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Stormin’s Work Bench (Cross Strikes resolutions for Optilator
& Optelator II) 5/26/04 The Optilator &
Optelator II is a well known product in the AM/ FM broadcast and the Power
Utility industry. The rest of the world is
not really exposed to this product. It
is a pricy product, but for good reason. The nature of it’s design is two
separate PC boards that are miniature phone systems separated by fiber optics. In the AM/FM industry this product became a
salvation to Burk, Gentner, and Sine Systems.
The reasons are quite obvious.
In a 650 foot tower, a direct strike by lightning is an imminent blow
out. It is a matter of time before
these communications equipment will expire.
The Optelator has become a requirement by most Chief Engineers to
install this device to prevent even a direct strike that destroys these
monitoring systems. The purpose of the
Optelator is to prevent a path way to ground by isolating the phone company
phone line with 5” of fiber optics from the modems. In this manner we eliminate a ground
loop. Something very rare happens
sometimes in the AM/FM industry.
Because of the nature of the 100% hit ratio, plus direct impact by
lightning, which constitutes extremely high risk, and also because of soil
content and the lack of attention due by the phone company for improved grounding,
a rare phenomenon occurs. In 15 years
of phone line protection, I have never seen or heard of cross strikes on
phone lines. In this industry, it is
possible. In the last five years
selling the Optelator I have seen approx 50 units that get damaged by this
phenomenon, and all of them repairable.
Because of this, I have invented a specially designed surge
suppression devices that does not need to be grounded
(Telco-ISO2WDTB-RJ11-Optelator). It is
only designed to deal with cross strike problems. You plug it in up-line from the Optelator,
and it creates a bit of impedance on the line with enough protection designed
for AC power, which forces the cross strike to occur inside this device,
instead of doing it in the Optelator.
This device has heat sinks plus is heavily loaded with protection
across the line in four stages plus an isolation transformer. It does effect the operating voltage and
current by Ma Bell but, the Optelator compensates that on the output. If a cross strike occurs, we want it to do
it in this device that can handle this rare problem. Another answer to this problem, and I am
not alone in saying this. If you can
only get the phone company to come out and properly ground their de-mark,
plus apply chemical based ground rod system tied directly into your single
point grounding system it will solve this problem, naturally I am
dreaming. The power utility industry
has also had this problem, but their percentage has been next to nothing
compared to the AM/FM broadcast industry.
For your information, the reason the utility uses the Optelator is to
eliminate a 10,000 volt differential that does exist between their lift
stations and the phone company de-mark box.
So just imagine how long it takes to fry a modem, forget the lightning
issue. Sincerely John E. Pecore President Stormin Protection
Products inc. 888-471-1038 |
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Stormin’s Work Bench Sine Systems & Optelator
corrective action 5/26/04 The Optelator II is
a well known product in the AM/ FM broadcast industry. But! Optelator II will work
with Sine Equipment, but with a little
effort on your part it will work. 90%
of all modems the Optelator II will perform, but this year the popularity of
the Sine Equipment develop a problem for us.
It is now resolved. I had two Engineers that called, one I could not
help, but the 2nd Engineer took matters in his own hands. An Engineer Mr.
Brian Hill, from Back Yard
Broadcasting in Pennsylvania discovered that it was not the Optelator being
the problem, rather a reprogramming is requirement for ring sensitivity for
the Sine Equipment. Example: RFC1 B unit: Access memory address 1014 Enter value (10) then hit pound (#) This changes the Factory
Default of (0) = 1.79 volts
sensitivity to 4.66 volts sensitivity. While I was on the phone
with Brian, he proved to me it worked.
He dialed up the Sine Equipment and it made a connection on the first
ring. Brian’s Fear was, could
that be a problem because any transit surges higher the 1.79 will get
through. My answer was quit
simple. That is impossible, because
our link is fiber optics, and that means there is no possibility or any
transits at all can even get
anything above 4.66 volts. This concludes a happy
ending and a new beginning to solve the equipment interface problems. If you have any questions like this please
contact me regarding the Optelator II. Sincerely John E. Pecore President Stormin Protection
Products inc. 888-471-1038 |
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Solution
for Sine Systems |
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Phone: 727-823-6100 Toll Free:
888-471-1038 SIP Phone: 529-2299 Fax: 727-823-6044
Email:
(&)Sip:jpecore@earthlink.net |
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To contact us: |
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We have some
solutions, and interesting ideas regarding the Optelator. |
