Voltage fluctuations cause damage today

[iancrumpy]

According to http://www.haberkktc.com/haber/elektrik ... 52968.html today there have been fluctuations in the voltage in TRNC. (The report doesn't specify any region in particular). These fluctuations have apparently caused damage to a number of electrical devices. The reasons for them are as yet unknown.

[Deniz1]

Probably due to the massive storm we are having it seems to affect all the external power cables.

[iancrumpy]

Wow, you're up incredibly early Deniz!

Probably due to the massive storm we are having it seems to affect all the external power cables.

I thought the same Deniz, but there's no mention of that in the report.

[paula121s]

Our power fluctuated off from about 2pm till sometime in the night! I just assed it was the storm as there was an almighty bang and everything went off!!

[Deniz1]

Couldnt sleep as the thunder was so loud and very heavy rain. But then I am normally an early bird but not that early.

[cyprusishome]

A perfect example why you MUST have surge protectors fitted to ALL electrical appliances. Can save a fortune for little outlay.

[cooper]

What you need is a ELKO voltage protector - http://www.elkocyprus.com/e-role.html

These are available from Tektan for 100tl

[Cyprus Hector]

Will normal surge protectors work such as you get in extension leads?

[cooper]

Yes normal surge protectors will work but by having a single ELKO surge protector plugged in and forgot about to any unused socket it will protect your whole house where as normal surge protectors need to be installed on each appliance you wish to protect.

[Cyprus Hector]

How does an ELKO surge protector protect the whole house? How much do they cost?

[Philoz]

Cooper-it looks good,but If you have a voltage spike(Up or down) does it then trip your electric completely?
If it does you will be plunged into darkness every few minutes.

How does in work in practice?-I am worried about damage to my appliances,since I have been here full time, I have already replaced a PSU on my desktop, and this week in the big storm a low voltage transformer in my kitchen lights got burnt out.
How does this differ from the other products you sell?

[cooper]

The ELKO voltage protector will only trip off your main supply when the current goes outside the safety limits set. Please click on the link above for full details.

Please note i have no vested interested in this item but decided to purchase one having read about them on Cyprus44

[AJay]

Cooper
Not quite true although the device you are talking about may be capable of switching off the power to your distribution board when it goes over a certain voltage I am certain that it will not protect against high speed and mega high voltages induced in power lines by a lightening strike. A lightening strike on or near a power line will produce a voltage of thousands of volts in a short period of nano seconds. I have had conversations with Elko about his device and asked him what the response time was from detecting over voltage and to tripping the power. He could not give an accurate answer but he thought it was less than a second. When you analyse the device basically it has a control unit that you can program an upper limit voltage wise but what happens after that is that the control unit trips a relay in the unit that then trips your RCCB so the relay because it is mechanical has some latency and then the RCCB in your consumer unit is also a mechanical device that has some latency so I do not think it would respond to lightening strikes. I use some plug in surge arresters that plug into one mains socket on every ring main and are totally passive i.e. no moving parts and there are two Leds that tell you what is going on. Although I have not taken it apart my guess that part of the circuit contains a neon bulb which have been used for years for protecting radio equipment that are connected to large outside antennas against lightening strikes. So be careful what you buy,

[cooper]

AJay i can only go on my own experience. There are quite a few properties on our site and i know that a few have suffered damage to their electrical items due to voltage fluctuations, i and others who i know use this device haven't experienced any problems other than having to flick the RCD switch back on so for the sake of £40 i say its money well spent.

[andrew4232]

anyone know if there is a thing that would work with the internet cable as well a friend of mine last week in the storm had loads of stuff fried the lightening struck the internet thing on the roof it shot down the internet cable burnt out anything that was connected together

[AJay]

AJay i can only go on my own experience. There are quite a few properties on our site and i know that a few have suffered damage to their electrical items due to voltage fluctuations, i and others who i know use this device haven't experienced any problems other than having to flick the RCD switch back on so for the sake of £40 i say its money well spent.

cooper, do not get me wrong, as an aid to protecting against voltage fluctuations that are power station generated then that will do the trick but for lightening strikes I would look for something else.
Also I suggested that Elko fit a test button to his unit so that purchasers can regularly check the integrity of the unit, do you know whether that has been incorporated as if not then I would suggest a regular test on your RCCB would be prudent as RCCB's are notoriously unreliable. RCCB's have a test button for that purpose.

[cooper]

AJay the damage caused to some of my neighbors electrical items did happen during lightening strikes whereas my neighbors using this device experienced no problems that is the reason for my recommendation. As to whether Ismet has fitted a test button to his device you would need to speak to him.