Why is the lead (wire) length of an AC surge protector so critical?
The shorter the lead length between the protector and your panel, the lower the let-through voltages will be to your equipment. This is crucial to the effectiveness of all parallel-connected surge protectors. Surge protectors are typically connected in parallel with the load. This means that the protector does not carry load current. But more importantly, it means that the protector must efficiently divert transient currents through it during an overvoltage event. The surge protector must look like an electrical short circuit momentarily in order to efficiently divert large amounts of current. If it does not do this, then the residual voltage (or let-through voltage) that reaches your equipment will be too high, and damage or disruption may occur. The let-through voltage of a surge protector is based on the following formula: Vlet-through = (I x R) + (L x di/dt). The (I x R) term is pretty straightforward. This is the current through the protection system multiplied by the resistance o
