Inside an African lightning protector - and candy

That laugh when testing the "copper" disk made my day.

In my younger days I used to install temporary IT systems for diplomatic conferences all over Africa. This meant planning and doing everything from electricity supply, local network, Internet, Wifi... Cheap Chinese stuff was everywhere. Half the time we were lucky if at least the toilets worked.

Perhaps they have made an error in the assembly? Maybe the MOV should be sandwiched between the "copper" plates, so they could also act as a spark gap?

That mischievous chuckle when the "copper" clacked into the magnet was priceless

When I see really cheap stuff, I'm reminded of John Glenn's comment:- "As I hurtled through space, one thought kept crossing my mind - every part of this rocket was supplied by the lowest bidder. "

I can't be the only one who saw the title and thought "in Africa, lightning protectors double as candy?"

They Hymag unit is meant to be used after a breaker, not direct across the line, though there it will be protected by the 100A incoming breaker anyway. As a matter of interest it likely was made at one of the highest factories in the world, as Hy Mag has assembly plants in Lesotho, a land locked country, which is entirely made from mountain ranges. they are needed, because the mains here can be rather rough, and there is a good chance of the incoming supply rising to high levels because of loss of neutral, because that copper got stolen in your substation, or a phase was lost upstream. Or you could have what a friend has, and no power since Friday, because some somewhat drunk person parked their car in the local substation. They and the 4 passengers in hospital, and still awaiting a new transformer to be connected up, after the car totally demolished the brick and concrete substation, plus the fence and road barrier that was in the way.

"Trust nothing." 😂

Enjoy your treats! Thank you for the video. The components inside the big surge protector are more chunky than I expected. I was anticipating a much smaller MOV and maybe some rudimentary thermal protection, but clearly a fuse was completely omitted. As you pointed out rightfully so, the screw terminals are exposed and therefore not up to our western standards. A good thing about people in African countries is that they generally don't poke around in electrical installations. They are told electricity will kill them and they are not wrong about that. I did however see many occasions where people in places like Zambia and Zimbabwe stuff a type C (CEE 7/16 Europlug) connector in a type G (BS 1363) British style wall outlet. And in order to make that happen they poke something in the PE (earth /ground) hole to defeat the shutters that shield the L and N holes on the socket. A connector rated at 2.5 A stuffed in a socket that is able to provide 32 A. What could possibly to wrong? I took a couple of type F (CEE 7/3 Schuko) extension cords from home, fitted each with a fused type G (BS 1363 UK) connector and gave them away to my friends in Zambia. Making things a little bit safer. Regarding the GMOV, a combined MOV and GDT. The company Bourns claim in their sales pitch that this hybrid component ages less quickly and therefore has an extend life expectancy compared to a standard MOV. The added GDT does however results in a 300 ns slower response, but it seems that most component downstream can absorb this energy.

Mouth is watering profusely upon seeing humoungous african chocalate bar - lucky you! Had to shut down and make a junk food run immediately if not sooner.

Dunno why, I suddenly had to pause the video and go get myself some chocolate.

South African house supplies are on average 240V. Incoming supply from utility comes into the house DB board via a combined earth leakage and over current circuit breaker. The surge arrestors are connected between Live and Earth, Live and Neutral, and in some between Neutral and Earth. The arrestor relies on the earth leakage unit to clear the fault if any of them goes short circuit. Earth leakage units operate around 25mA difference between Live and Neutral currents in the earth leakage unit.

Yes. I lived Johannesburg on the “highveld” 6000’ above sea level in South Africa. This is a place that has one the highest number of lightning strikes in the world. I got tired of having my electric gates, microwave, tv etc etc destroyed by lightning. Even a strike near the mains feeder cable absorbed the emp. and after consulting with an expert I installed a set of MOVs in our main switchboard. Many people had plug tops with a mov inside. Apparently if you have a strike you should replace the mov. Was never sure how I could test them.

9:41 "MAAGNET"

Talking about lightning here, look at the shape of the copper discs. They trap a volume of air between them. If an extreme amount of current is coming for a brief moment the intent may be to heat and expand that trapped air "explosively" and blow the discs apart within the housing, creating a temporary self-sustaining spark gap. It may not save any sensitive electronics but I gather the idea here anyways is to prevent house fires.

Interesting configuration. The dimensions of the GDT element suggest a pretty low flashover voltage, yet probably enough to protect the MOV element from lower-energy "nuisance" trip events that would impact its lifespan. I'll be sticking to my DIN rail cartridge style arrestors (with clear failure indication) for the moment. Incidentally, Mr C - remember doing a video on those plastic KAM press-studs, seven years ago? My overalls have finally passed the "point of no return", yet those cheap plastic press studs were still working just fine!

I reckon, there was a MOV that has the correct size that sits in between those plates that then leaves a flashover gap. In this case it looks like if you put it in between the resulting gap would be too big. Perhaps someone buying the parts at the factory has done a switcheroo to a cheaper, wrong part without understanding what it's about.

Dutchie here. That's indeed the most popular brand of chocolate in the Netherlands. It was created by Teun van de Keuken, an investigative journalist. He wanted to make a chocolate brand that was completely slave free start to end after doing a story on chocolate production in the program Keuringsdienst van Waarde. He was fined afterwards because you're not supposed to advertise products on public television, let alone your own. But it garnered a lot of support and sympathy because the company genuinely was trying to make a change, it wasn't just buzzwords and marketing. All ingredients are traceable. The uneven division symbolizes the income inequality in the normal supply chains.

I have inspected dozens of household fuse panels after lightning strikes. The black device would be great protection and worth its cost 100's of times over after a direct hit. Fitted behind a 100A breaker it will not save the latter but likely everything downstream. Nothing wrong with copper coated steel discs. The skin effect makes most electrons travel on the surface anyway even at 50Hz. The steel plates would also act similarly like crunch zones on cars, slowly dissipate the resulting heat. Overall the product enjoys great corrosion protection and good longevity.

Strobe Whoofles! Of all Dutch sweets, licorice (especiually when soft and salty) is by far my favorite thing. I haven't seen a combined gas discharge / MOV either.