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Subwoofer humor


peshewah

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With the help of Mustang Guy I built my son a sub woofer using a Dayton 230 watt amp (external). Lighting hit near the house and we could heard a pop coming from my son's room. And now there is a hum coming from the sub, it was silent before. I don't have another amp to see if it is the amp that causing it to hum. What do you think?

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And this lightning business is exactly why everybody needs to buy some SurgeX stuff.  Preferably from me.   :)

 

 

Surge protection and lightening protection are two totally different things aren't they?

 

 

Depends on if we're talking about MOV based surge protectors from Wal-Mart or something with series-mode protection.  SurgeX can handle lightning strikes as long as it doesn't directly hit the building.  If it comes in on the wires, then its protected.  They claim that a surge large enough that they can't protect against it would actually melt the romex.  ZeroSurge is very similar.  Both companies have been in business for decades and neither has had a single failure, and that includes lightning.  

Edited by MetropolisLakeOutfitters
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Does it protect by diverting to ground?  If it's methodology was on the site I couldn't find it and wouldn't ask so many questions.  Maybe it's there and I didn't dig deep enough.

 

Nope, and that's part of what makes it so cool.  Basically it loads up some capacitors then slowly releases it back to the neutral wire.  Ground is never contaminated.  Apparently some high end electronics really don't like this, especially with the fact that during an extreme hit, if you divert it to ground, almost half the voltage can appear on the ground wire, so during a worse case 6,000 volt surge, you're looking at sending 2,000 volts to the ground wire.  Series mode doesn't do this.  

 

http://www.surgex.com/surgetypes.html

 

http://www.brickwall.com/pages/how-it-works

 

http://surgex.com/library/10001_WhatisTrueSeriesMode.html

 

http://www.zerosurge.com/technical-info/how-surge-suppression-works/

Edited by MetropolisLakeOutfitters
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Metro, how much are those protectors?

 

Well, anywhere from like $300 to $2,000. :)  Depends on how many amps you need to pull and what features you want.  The really expensive ones are IP enabled so you can do remote diagnostics and reboots without having to enter a clients home and pull a rack out.  There's also sequencers, UPS's, 20 amp receptacles, etc.  Most home users who like a nice form factor and simple functionality would probably enjoy the XR115 the best which retails for $749.  I just received three, the SX-1120-RT which is a 20 amp rack mount unit and also retails for $749.  Also have the SA-1810 which is a 10 receptacle brick that sits on the ground and retails for $429.  Also got the SA-82 which is made to slip behind a wall mount TV, those are $299 but it's only good for 8 amps, which is plenty for a TV but you wouldn't want to run a rack full of equipment off of it.  In September they'll be shipping me a SU-1000-Li UPS which is $1,299.  That unit is pretty cool because it basically looks and works like a normal rack mounted surge but squeezes in a line-interactive UPS with just another 1U of rack space.  Saves space and looks nice and is quiet.  

Edited by MetropolisLakeOutfitters
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Basically it loads up some capacitors then slowly releases it back to the neutral wire.

 

I'm not doubting you, it's just hard to wrap my head around capacitors that will absorb almost a lightening blast and still fit in that little box.  I can see it working in a normal power grid surge however.

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Basically it loads up some capacitors then slowly releases it back to the neutral wire.

 

I'm not doubting you, it's just hard to wrap my head around capacitors that will absorb almost a lightening blast and still fit in that little box.  I can see it working in a normal power grid surge however.

 

 

http://www.surgex.com/importance.html

 

"There is absolutely no way to protect a piece of equipment in a part of a building that gets a direct hit by lightning! Usually, however, when a building or a utility pole gets hit, the equipment itself does not receive the direct discharge: the equipment receives a surge through the building wiring. Research has shown that because of arc-over at the service entrance and within the building wiring, the maximum voltage that reaches a 110V outlet is 6000V. The same research has also determined that the maximum current is 3000A. We now have an idea of what a surge protector must be able to reliably handle in order to protect equipment from lightning damage."

 

 

Series mode can protect against 6000V / 3000A.  You're not getting millions of volts coming into your house through the wires.  

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I don't know why you're so amped up about this. It's not exactly an electrifying problem.

 

In seriousness, some little SMD likely wasn't protected from overcurrent, and got fried. Take out the amp and see if you can find which one by sniffing around. It's likely a cap or small inductor connected to ground, so that spot is now floating.

 

I've popped many a PCB component, including amplifier SMDs, so it's not uncommon when said current is coming from an external source rather than an internal short. :)

Edited by DaveWJr
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I don't know why you're so amped up about this. It's not exactly an electrifying problem.

 

In seriousness, some little SMD likely wasn't protected from overcurrent, and got fried. Take out the amp and see if you can find which one by sniffing around. It's likely a cap or small inductor connected to ground, so that spot is now floating.

 

I've popped many a PCB component, including amplifier SMDs, so it's not uncommon when said current is coming from an external source rather than an internal short. :)

 

It's nice to see more of the Klipsch employee's on the forum.

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