Whats a multi-stage hybrid in a communications or data surge protector?
All surge protectors are designed to minimize the let-through voltage to the equipment being protected, however, with all surge components the LTV increases with the amount of current in the surge. On low voltage circuits such as multiplexed communications and data, with logic levels of <6 volts, a simple single stage SPD will have an elevating LTV that can cause fatal damage. A multi-stage hybrid uses a robust component in a primary stage, to get surge current capacity, followed by other components whose job is to control the output of the previous stage. The last stage, therefore, only has to handle the maximum output of the previous stage. In this way, a single product incorporating multi-stages can control the LTV precisely irrespective of the current in the surge.
