Charter team can order directly through Ariba:
Part Number #1002257
Part Number #1018062
Stop Your Truck Rolls
Eliminate down time with the VSS20! Specially designed to protect field amplifiers and electronics, it contains utility grade surge with patented X-Coil technology®. Plus it has special line drop fusing that has proven to virtually eliminate amplifier damage.
This has stopped truck rolls for our clients, and reduce customer service interruptions.
Customer Quote
“This past week, the electric utility company was working on power lines in Oldsmar. Somehow, in the process of their work they managed to drop one of their live 7,200-Volt lines to the ground. Directly below where they were working, we (Bright House Networks) had two Power Supply Cabinets.
The High Voltage line made a direct bull's-eye on our equipment. As the Power line hit the ground it did not immediately blow its fuse. The line bounced around on the ground throwing sparks and fire everywhere and made contact with our Cabinets several times. Each time it hit the Power Supply cabinets it instantly melted holes and energized the equipment with thousands of volts and hundreds of amps.”
“These pictures only show a small part of the over-all damage to our Cabinets. When I arrived at the location and saw the damage to the exterior of the cabinets, I figured that everything inside was toast. Thankfully, I was wrong."
Throughout the entire ordeal our Power Supply equipment continued to operate keeping the cable system online. Our Power supplies did switch over to standby mode once the power company's fuse finally opened and commercial power was lost to our equipment. During this event the cable system never failed to keep operating.
Each of our Power supply units was protected by Diversified Power's VSS-20BH surge protectors. The only damage to any of the electronic equipment was one of the Surge Protector units was burnt up as you can see in the picture below. Had the equipment not been protected by the surge protectors, there is a high likely hood that all three Power supply unit would have been destroyed. Costing the company thousands of dollars”
“Throughout the entire ordeal our Power Supply equipment continued to operate keeping the cable system online.”
“We put a few VSS20BH units on our most troublesome sites. They worked great and eliminated the problems. Based on that, we put VSS20BH units on ALL of our sites”
Details
FIELD PROBLEMS
When electrical equipment is field located it can be affected by many different electrical problems. The most prevalent are surges and line drop events. Surges are due to many factors, most people directly relate surges to lightning and storms. However surges come from many different sources and lightning is just one source. Power grid switching and protective circuit operation are much more common and actually cause most field damage. Another common problem occurs when high voltage electric distribution wires fall exposing field equipment to voltage many times larger than it is designed for. This is called a “line drop” event. Neither of these common power problems are addressed by most equipment internals and the result is failure and truck rolls to repair or replace the damaged equipment.
APPLICATION ISSUES
Available space inside field cabinets is at a premium. Any power protection equipment must be compact and fit into restricted cabinet space. To compound this field cabinets can have different voltages (120 Volt or 240 Volt) and thus have different receptacle configurations. Any power protection equipment needs to be available for different voltages as well as different plug configurations.
DESIGN CRITERIA
The VSS20 series field protector was designed to meet these varying field issues and protect field equipment from unusual electrical problems. The VSS20 includes quality surge protection plus line drop over voltage protection in a small size container. The VSS20 also covers multiple voltages with just one product. Another major design criteria was to make the VSS20 rugged and reliable. Cable TV systems require reliability out of any power product, and the VSS20 was designed without weak failure points. Under catastrophic conditions, the VSS20 will sacrifice itself to protect downstream equipment.
WHAT ABOUT “OFF THE SHELF” UNITS?
Existing suppressors don’t meet design requirements. There are none available that have line drop protection, and none available with Universal Voltage (can use either 120 Volt or 240 Volt). Most existing suppressors are home “power strip” type devices with thin plastic cases. They are indoor units and not designed or reliable for field conditions. There is no “off the shelf” choice.
ENTER THE VSS20 SERIES
DESIGNED TO MEET ALL THE REQUIREMENTS
The VSS20 includes tough internal circuitry designed for reliability. It features a quality multi-stage surge protection design. It uses reliable current limiting fuses to prevent line drop damage. The VSS20 comes in a rugged sealed plastic case that withstands abuse. The VSS20 can be dropped from 4 foot heights and will not be damaged. It also is compact and comes with flexibility in its plug configurations.
