The thermal fuse is designed to disconnect power to the MOV when
the MOV has shunted many surges and reached the end of its useful
working life. When that happens, it begins to heat up and the fuse will
open to protect the user.
Mike Tomlinson is posting without learning from MOV manufacturer
datasheets. When does an MOV working life end? When it *degrades*.
MOV voltage changes 10%. MOV must not short circuit or
catastrophically explode as Mike Tomlinson naively promotes.
Unacceptable catastrophic failure causes excessive temperature; blows
a safety fuse. MOVs degrades when properly sized; must not
catastrophically fail, blow that fuse, trigger a failure indicator
lamp.
That fuse can blow during UL1449 testing - protector circuit
disconnects - and still get UL 1449 approval. Why? UL's only
concern: it does not threaten human life; does not create a fire.
But it also did not provide effective protection.
Mike Tomlinson was provided manufacturer information on 7 Mar 2007.
He ignored manufacturer datasheets to again post his myths. Tomlinson
knows from observation of grossly undersized plug-in protectors. Were
those manufacturer datasheets too complex for Mike? Reposted is what
Mike Tomlinson ignored to again repost myths.
Manufacturer datasheet for life expectancy is graphs on page 5:
http://www.littelfuse.com/data/en/Data_Sheets/CA.pdf
A 330 joule protector (V251CA32) will shunt a ten thousand 300 amp
surges. A 370 joule MOV is rated for 60,000 surges. And the 880 joule
MOV has a life expectancy of 100,000. Those curves end when current
during one surge is excessive; beyond what the manufacturer intended;
long before an MOV should fail; short; vaporize; cause that indicator
light to report a defect. Protectors that are properly sized shunt
many surges, remain functional, and do not trip that failure light.
Voltage that defines "degraded" is quoted from that datasheet:
If pulse ratings are exceeded, a shift of VN(DC) (at specified
current) of more than ±10% could result.
What happens when an MOV has degraded?
... does not prevent the device from continuing to function, ...
What happens when a light indicates failure? Device no longer
functions; "absolute maximum ratings" were exceeded. Quote is
directly from that manufacturer datasheet. When has a protector
degraded? When its voltage change exceeds 10%; it does not vaporize
or explode.
Another manufacturer that also bluntly contradicts Mike Tomlinson:
The change of Vb shall be measured after the impulse
listed below is applied 10,000 times continuously with
the interval of ten seconds at room temperature.
Some myth purveyors claim a protector is good for only one surge.
Somehow "it sacrificed itself to save my computer." Classic myth.
Some plug-in protectors are intentionally undersized so that a first
surge causes failure; triggers that indicator light. Indicator light
then gets the naive to buy and promote more grossly undersized and
grossly overpriced protectors. Mike Tomlinson promotes that myth even
after manufacturer data sheets were provided on 7 Mar 2007. He
completely ignored manufacturer datasheets to promote catastrophic
failure as normal or acceptable.
Indicator light simply reports when the protector was so grossly
undersized as to operate beyond what a manufacturer intended. So far
outside that acceptable range that a fuse had to blow to protect
humans. Protection inside the adjacent appliance protected that
appliance. (When MOV fuse blows, appliance remains connected and
surged.)
From another MOV manufacturer is a description of what constitutes
MOV degradation:
The change of Vb shall be measured after the impulse
listed below is applied 10,000 times continuously with
the interval of ten seconds at room temperature.
If a power strip protector is undersized, then an MOV operates
outside manufacturer ratings - catastrophically self destructs. So
dangerous is this failure mode as to require a thermal fuse. MOV
operating as the manufacturer intended only degrade - don't blow that
fuse. Notice the number of transients to measure degradation?
10,000. But grossly undersized plug-in protectors are often promoted
by the naive as "one shot protection".
MOV datasheets provide graphs that relate number of transients, size
of transients, and time of transient to its life expectancy. That
means its voltage only changed 10% - does not short circuit or
vaporize. When a plug-in protector is grossly undersized, well, UL
1449 was created to reduce the frequency of these scary pictures:
http://www.hanford.gov/rl/?page=556&parent=554
http://www.westwhitelandfire.com/Articles/Surge Protectors.pdf
http://www.ddxg.net/old/surge_protectors.htm
http://www.zerosurge.com/HTML/movs.html
Why these scary pictures? Even with UL1449 approval, some plug-in
protectors still fail in dangerous locations such as on a rug or
adjacent to a pile of desktop papers. UL1449 says nothing about surge
protection - only attempts to minimize those scary pictures.
From Littlefuse is their Application Note 9310
A "failed" device is defined by a ±10% change in the nominal varistor
voltage at the 1mA point. This does not imply a non-protecting device,
but rather a device whose clamping voltage has been slightly altered.
If an MOV fails catastrophically - excessively hot as to blow a
thermal fuse - then it operates well outside acceptable parameters
(per manufacturer datasheets).
Fusing is to protect humans - not to protect transistors. Properly
sized MOVs only degrade with use. But catastrophic failure sells more
ineffective protector to the naive. Catastrophic failure gets people
such as Mike Tomlinson to *assume* that vaporization is normal and
acceptable. Even when provided manufacturer datasheets, Mike
Tomlinson still assumed that catastrophic failure is acceptable.
Reality from manufacturer datasheets: MOVs blow that thermal fuse
when operating well outside of spec numbers. If a thermal fuse blows
(as indicated by the indicator light), then protector was excessively
undersized - is ineffective.
Why no earth ground? Well it's not protection. Forget a dedicated
earthing wire. Forget about sufficient joules. Neither increase
profit margins nor pay for Bud. Mike Tomlinson posts despite and in
contradiction to what is in MOV manufacturer datasheets.