Moderator: Welcome Neil!

Neil Muncy: Greetings from InfoComm!

Moderator: Neil, can you describe briefly what we have going here at the SurgeX booth at InfoComm?

Neil: All of the computers in the booth – including the ones we’re using right now - are connected to the output of a SurgeX surge suppressor. Every minute, a surge generator produces a 6KV surge across the power line. The only reason we don't have a lot of very expensive smoke is that between the generator and our computers is the surge suppressor.

Moderator: So, seen anything interesting at the show?

Neil: Well, the new SurgeX Inrush Current Eliminator (ICE) product is specifically intended to prevent massive inrush currents from power amplifier turn-on sequences.

Moderator: Audience - we're taking questions on power issues, one of Neil's many specialties, but feel free to ask anything you like. Neil - can you tell us how you became interested in the issue of power as it relates to systems?

Neil: Over the years I’ve spent countless hours correcting power related problems in installed systems.

Bill Whitlock at InfoComm: What are the relative advantages of surge protection at the breaker panel versus at the point of use?

Neil: With SurgeX there is no distinction. SurgeX is a series mode device that does NOT contaminate the green wire equipment ground conductor. Shunt mode surge protectors dump the nasty stuff onto the equipment ground. The further they are away from the service entrance, the more transient voltage will appear on the ground reference of the "protected" equipment. In a networked installation, an elevated ground reference at one point in the system will cause the location to dump unwanted current into the network cables.

John Murray at InfoComm: What about Pin-1 problems, Neil?

Neil: A-ha! Thought you would never ask! The Pin-1 problem is finally going away! Since 1995, when the 6/95 issue of the AES Journal was published, equipment manufacturers all over the world are cleaning up their act.

Neil (continued): The pin problem exists in a piece of equipment when the "Pin-1" terminals on an I/O connector do NOT connect directly to the chassis at the point of enter
I should mention that Pin-1 is defined as the terminals to which cable shields are connected, Pin 1 on a XLR is Pin 1, and on a TRS, it’s the sleeve. On an RCA, it's the shell.