INTERNAL RELIABILITY
DESIGNED TO MEET ALL THE REQUIREMENTS
VSS20 contains special circuitry designed to keep power flowing and protect field equipment. It’s rated for 20 amp loads but can be used on 15 amp circuits. The VSS20 can be used on either 120 Volt or 240 Volt for true universal application. The VSS20 includes dual mechanical & soldered connections on the board for reliability under extreme conditions. It comes with heavy industrial input/output cords and connectors.
Line Drop Protection
VSS20 CONTAINS SPECIAL INTERNAL CURRENT LIMITING FUSES
Dual current limiting fuses are on both input conductors so line drop events cannot damage your equipment. These fuses are capable of interrupting 200,000 amps of short circuit current. During over voltage events, where high voltage utility lines come in contact with lower voltage lines, the fuses limit short circuit current and prevent damage to field equipment downstream. There is a line drop fuse on each conductor for the simple reason that over voltages can be applied to the neutral conductor as well as the power conductors. The VSS20 protects against both conditions.
®Quality Multi-Stage Surge Protection
VSS20 uses our patented X-coil multi-stage surge suppression circuitry. Here’s how the system works:
The first stage Surge Elements remove most incoming surge energy. These are high energy TMOV devices that route incoming surge energy back to where it came from. But even the best MOV devices are not perfect and some energy can get through.
The exclusive X-Coil design prevents surge energy from entering the last stage (US Patent #7,115,085) by blocking and dispersing energy that gets through the first stage. This provides high frequency filtering yet at the same time passes normal power current without heating. Similar induction coils with ferrite cores get hot during normal operation from hysteresis losses. The X-Coil advantage is that such losses are small so it does not overheat.
The final filter stage surge elements remove any remaining surge energy that makes it through the X-Coil.
Unlike most surge devices, the VSS20 uses special surge elements. Most suppressors use standard metal oxide varistors (MOVs) and must be separately fused to prevent thermal runaway. The VSS20 uses special TMOV metal oxide varistors which have excellent clamping voltage and include a built in thermal disconnect. This insures in the rare event of failure, the TMOV disconnects from the circuit without damage.
By protecting all incoming conductors and not allowing first stage TMOVS to connect to ground, there is no “backdoor” path through ground. Most multi-stage suppressors do not protect against back door surges that divert through ground around their induction coils. The VSS20 design eliminates potential backdoor surges.
RUGGED CASE
VSS20 CASE IS A HEAVY DUTY CABLE PULL BOX
Rather than use a thin plastic molded housing, the VSS20 uses a standard heavy plastic, nonconductive, pull box. Because of the rugged case, the VSS20 is drop proof: survives 4 foot drop onto concrete floors with NO damage. This means shipping and traveling damage is minimal simply due to the rugged design. In addition the case has liquid tight end fittings and a sealed top to prevent moisture damage. The VSS20 can be installed in humid conditions and will remain reliable. The VSS20 case is certainly strong, but it’s also compact. It is designed to fit in tight locations and can be installed side by side in a quad wall box receptacle for example.
MORE FLEXIBLITY
VSS20 AVAILABLE TO FIT YOUR PLUG CONFIGURATION WITH FLEXIBLE CORD LENGTHS.
The input and output cords allow flexibility in tight spaces and they can be ordered in different lengths. The input cord is 3” long standard and the output cord length is 12 standard, but either can be ordered to fit your application. The VSS20 is available with any NEMA plug configuration for 120 or 240 Volt single phase use. The standard configurations are either a 5-15 Plug & Receptacle in/out or a 6-20 plug & receptacle in/out. Additionally, the VSS20 can be ordered with either a straight or a 90 degree input plugs.
MORE FLEXIBLITY
VSS20 AVAILABLE TO FIT YOUR PLUG CONFIGURATION WITH FLEXIBLE CORD LENGTHS.
The input and output cords allow flexibility in tight spaces and they can be ordered in different lengths. The input cord is 3” long standard and the output cord length is 12 standard, but either can be ordered to fit your application. The VSS20 is available with any NEMA plug configuration for 120 or 240 Volt single phase use. The standard configurations are either a 5-15 Plug & Receptacle in/out or a 6-20 plug & receptacle in/out. Additionally, the VSS20 can be ordered with either a straight or a 90 degree input plugs.