Hi Mark g, Thanks for commenting! Have you had a chance to check out my follow up video on this topic - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qKeJptyYvJjVpac.html ? There was some pretty good discussion in the comments where ratspam found some pretty definitive opinion from an Eaton representative that it would be ok near the top or bottom. The most important factor is that the leads to the SPD be kept as short as possible. Check out the other video if you have a chance - many of your arguments are also discussed too. Thanks again!

Instructions page 2 under important.

Thanks for pointing this out! I looked in the manual and you're absolutely correct - in the IMPORTANT section, it states: • To maximize the CHSP’s performance, twist and bind the wires together to reduce the impedance of the wire (one twist / inch). Next time I am working on the breaker panel, I'm going to go in and fix that. Thank you for commenting!

Is it just the red and black or all the wires…vague directions

Page 4: To maximize the CHSP’s performance, twist and bind the wires together to reduce the impedance of the wire (one twist per inch). The white and green wires will diverge from the twisted bundle on their way to their bus bars and the red and black should remain twisted all the way to the breaker.

The green wire goes to the ground bus while the white wire goes to the neutral bus. Short answer: Yes, the examples in the manual even show it being installed from the side. If the panel is an outdoor panel, please exercise care that you are not introducing a spot for rain to get into the panel. Long Answer: Many people on the internet believe I am doing this wrong and that the surge protector should ALWAYS be the closest slot in the box to the incoming power. However, from my understanding of electricity, I don't believe this makes a difference as a surge would travel all slots at the same time - it does not travel to the first slot first and then to the others. This leads me to believe that putting this anywhere in the box would be sufficient. Additionally, there are prebuilt panels that always keep the surge protector at the bottom while the power comes from the top. Lastly, the instructions only state: "Locate a dedicated unused, or install a new 2-pole circuit breaker in an available space closest to the location where the CHSP is to be installed." You should be good to put it anywhere that is convenient inside the box.

Hi there, thanks for commenting! I wondered the same thing and did an investigation on that... shot another video you can see here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qKeJptyYvJjVpac.html. My general findings is that electricity travels instantly over all the lines, not sequentially from top to bottom. It is more important that the surge protection device is as close to the bus bar as possible rather than being on the 1st slot. Surges can actually occur from the house and does not always come from the mains. In fact, these type of surge protection are not designed to protect against direct lightning strike, it can only protect against secondary surges from lightning events. Thanks again for commenting!

yes any make panel will do . however the brand of the 50 amp breaker must be the same as the panel brand or comparable.

I do not know if the CHSPT2ULTRA would be appropriate for that installation. You can contact Eaton on their website. They did reply when I asked them questions about their products and was generally very helpful. They probably would be able to tell you if you can install this at the condenser unit or not. That said, there are other SPD2 devices built specifically for AC Condensers. Here is one I found online that just has L1 and L2 hot and a neutral/ground just like your setup. It is designed to go in the pull block as well, so it would seem to be rated for your specific use case: www.five-two-one.com/pdf/LT521SPD_Web.pdf

It's NEMA rated for outdoor and indoor use

SPD devices are like insurance... you really don't need it until you need it... More SPD is always better, Eaton recommends a layered approach, a whole house SPD and then UPS or surge protection at the device - www.eaton.com/us/en-us/products/backup-power-ups-surge-it-power-distribution/surge-protection/surge-protection-faq.html I personally only have a whole house SPD at the main panel and no extra surge protection at my sub panel. I have UPSes (Cyberpower PFC1500 - amzn.to/3ScaCxh) on all my sensitive electronics like my computer, my TV, and my internet box. In this manner, if the power goes out, I have about 5-10 minutes to either turn everything off or connect the generator.

I made a video pointing those exact facts out. Thanks for commenting!

A type 1 surge protector would need to be installed on the line side (either before or after the meter?). I have yet to see a residential installation for that. Do you have any references or links? Thanks for commenting!

