The NEMA Low Voltage Surge Protection Devices, 05VS, has been asked to provide an overview of electrical and electronic equipment surge susceptibility. This overview will help the electrical community, engineers, consumers, and technicians understand the various transient conditions to which electrical and electronic equipment may be subjected. The intent is not to evaluate individual companies’ equipment as to safety or product performance, but to create awareness and offer guidance based on real-world testing on protection. This will be helpful in preventing problems with products. While there are many documents, papers, standards, web sites, and other media that talk about the harmful effects of transient impulses practical and empirical data is not readily available. Some of the explanations for this lack of data are the variable conditions electrical equipment is subjected to events such as electrical equipment failure, electronic equipment process interruption, insulation breakdown in electric conductors and electronic circuits, electronic component breakdown, premature aging of electrical and electronic components, etc. The standards community has many test procedures and evaluation practices for a prescribed environment. The challenge is that these environments are normally under standard test conditions, for example, 25°C.
