Issue link: https://resources.mouser.com/i/1437723
22 Making the Right Surge-Suppression Technology Choices "In a case of equal performance solutions, cost may determine which solution to adopt. But this is rarely the case, as the components likely differ in performance. The best approach is to first choose the better performance." George Burlacu, Compliance Engineer, GVA Lighting, Inc. Underlying all these considerations are the basic economics of the product or solution. It is important to recognize that economic considerations go well beyond the cost of building a product. One must also consider the costs of repairing and replacing failed devices, supporting a warranty program, and a possible product redesign if inadequate surge suppression results in a high failure rate. These costs can far outweigh any savings that come from economizing on surge-suppression during the initial design. Economic and market considerations can also result in different engineering solutions to meet the same specification. For instance, hard-wired smoke detectors are designed to last 10 years, and they must meet a surge suppression specification to ensure reliability. One manufacturer may approach this problem by designing a low-cost detector with the fewest components possible and surge suppression that meets the specification for protecting those internal components. Another manufacturer may decide to make a premium smoke detector with more sophisticated processing circuitry. Because those components will be more susceptible to power surges, the design should include stronger surge-suppression. Both devices were designed to meet the regulatory standard, but because of how they are built, they meet the same standard using different surge-suppression technologies. Table 3 lists different surge-suppression types, applications for which they are commonly used, and relative costs compared with each other.