@@jonathanDIYs I'm not sure what kind of reference you are looking for... I mean I install them because most _damaging_ surges come from outside the house. Type 2 surge protectors are really for the little surges you get from things like a refrigerator motor, stuff inside the house. They don't do nearly as good a job as a type 1 when it comes to things like a lightning strike, transformer issue, downed power lines, power company construction/upgrades, etc. A nice bonus is that they don't take up two slots in a panel. Square D, Eaton, Siemens, etc make them in different sizes. You can spend as little as $45 for crap on Amazon to about $200 for a good Siemens or square D product. For something industrial or with features like monitoring, you can spend thousands of dollars. The problem is that people aren't as familiar with type 1 surge protectors because many electricians won't work on Live feeders. My preference is to install them on a meter socket because they are just a little further from the main panel. It also makes the leads very short. :-) To be completely honest, I also hope that it prevents homeowners and DIYers from messing with my work and breaking things -or worse, actually getting hurt. (I'm not saying that to be snarky, it's just truly the way I feel about this particular kind of ...because I have no problem with people doing simple electrical work. That's cool and commendable. However: nothing is more dangerous working around electricity than someone who doesn't know what they don't know).

​@@SwingboyPA That's exactly what I thought. I appreciate your input. I totally would want an electrician to install a Type 1 SPD if it is going on the meter socket. Definitely don't think that is a DIY thing. :) I do appreciate all the electricians out there!

You could just say "I don't understand how electricity works". If its in the first or the last all the other circuits are still going to receive current. The 2ft of travel to reach the surge protector is still much shorter than the nearest 20ft it needs to travel to reach the nearest appliance.

@@jtmiller15 My licensed electrician installed this exact one closest to the disconnect switch .. he even moved the subpanel breaker (which was originally closest to the disconnect switch) and connected the surge protector there. Dude was a 30+ year electrician. Your logic does sound right .. but that's just how he did mine.

@@Re5ist_ance That’s called “best practice” but by no means the only way. Look up how a surge protector works and concept of “path of least resistance.”

Eaton says it doesn't matter where you put the protector!

@@mintheman7 Eaton says to use a 50 amp breaker with this in the installation instructions and per Eaton it doesn't matter where you put in in the load center

It depends on which model you have. For the ultra, 50 amp is the recommendation. For the other one, it is 15 if I recall correctly.

Thanks for commenting. I used a 50 amp breaker because this is what was specified in the manufacturer user manual. "A dedicated 2-pole 15 ampere circuit breaker is recommended for use with CHSP devices, but use a 2-pole 50 ampere circuit breaker to achieve the full published ratings of the CHSPT2ULTRA device." I have a CHSPT2ULTRA model. For reference: www.eaton.com/content/dam/eaton/products/backup-power-ups-surge-it-power-distribution/complete-home-surge-protection/recommended-installation-practices-for-chspt1-and-chspt2-products-pct348102.pdf Original manual: manualzz.com/doc/en/56076471/eaton-chspt2micro-instruction-bulletin

Probably not. In the event of an EMP, current will probably be surging on the grounds, neutrals, and everything else that was not designed to carry voltage.I don't know of any effective way of preventing EMP damage other than totally isolating equipment within a faraday cage. As I have never experienced an EMP, I do not have the means to test this theory or have really considered this to be the biggest concern in a doomsday scenario.

Thanks for your comment. Please check my video response on that kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qKeJptyYvJjVpac.html.

You could just say "I don't understand how electricity works". If its in the first or the last all the other circuits are still going to receive current. The 2ft of travel to reach the surge protector is still much shorter than the nearest 20ft it needs to travel to reach the nearest appliance.

@@jtmiller15 the manual says to install it at the beginning, that is why i mentioned at the top.

Eaton says it doesn't matter where you put the protector

So when I first created this channel, I literally just wanted to film working on stuff and let people see an example about how different things are done, I didn't know it would be so popular or that people would actually be looking to learn how to do things from watching my videos. I was just imagining hanging out with a buddy looking over my shoulder (KZfaq audience) while doing this work. Since that time, I've seen how popular this has become and the type of instructional content people are looking for which I'm definitely adjusting for. I'll definitely be adding more explanation in the future - Thanks for commenting!

Don't listen to these goobers they don't understand how electricity works. If its in the first or the last all the other circuits are still going to receive current, they're clueless goobers. The 2ft of travel to reach the surge protector is still much shorter than the nearest 20ft it needs to travel to reach the nearest appliance.

Eaton says it doesn't matter where you put the protector

You should read the install manual before throwing out "you should" comments.

