Problems with power surge and SSA

[robcollinson]

Hi

First of all can I say how good I think the SSA is and the great software (esp since v6 has been out)

However I would like to quibble with the specs listed. They say that the dmx in/out are protected from surges - DON'T TRUST THIS

ALWAYS run your SSA along with a protection device - at school we did not - we got a powersurge and fried the chips on the DMX in and out - it blew the DMX on 2 of our PACKS as well!!!!!!

We now always run protected

In a latter post I will detail the protection we use and the chip details in case anyone has the same problems

Rob Collinson

[support]

For several years already, the SSA includes an optical isolation for dmx in and out. The previous version of SSA did not have this protection. For info, the pcb (printed circuit board) length of old version is 20cm and the pcb length with optical isolation is 21,5cm. The casing of both versions is similar.

Please note that optical isolation concerns "ground loop" electrical problem, which is the most dangerous because it usually completly destroy the pcb. The dmx chip is mounted on a socket, so it can be easily replaced by a new one, in case of power surge.