Specifications

GB-60
GROUND LOOP BLOCKER AMPLIFIER
HOW TO PREVENT LIGHTNING DAMAGE IN CCTV.
Protecting a CCTV system and it components from lightning damage does
not use the same methods used to protect human life from electrical shock. In fact
many of the techniques used to protect humans from lightning also cause some
other problems in the CCTV system.
First of all, nothing can prevent a direct lightning strike. The result is usually
a smoking melted down blob of carbon and metal. However, if the lightning strike
is somewhat off center or just nearby, then there is a chance for electronic
equipment to survive, provided certain precautions have been taken to protect the
electronic components from over-voltage and over-current. These two things
cause electronic equipment to fail.
If you read up on the subject the first thing you learn from the various books
on the subject of lightning protection is that you need to “GROUND
EVERYTHING”. This process creates as many paths to ground as possible to
bleed off current from the strike and keep the destructive voltage from rising to
high.
From a human protection point of view this is good solid advice, but from the
CCTV equipment point of view this is very hard on the equipment and can reduce
the lifespan of the equipment to the first occurrence of a lighting storm.
The “Ground Everything” advice is designed to protect
people from electric
shock and should be followed wherever possible. But what you must do to protect
equipment from damage is very different.
CCTV TRAINING MANUAL PAGE 14 OF 28