Effectiveness of whole house surge protector

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Flicker Index

Flicker Index

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2020 NEC mandated it for the protection of AFCI, GFCI and smoke detectors and such. Many disposable LED lamps have its own MOV near the socket to protect its integrated LED ballast. This said, wouldn't it make sense to mandate the protective measures to be present in these devices? Smoke detectors become ineffective over time, so mandating it at the device level would extend protection to replacement devices even when applied to existing service.

Are there studies that have done side by side testing with simulated surge to prove house surge protectors having substantial effectiveness in protecting connected devices?
 
Flicker Index said:
2020 NEC mandated it for the protection of AFCI, GFCI and smoke detectors and such. Many disposable LED lamps have its own MOV near the socket to protect its integrated LED ballast. This said, wouldn't it make sense to mandate the protective measures to be present in these devices? Smoke detectors become ineffective over time, so mandating it at the device level would extend protection to replacement devices even when applied to existing service.

Are there studies that have done side by side testing with simulated surge to prove house surge protectors having substantial effectiveness in protecting connected devices?
Click to expand...
It might be the UL already requires it
 
Flicker Index said:
...

Are there studies that have done side by side testing with simulated surge to prove house surge protectors having substantial effectiveness in protecting connected devices?
Click to expand...

I have no idea but would be very interested to know of anything serious that anybody has heard of.
 
petersonra said:
It might be the UL already requires it
Click to expand...

I dont remember specific numbers, but from an article I read a while back, IIRC consumer products are required and tested to withstand a certain amount of surge/overvoltage/transient for a certain amount of time. Whether that is sufficient is up fro debate I suppose.

I do not support the code required SPD. It just does not seem to have been an issue in my experience.
 
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