Surge protector
I know the best kind are the ones which would be wired into the system, but saw this today and wondered if it would be any good. Is this a "better than nothing" or "you get what you pay for" situation...
Forum Discussion
Nothing wrong with getting technical about MOVs or anything else to do with EMS units. Who knows, maybe someone out there might prevent some expensive damage armed with a little more info. Having MOVs is a good thing but it's possible a poor connection can affect it's performance and even still result in some damage in the event of a high surge current.
One thing I don't like about the PI EMS is that they want you to connect the incoming and outgoing ground wires using a small nut/bolt connection and ring terminals which could possibly loosen or not provide a good connection. I've read of a few cases where an EMS went up in smoke & flames after a lightning strike or surge and I suspect it could potentially have been due to a poor ground connection. Photo below shows a 30 amp hardwired model and note that this owner simply wrapped a ground wire around one of the studs. I spliced the incoming and outgoing ground wires together using a wire nut ("vibration-proof" type) and then ran a ground wire from that over to one of the studs (using a ring terminal).
Also, if you were to look closely at their contactor terminals as 2nd photo shows, they are a square opening and you are trying to tighten a round solid wire against flat surfaces which could also not be a good connection and could loosen over time. I ran stranded #10 cable from the EMS to the converter/panel and short lengths of #10 stranded between the contactor and incoming romex cable inside the EMS to improve the connection.
One thing I don't like about the PI EMS is that they want you to connect the incoming and outgoing ground wires using a small nut/bolt connection and ring terminals which could possibly loosen or not provide a good connection. I've read of a few cases where an EMS went up in smoke & flames after a lightning strike or surge and I suspect it could potentially have been due to a poor ground connection. Photo below shows a 30 amp hardwired model and note that this owner simply wrapped a ground wire around one of the studs. I spliced the incoming and outgoing ground wires together using a wire nut ("vibration-proof" type) and then ran a ground wire from that over to one of the studs (using a ring terminal).
Also, if you were to look closely at their contactor terminals as 2nd photo shows, they are a square opening and you are trying to tighten a round solid wire against flat surfaces which could also not be a good connection and could loosen over time. I ran stranded #10 cable from the EMS to the converter/panel and short lengths of #10 stranded between the contactor and incoming romex cable inside the EMS to improve the connection.
