Surge Protectors

[oppopioneer]

Does I.C.E. or PolyPhaser or Al[ha Delta make coaxial surge protectors for residential CATV? I have Comcast HD cable and would like a good quality coaxial surge protector to protect my home theater.

 

[SCPD]

comcast usally installs surge protecters outside, look for your service drop and you will see the ground wire leading down, if not call them and ask why one wasnt installed

 

[oppopioneer]

Ok, thanks, I will...

With regards to my other question about I.C.E., Polyphaser, Alpha Delta making residential coaxial surge protectors for Triple Play (CATV, internet, phone) do they offer products for that and will their products degrade the picture quality?

 

[kb2vxa]

I don't see the need for a surge protector on a cable service drop and neither does the cable company. If the coax were fed from an antenna it would be another story, but since signals come from head end equipment there are no voltage spikes to protect against.

What's on the outside of the structure where the drop attaches near the electrical service entrance is a grounding block connected to the conduit near the KWH meter as per National Electrical Code regulations. Its purpose is to conduct any currents induced by nearby lightning strikes and electrical faults such as live wires falling on the CATV feed-line to ground rather than entering the building.

Bottom line here is due to the physical construction of coaxial cable it would take "the perfect storm" of circumstances to spike the center conductor, a million to one odds, so surge protection simply isn't needed.

 

[oppopioneer]

Thanks

 

[oppopioneer]

I passed this information along to a electronic website I am a member of AVS Forum a member who is involved with Home Theater said that a surge can come through the center line on a coaxial and a surge protector is important on a coaxial line along with a proper grounding block. I'll repost what a member there said here so I'm not plagiarizing and I'd like your comments...

I have never seen a cable company, including Comcast, install a surge protector on a line, just a grounding block, which takes care of most of the risk. In fact, it is the cable companies who will tell you to not put a surge protector on the cable because it interferes with the signal (insertion loss). That said, there is the possibility of a surge on the center conductor due to a variety of causes, and a coaxial surge protective device can be used to protect against it.

Question Oppopioneer: "What are the other reasons why there could be a possibility of a surge on the center conductor?"

reply:

A few possibilities: failure of cable company electronics, an external surge that affects cable company electronics, a cable strike, etc.

With regards to signal loss using a surge protector on the coaxial line and effecting the picture quality of HD TV...

If I still had a coaxial cable, I would install an inexpensive coaxial surge protective device with a reasonable insertion loss where the cable enters the house (near the service entrance) and make sure the cable company provides me enough signal to deal with the insertion loss. Should be a non-issue for the cable company if done before, or at the same time, the cable company does its hook-up. What I would do for my house is really irrelevant. Everybody's situation is different.

The people who have problems seem typically to be those who have a marginal signal to start with, perhaps because of splits, and add a device like a AV power center with coaxial surge protection. APC says their coaxial surge protective devices have an insertion loss of 2.8 dB. That is enough to push somebody with a marginal signal over the cliff. When it does, cable companies tell the customer to remove the offending device because they don't want to fix the root problem, which is the signal level coming into the premise.

So my dilemma is to figure out the right balance of proper surge protection for the coaxial line that also doesn't effect HD picture quality.

 

[zguy1243]

Your concern is a voltage surge coming via the CATV feed to your house correct?

In regard to surge protection and HD signals what you need to look for is a surge protector that passes with minimal loss the appropriate frequencies. Most nice power conditioners (not something from walmart) has coaxial surge protection that passes signals up to 3Ghz without noticeable loss. This will work for CATV or HD Satellite (directv SWM or dishnetwork). In all of our A/V installs we use the APC H15 or the Panamax 5100PM. These units allow the maximum of 75 volts on the coaxial ports before it cuts the path. Keep in mind that most CATV systems need a return path too. You will not suffer any loss of picture quality with HD programming by using surge protection.

I passed this information along to a electronic website I am a member of AVS Forum a member who is involved with Home Theater said that a surge can come through the center line on a coaxial and a surge protector is important on a coaxial line along with a proper grounding block. I'll repost what a member there said here so I'm not plagiarizing and I'd like your comments...



Question Oppopioneer: "What are the other reasons why there could be a possibility of a surge on the center conductor?"

reply:


With regards to signal loss using a surge protector on the coaxial line and effecting the picture quality of HD TV...




So my dilemma is to figure out the right balance of proper surge protection for the coaxial line that also doesn't effect HD picture quality.

 

[zguy1243]

Your concern is a voltage surge coming via the CATV feed to your house correct?

In regard to surge protection and HD signals what you need to look for is a surge protector that passes with minimal loss the appropriate frequencies. Most nice power conditioners (not something from walmart) has coaxial surge protection that passes signals up to 3Ghz without noticeable loss. This will work for CATV or HD Satellite (directv SWM or dishnetwork). In all of our A/V installs we use the APC H15 or the Panamax 5100PM. These units allow the maximum of 75 volts on the coaxial ports before it cuts the path. Keep in mind that most CATV systems need a return path too. You will not suffer any loss of picture quality with HD programming by using surge protection.

From another angle one could argue that bringing CATV and outside feeds to a local point that you also have AC outlets occupied by other component could cross contaminate if you will and cause damage to other components that would not have been in the equation if had not used the Coaxial surge ports. These will also shunt the voltages to a uncommon ground via the MOV and not the same ground point that the CATV uses at the service entrance thus causing differences in voltages. We could go on and on.

 

[oppopioneer]

I use a SurgeX unit for downstream plugin protection at the AC wall outlet, it doesn't use MOV's, it uses patented Advanced Series Mode, I'm a little more well versed on downstream plugin protection for the AC, but I'm still learning about coax.


For coaxial cable surge protector outside where the wire enters the building will any the units in the links below be a good choice? Some operate in the frequency range from DC to 2.4 GHz and others go to 3.0 GHz, others say: "coaxial surge suppressor for 1,250-2,100 MHz radios." or: "frequency range 50-700 MHz." so what should I be looking for to protect residential Triple Play (CATV, Internet, Phone) from surges? Polyphaser offers so many different kinds. I've read that how quick the unit responds is important, that 1 nanosecond or less is best?

Amazon.com: TII 212 Broadband Cable TV Lightning Surge Protector: Electronics

Whole House Surge Protection Store

PolyPhaser | Coaxial Surge Protectors-SHENZHEN XINCAN ELECTRONICS CO.,LTD

Cytel makes one that goes up to 6 GHz:

Coaxial Surge Protection | Gas Tube-Hybrid-Filter | CITEL INC