What is the difference between a surge protector with multiple small MOVs in parallel and one using large block MOV components?
MOV’s change their characteristics with stress. Generally an MOV will deteriorate if it is frequently diverting currents that are >70% of their surge current capacity. With enough stress they will eventually fail short circuit and activate a safety fuse or burst into flames. MOV’s in parallel circuits will never equally share current. This is due to the 5 – 10% tolerances of the individual components used and in various aspects of their performance. This means that if a product has 10 MOV’s connected in parallel that are individually rated at 10 kA to make a 100 kA device, you can expect one component to be carrying the majority of the surge current. This can be caused by a number of characteristics including a component that is at the lower end of it’s MCOV tolerance, or a component that has a slightly faster response time. A surge current of >7 kA will eventually cause the one component to fail which result in the total loss of protection or the systematic loss of individual componen
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