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Normally it's hard to get excited about a surge protection device, but this one by Meanwell (really big player in professional power supplies) was an absolute treat to explore.

It's very well made and much more rugged than the more common units.

It might actually be worth considering the use of one for home or workshop transient protection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1Y1rzVMFq8

Files

Incredibly good Meanwell surge protection unit (with schematic)

With Meanwell being one of the biggest players in the professional power supply industry, I had high expectations of this surge protection unit designed for use with LED drivers in outdoor signage, but also very suitable for many applications where you want to protect expensive electronic circuitry against rogue voltage transients caused by lightning strikes or electrical supply incidents. The quality of this unit was an absolute treat. Robustly made with no PCB tracks or solder joints to fail. Instead the unit is composed of a housing for three separate thermally protected MOV modules, and the stout wires have been bent and soldered directly to the heavy duty incoming wires. The unit has been soldered in situ and then filled with coarse white quartz-like sand and then a layer of resin added to reduce the risk of water ingress. Fault indication is in the form of two traditional gallium phosphide green LEDs that will indicate when a thermal fuse has tripped. The thermal fuses are triggered when the MOVs (Metal Oxide Varistors) reach the end of their useful life and start passing enough current to get hot. These modules are so rugged and affordable that they would be a good addition to protect HVAC, computer and industrial control systems. In some instances it could be useful as a whole-home protective device. If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:- https://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's algorithm quirks, allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty. #ElectronicsCreators

Comments

Anonymous

Could 'mcov' be 'maximum continuous operating voltage' ?

Mike Page

As the schematic suggests, there is no Gas Discharge Tube (GDT). Is this because it's Type 2? Or because it's for lighting? Distribution board style units have a MOV L-N and a GDT N-E. I assume this is to try to keep Earth out of it unless there's an actual transient.

Ymir the Frost Giant

MCOV could mean max continuous voltage, as you said. Oh sorry - just seen earlier post.

Charles

"Max surge current: 20kA" Yup, that's some serious gear alright. Very interesting!