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HHaley
06-02-2010, 08:42 PM
Hello,

I was wondering what type of surge protection people use with their electrical/electronic equipment that supports their aquarium.

I have a high tech planted discus aquarium and over the weekend we experience a close lightening strike.

As a result of the lightening strike, we lost an Eheim 2126 Pro Thermal filter and a Neptune Systems Apex controller. I also have an Eheim 2078e Professional 3 canister which didn’t suffer any damage.

Our house is protected by an APC whole house surge protector which is installed inside the electrical panel and all our computers have APC UPS. In spite of all this protection, we lost our cable modem, telephony modem, router, garage door open, xBox, home theater pre-amp and various electronic light switches.

I had thoughts of using a surge protector with my aquarium equipment but the manufacturer’s of this type of equipment don’t recommend installing it in an area where there is water.

I thought I was protected because of the whole house system.

The Eheim filter and controller are currently being repaired. Before they are re-installed I want to do something to protect the equipment from future problems.

What kind of surge protection do you use to protect the electrical/electronic components associated with your aquarium?

Thanks in advance for all replies.

discussmith
06-07-2010, 04:24 PM
Surge protection and lightning arrestors are similar but different animals. Surges are generally caused by glitchs in the grid that can cause spikes or dips in voltage that can cause damage. Apc batt. computer back up units are made for these type problems. Check with the warrantee on the apc's. Especially the at service unit. They usually come with an insurance type protection. The pricier ones say they will replace damaged electronics etc. up to a certain dollar amount if they fail to work as advertised, but need to be the lightning arrestor type. Check with your home owners policy. They also will cover part of the cost of loss for lightning strikes. Surprised about the ehiem. I would have expected a potential problem with the electronic controlled one only. Lightning does not always obey the rules so to be fully protected you should use an arrestor at your service and also at the point of use, and anything using a wire be it phone, catv, sat., or power should have a point of use protector. That's the problem miss one or have a low grade type and you are at risk. The higher the "joule" rating the better and more expensive the unit.

Chad Hughes
06-07-2010, 04:38 PM
Surge protection and lightning arrestors are similar but different animals. Surges are generally caused by glitchs in the grid that can cause spikes or dips in voltage that can cause damage. Apc batt. computer back up units are made for these type problems. Check with the warrantee on the apc's. Especially the at service unit. They usually come with an insurance type protection. The pricier ones say they will replace damaged electronics etc. up to a certain dollar amount if they fail to work as advertised, but need to be the lightning arrestor type. Check with your home owners policy. They also will cover part of the cost of loss for lightning strikes. Surprised about the ehiem. I would have expected a potential problem with the electronic controlled one only. Lightning does not always obey the rules so to be fully protected you should use an arrestor at your service and also at the point of use, and anything using a wire be it phone, catv, sat., or power should have a point of use protector. That's the problem miss one or have a low grade type and you are at risk. The higher the "joule" rating the better and more expensive the unit.

Wow! Couldn't have said it better myself. Definately advice to follow especially in areas where lightning is prominent. I have several of the APCs about the house. Although I've never had to use the UPS function, they do a great job keeping voltage constant. I've seen my voltage stray from 109 to 130 on my grid. Not good for sensitive electronics!

KeonTheKing
06-08-2010, 02:19 AM
the thing is the one installed in your whole house doesn't stop the spikes in voltage it just shuts it off after it senses one. but i use belkin surges the guarantee up to 200,000 dollars in damages and im pretty sure its the lightning kind too.i use one of these for my gaming computer and my aqariums.

dbfzurowski
06-09-2010, 01:18 AM
109-130V is normal and all devices can handle it

jeff@zina.com
06-09-2010, 11:18 AM
109-130V is normal and all devices can handle it

Some lighting devices get shortened lives with current variance as low as +/- 5V, though it's doubtful that many aquarists are using them. I'd also suggest that if you're seeing larger voltage variations you may want to call in an electrician. If you're getting enough fluctuation to affect normal household electronics than you may have issues that can lead to electrical fires. Which aren't fun. :(

Jeff

jeff@zina.com
06-09-2010, 11:21 AM
I was wondering what type of surge protection people use with their electrical/electronic equipment that supports their aquarium.

I'm in SW Florida, lightning capital of the world. The only worthwhile lightning/surge protection here is a paid-up homeowner's insurance policy. That said, I do have a whole-house lightning system, surge/UPS protection on all electronics and GFCI on all fish-room outlets. Have yet to lose anything. In this house. :(

Jeff

HHaley
06-09-2010, 08:56 PM
Thanks for all the comments and feedback.

It turned out the Eheim wasn’t impacted by the lightening strike. I use the Eheim installation kits which had an air leak because I pushed the last section too far past the o-ring. As long as the pump was running, the leak didn’t affect its operation. When the lightening hit, we lost power for about 10 minutes which was enough time for the pump to fill up with air and cause it to lose suction when the power was restored.

The NeptuneSystems Apex controller was repaired and had a blown Ethernet chip. This was also the case with the cable modem and router.

It appears the equipment was protected from surges/spikes on the AC line but my data lines were not protected. I suspect the lightening surge/spike came into the house over the cable line and damaged the cable modem and router and sent a surge over the network.

As someone pointed out, APC stands behind their equipment and replaced every UPS that had electronic equipment attached to it that failed. NeptuneSystems also stands behind their equipment and repaired the controller for free.

To prevent this from happening again, I purchased another UPS and will use the data connections to protect the Apex controller as well as the protected power outlets for all the equipment.