You are here

Home » Forums » Hardware

surge protectors

4 posts / 0 new
Log in or register to post comments
Last post
Fri, 09/08/2017 - 09:44
#1
N8CAV
surge protectors

I have noticed that, when it comes to grounding, everyone has an idea. Some people say to put a protector at the top near the node. Others say at the bottom and others say on the top and bottom. Some say they use none. What is the logical setup? Thanks ahead. I will follow your advice.

Top
Fri, 09/08/2017 - 10:00
k1ky
k1ky's picture
Surge Protectors
Ideally top and bottom,  but that can introduce yet another problem with connection failures and possible water migration.
Practically - one at the bottom closest to the base of the tower or the entrance point to your building - tied to a good tower system ground.
More than half of our tower installations have "no" protection whatsoever - which probably is not a good thing. 
We have "lost" nodes and protectors that had protection on them due to a "reverse surge" from the power lines in one case.
Usually, the nodes just get "scrambled/reset" and go back to the initial "nocall" setup screen.
Others blow the ethernet driver, but keep on working via RF.
Tennessee is a very active lightning state. We had a storm system this past week that may have taken out a Nanostation @ 122 feet that had no protection on it.
Won't know until we get up the tower and evaluate the cabling.

 
Top
Fri, 09/08/2017 - 10:31
(Reply to #2)
N8CAV
Yes. Your reply is what I
Yes. Your reply is what I have heard before. I guess one on top might protect the node. One on bottom would protect whatever the node is connected to but you are introducing multiple connections. And they can only handle static up to a point. Guess I'll put one at the bottom and cross my fingers for the node. I think Irma is going to make it up your way. Good luck. Be careful.
Top
Wed, 10/04/2017 - 21:23
(Reply to #3)
KG7LMI
KG7LMI's picture
I've been doing 2 per
I've been doing 2 per installation. The ETH-SP Ubiquiti surge protectors are inexpensive and I'd rather replace one of these than a full node (AZ, which I believe is the #2 state for lightning after FL). The other consideration for 2 is both the shield and the drain line (if you have that) are connected to ground twice, better protecting the node as well as whatever it is plugged into. I've seen a lot of damage from EMF (typically high voltage, low current) due to nearby strikes and having surge protectors close to both ends of the connection, while not a guarantee wrt ESD, should help too. Time will tell if any of this works, but after lots of $$$ electronics damage due to lighting that was NOT transmitted over the power lines, I am very paranoid ...
Top

Theme by Danetsoft and Danang Probo Sayekti inspired by Maksimer