The Difference Between Surge Protector and Leakage Protector

1. The introduction of lightning surge protector and leakage protector

(1) Lightning surge protector

Lightning surge protector, also called lightning protection device, is an electronic equipment which provides electrical surge protection for various kinds of electronic equipment, instruments, apparatus and communications lines. The lightning surge protector activates when it senses a sudden peak of electrical current or voltage caused by an outside interference in an electrical circuit or communication line. The lightning surge protector activates a shunt within the circuit a very short time, to avoid the damage to the other devices in the circuit caused by the electrical current or voltage surge.

The principle of lightning surge protector is to limit the instantaneous overvoltage from the power lines or signal transmission lines within the voltage rage that the equipment or system can withstand, or to divert the powerful lightning currents into the ground, protecting the connected devices or system avoiding damage otherwise caused by the impact of the overvoltage or current.

The types and structures of lightning surge protectors will be very different based on their use, however,  it should contain at least one non-linear voltage limiting element. The basic components for good quality surge protector are: discharge gap, gas discharge tube, varistor, suppression diode and choke coil, etc.

(2) Leakage protector

Leakage protector(leakage switch) can also be referred to as a leakage circuit breaker. It is mainly used to protect the human body from electric shock in case of an equipment electric leakage failure or which could result in a potentially dangerous condition leading to great bodily harm to the human body up or in the worse case a fatal condition. The leakage protector provides the electrical circuit overload and short circuit protection function. The leakage protector is designed to protect the circuits or motor in the case of an electrical overload and short circuit, therefore it also can be used for infrequent conversion starts of the line under normal circumstances.

There is another name for leakage protector, called "residual current protective device". What does that mean? It means to detect the residual current. The leakage protector is mainly divided into three parts: the detecting element, the intermediate amplification mechanism and the actuator.

2. The difference between lightning surge protector and leakage protector

(1) The residual-current circuit breaker is the electrical device that can switch the main circuit on and off the main loop. It has leakage protection (human body electric shock), overload protection(excess load), short circuit protection (short circuit) function.

(2) In general, a good quality surge protector is used to prevent damage to the user's wiring and electrical equipment caused by electrical surges in the main line from lighting strikes, assisting with protection and it doesn't control the wires.

(3) The leakage protector activates when there is short circuit, leakage circuit or short circuit to ground , for example, the cable insulation damage time, current is too large, it will automatically trip, so as not to burn the circuit. Lightning surge protector is to protect circuit if there is a sudden voltage increase or lightning strike, to avoid the scope expands, sometimes we also call the surge protector as lightning arrester.

As one of the leading surge protection manufacturers, we offer the following products:

lightning protection box, signal spd, DC power surge protector, spd telecom, etc.