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Low-voltage surge protective device (SPD) systems are designed to protect your facility against lightning and sudden overvoltage surges by reacting at the nanosecond level, perfectly damping the surge directed at your facility and preventing damage to your equipment. As Raycap, we have 2400 different LV SPD systems and technologies, and in the face of the increasing lightning risk parallel to global warming, we recommend protecting your facilities. In this article, we list 10 important reasons that will motivate you to use LV SPDs.
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Your equipment can fail even if a lightning strike occurs 2 km away from your facility!
Yes, you heard correctly. For lightning-related damage to your equipment, the lightning does not have to strike your facility directly. Due to differences in soil resistivity, the surge spreading over the ground can reach your facility from 2 km away and enter through external inputs such as power and telecommunication lines, gradually damaging your equipment. Therefore, you must protect your facility starting from the main incoming panel with a properly designed SPD system.
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If you have a lightning rod or air terminal system, you must use LV SPDs!
Go outside your factory now and look at the roof. You will definitely see that you have an external lightning protection system. So why did you install this system? You probably think it protects your facility from lightning. However, remember that external lightning protection systems only protect against fire and physical damage; they do not protect your electrical systems. On the contrary, facilities with external lightning protection must definitely use LV SPDs. The lightning strike that is captured and conducted to ground can easily damage all your equipment.
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Does your external lightning protection system descend from the roof in a non-insulated manner?
Unfortunately, in our country, 99% of external lightning protection systems reach the ground without using a special insulated lightning conductor, and due to coupling effects, the surge may reach all your systems before reaching the ground. For this reason, LV SPD systems must be used throughout the facility, including floor distribution panels.
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Do you think “I have disaster insurance for the entire factory, so there will be no problem”?
Remember, insurance companies are now aware of the lightning risk, which has increased fourfold in our country. If you check your insurance policy, you will see that a staged SPD system in accordance with IEC 62305 is required. In many facilities, payments were not made or were reduced for lightning-related damage due to the absence of SPDs. The risk of premium increases is equivalent to the cost of full facility protection!
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Production downtime or machine failures?
In heavily operating facilities, even one hour of machine downtime is a major problem. We could not even bear to describe the scenario where the entire facility is damaged by lightning and control cards burn out. We move quickly past this point!
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What do regulations and standards say?
First of all, regardless of inspection issues, regulations and standards in our country require the use of LV SPDs in your facility. The Internal Installations Regulation Article 43, Occupational Safety Regulations, and Lightning Protection Standards all mandate the use of LV SPDs.
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If automation and low-current systems are widespread and expensive in your facility?
These systems do not require hundreds of kiloamperes of lightning current to be damaged. Surges in the range of 5–10 kA or even charged weather conditions can damage many systems. Therefore, you must install an LV SPD system during installation or retrofit it later.
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I’m very rich, I can easily replace devices damaged by lightning!
In our country, 155,000 lightning strikes occurred in just two days, between June 14–15. More than 4 million lightning strikes occur annually. Instead of replacing or repairing equipment every time, how about implementing proper protection?
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Use of LV SPD systems is mandatory for system integrity!
Within the scope of IEC 62305, grounding, equipotential bonding, external lightning protection, and LV SPD systems are inseparable elements of a single system. If one of these is missing in your facility, you are exposed to surges.
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Fire Risk!
Unfortunately, in our country, the primary cause of fires is referred to as electrical contact. In 2021 analyses, 67 factories in the Kocaeli region alone were recorded as having factory fires caused by sudden overvoltage. Installing LV SPD systems in your panels will reduce fire risk in your facility.
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BONUS! So how do I get protection?
The Yılkomer expert team provides free on-site inspection support by visiting your facility. After presenting a facility-specific analysis and inspection list, you can protect your entire facility with Yılkomer through practical implementation. You can now contact the Yılkomer team, which uses Raycap products with the world’s most advanced LV SPD technology.
Protecting your facility with low-voltage SPD systems is a necessity!
Remember, Yılkomer ‘Protects Your Values!’
