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- Newsgroups: comp.terminals
- Path: sparky!uunet!wupost!sdd.hp.com!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!news.cso.uiuc.edu!dan
- From: dan@math.uiuc.edu (Daniel R. Grayson)
- Subject: Re: surge protectors
- References: <BtvBzz.Jzr@news.cso.uiuc.edu>
- Message-ID: <Bu30us.Dt@news.cso.uiuc.edu>
- Sender: usenet@news.cso.uiuc.edu (Net Noise owner)
- Reply-To: dan@math.uiuc.edu
- Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
- Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1992 01:44:51 GMT
- Lines: 17
-
- The best surge/lightning protector I've found for RS-232 lines seems to be
- one from Black Box - I don't know the name of the manufacturer. It costs
- $425, and will protect 32 conductors. Connections are via a simple terminal
- strip. The protection consists of avalanche diodes with a breakdown voltage
- of 25V back-to-back between each line and ground, with a gas tube also
- between each line and ground. As I gather it, the theory is that the diodes
- switch on quickly, but can't dissipate much power, whereas the gas tubes
- conduct electricity easily once the gas is ionized, thereby protecting the
- diodes and the equipment. I suppose the diodes alone just wouldn't be
- adequate, because they may be destroyed by a lengthy surge (lightning).
-
- Can anyone vouch for the theoretical effectiveness of this method? Can
- anyone vouch for whether the particular design of this box is correct? (I
- don't know any values for the gas tube, so I'm asking here for someone with
- experience with this product or something similar.) Should we spend out
- money on this?
-
-