Hi Bruce, great question! The surge protector is not a 50 amp surge protector. If you look on the spec sheet, it is rated for 108kA (that's 108,000 amps!) surge current (www.eaton.com/us/en-us/skuPage.CHSPT2ULTRA.specifications.html). It is advertised to reduce high voltage surge currents to 600V L-N, 1000V L-L, 800V N-G, 600V L-G (this is the clamping voltage or in the link the "protection" specification). What this means is that the maximum voltage allowed is 600V measured from line to neutral, 1000V measured from line to line, 800V measured from neutral to ground, and 600V measured from line to ground. So you might be wondering now, how in the world is it able to do that on a 50 amp breaker??? Well, the way breakers work is that it does not actually trip instantaneously when a certain amount of amps goes through the breaker. The rating is actually for sustained power draw. The actual mechanism inside the breaker is some element that heats up as a large amount of current flows and then trips the breaker. For surges, the amount of power that flows through is too fast to trip the breaker and is able to absorb the surge in the device. All this said, the manual that comes with the surge protector states that you should connect this to a 50 amp double pole breaker. I'm assuming they have tested and done all the calculations to ensure that the breaker would be sufficiently large enough to allow the unit to absorb the maximum amount of surge that this unit supports. When buying whole house surge protectors, you are looking for the maximum amount of surge current and the lowest clamping voltage that they can provide. There is no "matching" of the rated capacity of the panel to the surge protector - it really is just about how big of a surge the surge protector can handle. This said, none of the type 2 surge protectors on the market will be able to protect you against a direct lightning strike - that is in the order of magnitude of 300 million Volts and about 30,000 Amps. Type 2 surge protectors though can save your equipment from lightning that strikes main power lines and ripples down to push a surge to your house. The higher the surge current rating and the lower the clamping voltage, the larger the surge the surge protector can handle and the better it is for your equipment. Hope this explanation helps!

@@jonathanDIYs That was a great response and answered a different question I had. Thank you!

That's a thermal-magnetic breaker to protect the circuit if the SPD dead shorts from a direct strike or if the MOV's fail in spectacular fashion as they sometimes will. The duration of the 'over-voltage' spikes we are talking about are in the micro and millisecond range (10's or 100's).

Just bought one myself. The CH Surge Protector, for a weekend project. Waiting for 50A 2P Siemens breaker i ordered. Had a recent surge spike in my area. Blew my garage door opener’s, control board. Don’t want to have to replace the whole unit again. My new opener, has even more electronics WIFI, and bluetooth connectivity…

@@dtntnw Those 'CH' units are OK but they're made for the consumer market. There are better units that you can find cheaper. (not the breaker mounted ones either). If you got one I would get the 'Ultra'. I think it's rated @108k. I have the same openers, Chamberlain I think with the battery back-up. I had a problem with my refrigerator. Thank God it was still under extended warranty. They changed $1000 worth of circuit boards in it.

Uhm 3:55

Could you elaborate so we know what NOT to do?

Yea this person is just blowing smoke. I’ve seen electrician install them many different ways with no issue . So I don’t see what’s wrong with how he is installing it

Thanks for the feedback - I'd like to get a GoPro someday!

I contacted Eaton and they had this guidance: Eaton: Eaton recommends it be installed in the first spot if possible. However, Eaton recognizes that is not always the case and it can be installed in any location within the load center. The main concern is to not extend the wires used to connect the device to the breaker Me: Understood. Installing the surge protector to another location other than the first breaker does not degrade the performance of the unit in stopping surges? Eaton: No it does not change the function of the unit.

You could just say "I don't understand how electricity works". If its in the first or the last all the other circuits are still going to receive current. The 2ft of travel to reach the surge protector is still much shorter than the nearest 20ft it needs to travel to reach the nearest appliance.

You could just say "I don't understand how electricity works". If its in the first or the last all the other circuits are still going to receive current. The 2ft of travel to reach the surge protector is still much shorter than the nearest 20ft it needs to travel to reach the nearest appliance.

You could just say "I don't understand how electricity works". If its in the first or the last all the other circuits are still going to receive current. The 2ft of travel to reach the surge protector is still much shorter than the nearest 20ft it needs to travel to reach the nearest appliance.

You could just say "I don't understand how electricity works". If its in the first or the last all the other circuits are still going to receive current. The 2ft of travel to reach the surge protector is still much shorter than the nearest 20ft it needs to travel to reach the nearest appliance.

You could just say "I don't understand how electricity works". If its in the first or the last all the other circuits are still going to receive current. The 2ft of travel to reach the surge protector is still much shorter than the nearest 20ft it needs to travel to reach the nearest appliance.

@@jtmiller15 are you an electrician? I certainly am and this install is completely wrong

@@chrisstanley1131 I doubt that, otherwise you would realize why it wouldn't make a difference where this is installed. Or you just have a surface level understanding of electricity, without understanding any deeper concepts.