 
Charles Schwab, entrepreneur
Surge Suppression Incorporated® 
 - - -  
a premium product at a fair price. 
 
Looking for a distributor or reseller in your area? 
Contact Rick Lindsay at rlindsay@surgesuppression.com. 
 
For more information or assistance, please contact your local
Surge Suppression Incorporated® representative or contact us at
 
888-987-8877
 
or e-mail dkertz@surgesuppression.com.
 
Thank you for your consideration.  
 
Warranty - 25 yearWarranty - 25 yearWarranty - 25 year