Surge Protection

[robtheplod]

Hi All

 

I'm replacing my consumer unit on the boat shortly and it comes with an SPD (surge protection device) in it after the master switch. This connects to incoming live/neutral, but it also has an earth, and this is my query..... does this connect to the boat side of my Galvanic Isolator with everything else or the shore side?  I'm guessing boat side but I'm not 100% sure due to how it works? Can anyone advise?  thanks!

 

It looks like this:

 

[Eeyore]

17 minutes ago, robtheplod said:

Hi All

 

I'm replacing my consumer unit on the boat shortly and it comes with an SPD (surge protection device) in it after the master switch. This connects to incoming live/neutral, but it also has an earth, and this is my query..... does this connect to the boat side of my Galvanic Isolator with everything else or the shore side?  I'm guessing boat side but I'm not 100% sure due to how it works? Can anyone advise?  thanks!

 

It looks like this:

 

Photo from above and below might be handy.

[robtheplod]

Just now, Eeyore said:

Photo from above and below might be handy.

can't find any, but it has just the three connections as on the pic - live/neutral and an earth.... its just where the earth connects?

[Eeyore]

Same earth/ground as the circuit it’s protecting , can’t see it working correctly otherwise. An email to the manufacturers technical department is probably the way to go.

[robtheplod]

16 minutes ago, Eeyore said:

Same earth/ground as the circuit it’s protecting , can’t see it working correctly otherwise. An email to the manufacturers technical department is probably the way to go.

interesting.. based on what you say, it points to needing to be on the shore side as its protecting the incoming supply (??)..... I'll see if i can find a techy contact but not sure they would come across GI's that much so will be interesting hear if they find an answer..

[MtB]

Swerving off at a tangent, I had no idea 'surges' needed protecting against. 

 

Under what circumstances might the OP's boat suffer a 'surge'? I'm wondering if he should just bin the surge protector as it strikes me as a solution looking for a problem.

 

Bear in mind I'm not an electrician tho! 

 

 

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, MtB said:

Swerving off at a tangent, I had no idea 'surges' needed protecting against. 

 

 

Maybe its wired into / Bluetoothed into the top gates of each lock so as to stop raising the paddles too quickly, thus preventing the 'surge'

[MtB]

41 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

Maybe its wired into / Bluetoothed into the top gates of each lock so as to stop raising the paddles too quickly, thus preventing the 'surge'

 

 

You might be right. Mind you, that little orange-coloured box thing doesn't really look big and tough enough to do anything much with paddle gear. 

 

 

[Chris Lowe]

47 minutes ago, MtB said:

Under what circumstances might the OP's boat suffer a 'surge'? I'm wondering if he should just bin the surge protector as it strikes me as a solution looking for a problem.

Possibly if using a mains connection, a power surge took out my PC hard drive once, since then I've used surge protectors.

[MtB]

8 minutes ago, buccaneer66 said:

Possibly if using a mains connection, a power surge took out my PC hard drive once, since then I've used surge protectors.

 

Forgive my skepticism, but how do you know this? 

 

Sounds like something a techy bod would say to a punter when pressed for an explanation for a failure he or she cannot explain.

 

What IS a "power surge" exactly? Does anyone know? I can imagine an uncontrolled voltage rise happening perhaps but that is different, and National Grid go to extraordinary lengths to make sure they don't happen. But a 'power surge'? Sorry, its gobbledygook. 

[blackrose]

1 hour ago, robtheplod said:

Hi All

 

I'm replacing my consumer unit on the boat shortly and it comes with an SPD (surge protection device) in it after the master switch. This connects to incoming live/neutral, but it also has an earth, and this is my query..... does this connect to the boat side of my Galvanic Isolator with everything else or the shore side?  I'm guessing boat side but I'm not 100% sure due to how it works? Can anyone advise?  thanks!

 

It looks like this:

 

 

If it's part of your consumer unit then surely any earth connection is on the ring mains (boat) side of the. GI. Why would it be shore side?

 

I'm not an electrician so please don't follow my advice, but I'd have thought that any earth connection from your consumer unit to the shore side will bypass the GI diodes and therefore render it useless.

 

You're obviously not an electrician either so find someone who knows what they're doing.

[Tracy D'arth]

If the GI is to work, nothing should connect to the shore side other than the single wire from the GI.

[Chris Lowe]

9 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Forgive my skepticism, but how do you know this? 

 

Sounds like something a techy bod would say to a punter when pressed for an explanation for a failure he or she cannot explain.

 

What IS a "power surge" exactly? Does anyone know? I can imagine an uncontrolled voltage rise happening perhaps but that is different, and National Grid go to extraordinary lengths to make sure they don't happen. But a 'power surge'? Sorry, its gobbledygook. 

There was a power surge and the lights flickered and it was admitted by the energy supplier, for some reason we gpot quite a few energy surges or drops in Corby

[system 4-50]

Power surge protection is a good thing.  One of my sons lost a number of electronic devices in his house to a surge.  With no technical knowledge of mains electricity production, I am suspicious of the reliability of all these solar panel houses that are pumping stuff back into the grid. (including my own)

[ditchcrawler]

 

Read the bit about the 18th edition

[GUMPY]

Personally I would file it in the round filing cabinet..

 

 

 

 

If you must use it anywhere it needs to be connected across the AC input   at the back of the input plug and before the GI 

 

As I said best place for it is the bin

[robtheplod]

thanks for all the replies.... interesting thinking about this... probably wont use it i suspect, but thought i'd ask the question!

[Puffling]

Whoever buys that Compoosting toilet will need some form of surge protector. Hang on to it!