Deleted Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 Hello all,I am from the UK and was wondering if any of you guys could give me some advice.My home experienced a power cut and after the power returned my 3-button keypad failed to come back up. I tried resetting it and disconnected it for a few hours and tried again to no avail.I called C4 in the UK and they basically said tough luck, it looks like the surge damaged the keypad. So I asked what can I do to prevent this happening again and I was told that all installers are advised to install power surge protection for the entire home. I don't recall this myself, I am aware that we should protect the HC and networks but not the whole home surely???So I asked what they would do if it happened again and I had surge protection in place, and they said the surge protection would be at fault, in other words it would be anything else other than the keypad that was at fault.I asked what surge protection they recommend but they wouldn't give me any guidance because "if the problem re-ocurred then we would be blamed for recommending the surge protection device". So I am stuck with a faulty keypad, told that I need surge protection, but not advised on what I could buy.Have any of you guys experienced problems with surge protection on keypads, switches or dimmers? Can you suggest any devices I can look at to consider installing to protect my home?Thanks for your time,Garry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazybuppie Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 I am gonna assume they were referring to whole-house surge protection, which can be installed by a qualified electrician. If memory serves, it was surprisingly inexpensive, at least here in the states.I would give your dealer a call, and have him see if he can look at it...he *may* be able to update it with new firmware...which *may* bring it back...no guarantees of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecodeman Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 Bummer, had a lightning strike at one of my clients. Insurance covered a lot of it though.http://c4forums.com/viewtopic.php?id=3393For whole-home surge, you're wanting to look into something like this that installs at the breaker box.http://www.smarthome.com/4860/Leviton-Whole-House-Surge-Suppressor-Surge-Protector-51120-1/p.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hike Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 Bummer, had a lightning strike at one of my clients. Insurance covered a lot of it though.http://c4forums.com/viewtopic.php?id=3393For whole-home surge, you're wanting to look into something like this that installs at the breaker box.http://www.smarthome.com/4860/Leviton-Whole-House-Surge-Suppressor-Surge-Protector-51120-1/p.aspxMy electrician installed one for $250. Well worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveC4 Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 I am going to order one of those up. That seems like a no brainer for me. You can spend close to that on a good surge protector for a single computer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 Hi crazybuppie, unfortunately there is nothing that can be done for the keypad, it is dead. Thecodeman, I had noticed that item when looking for a solution but I'm not sure how it works. When it is installed, does it sit between the consumer unit and the power coming into the home, thereby protecting the consumer unit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveC4 Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 I am no electrician, but it looks to me like it installs right into the panel. It seems like it basically goes inbetween the power source coming into the house and your electrical panel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 Ilovec4 - that would make sense, then all circuits coming out of the panel would then be protected.I would have thought there would be panels (we call them consumer units over here) that would have built in surge protection. Perhaps there is but I just don't know what to look for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanE Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 Breaker panels are made to be cheap, I don't know of any that have built-in surge suppression, although many manufacturers have plug-in units for their panels.RyanE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFUG Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 I am no electrician, but it looks to me like it installs right into the panel. It seems like it basically goes inbetween the power source coming into the house and your electrical panel.It could but I would parallel it in on a 20A breaker. Also, your conductor length is ultra-critical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maniac36 Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 I had my electrician install one for me, cost $200 & min. service fee (had him do other things as well). It doubles as a circuit breaker that protects the whole panel. It's basically connected to a single circuit so that you know if the protection was "tripped". It's only a one use device, meaning if it "trips" and protects the panel, it's done, you need to buy a new surge protector! Hope that helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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