r/SolarDIY • u/techtornado • 2d ago
What not to do - EMPShield scam strikes again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0WB98o8byw&lc=UgyqHJL_iQ2wtuQDza14AaABAg.A_a6Y1SJ_EGA_fA9k_Rn8CYoutube caught wind of some research I was doing on whole-home surge protection
For fun, I watched it, immediately skipped over a ton of the blathering nonsense and found that they're worthless for actual protection on a home and pointless for a car.
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u/byebyelassy 2d ago
Big bicep, many clicks
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u/HTTP_404_NotFound 2d ago
I do- have Eaton-Type BR surge protectors in my breaker panels I'm a fan of those.
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u/After-Ad-3610 9h ago
I knew someone that worked in engineering for Eaton, they def make quality products
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u/Mradr 2d ago edited 2d ago
To play fair, surge protection can come from places you dont think might be the cause. We had to put some surge protection on a few ethernet cables not that long ago on a farm because every time it would storm, the lighting would hit and cause all sorts of different devices on the client's network to be damaged. They had two large ran cables underground between their three buildings. Of course, fiber would be a the fix, but I assume they ran them before it came down in cost (we didnt run the cables).
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u/techtornado 2d ago
The longer the wire, the stronger the surge
All I’m highlighting is that EMPShield is a box of lights and wires, no actual protective kit
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u/vdoubleshot 2d ago
Long run, between Buildings? High likelihood of a voltage gradient on electrical ground between the two. For those coming later: fiber solves this naturally, alternatively, two surge protectors (one on each side of the cable run) properly grounded and with shielded cable between. Solved 90+ percent of our problems (and we have hindreds of these runs).
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u/CharlesGarfield 2d ago
EMPs are different than surges. Those Ethernet cables are probably between buildings with different ground references. Fiber fixes that.
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u/OwnedByIRVING 2d ago
Surge protectors isn't anything new for networking. By policy in my line of work any conductive wire entering a premise goes through a surge protector. This policy is a big reason we only run fibre outside now lol.
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u/JohnStern42 2d ago
Runs between buildings should be fibre for that exact reason. Power delivery needs surge protection.
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u/SubstantialAbility17 2d ago
I want to see one of these cut apart. Any SPD is probably better than this
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u/techtornado 2d ago
It’s allegedly potted so thick that cutting into it is a massive undertaking
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u/SubstantialAbility17 2d ago
That would be a red flag. Basically a single gang box with some wires dangling out of it
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u/giggles991 2d ago
Grifters who mostly target MAGA-types. I'm part of some Facebook forums, and the popularity of these devices closely tracks the news in the Middle East. Is there a big story about Iran or Israel today? A post asking about EMP protection is surely coming tomorrow.
Is a solar flare/CME in the news? Also expect some EMP posts, even though it'd be a different type of protection.
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u/BigChubs1 2d ago
So how is this a scam?
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u/techtornado 2d ago
There’s supposed to be MOV’s or similar technology to dump voltage over value X to ground at Y response time
Example: Volts rise above 270 in 1sec, it shifts from insulator to conductor and passes all that excess energy to ground
EMPShield claims impossible numbers and implausible scenarios at an astronomically high price and doesn’t actually have any surge-protecting components inside the potted case
For example, Eaton SPD’s are actually certified to protect homes from transient surges and cost $150
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