Re: IIc keeps tripping the circuit breaker

[mjmahon@aol.com (Michael J. Mahon)]

Tom Zuchowski replied:

>"Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com> wrote in message
>news:20020806040409.15387.00002015@mb-dh.aol.com...
>> An MOV's (Metal-Oxide Varistor's) typical failure mode is "open", not
>> "shorted", so it is extremely unlikely that they would be intermittently
>> shorting to produce the questioner's problem.  (Not impossible, just
>> extremely unlikely.  ;-)
>
>Uh, I suppose they turn into black smoking charcoal by opening up? I would
>have supposed that was a result of the heat generated from a shorted
>condition . . .

More likely from absorbing a significant triansient.  They are supposed
to convert that energy into heat.  Of course, where I live, we don't have
thunderstorms to speak of, and I don't plug them into an elevator circuit,
so there isn't much to absorb.  ;-)

After they've done their absorption job, they may be shorted, leaky,
or open, depending on how much energy they ate.

>MOV's do get leaky over time and that is why they should be periodically
>replaced.

I have never seen a leaky one.  Maybe I'm just lucky...

-michael

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