Due to an unfortunate event years ago, when I finally acquired a violet wand of my own I didn't even plug it in for the first time without researching and acquiring some electrical safety equipment. A comment made in the E.E. discussion forum a few months ago (by ixlr8, actually) indicated that my equipment may be redundant - but I'm pretty sure each piece of gear I'm using has a distinct purpose, so I'd like to confirm (or disprove) the necessity of all this. (I'm posting this here, rather than as a thread reply, as I'm not an E.E. customer yet, nor am I using E.E. equipment.)

I have an outlet wiring tester with a GFCI test button, a GFCI box with self-test button (assembled from off-the-shelf parts, tested with the outlet tester), and a one-outlet surge suppressor (with ground and protection lights), and a set of sectional foam mats (like exercise mats with interlocking puzzle-piece edges). At small gatherings or events, my standard setup procedure is as such:

First, I check the outlet with the wiring tester, to make sure hot/neutral/ground are OK; then, set up the mats in the work area to prevent grounding through floor nails or other conductive floor bits (as well as check for other nearby potential ground sources); then, I plug in the surge suppressor and check the protection light; then plug in the GFCI into the surge suppressor and test that it's working; then plug in the wand and go nuts, ensuring that both I and my subject(s) aren't touching both the wand and anything leading off the mats at the same time. (Whew! Longer to explain than to do...)

(Some of these steps may be relaxed, depending on circumstance.)

To the best of my knowledge, the GFCI and the surge suppressor perform different functions. The GFCI is intended to cut power if the current flowing out of the "hot" wire doesn't match the current flowing into the "neutral" wire - i.e. current flowing out of the device, possibly through a person, and into a ground. The surge suppressor is being used not only to protect the wand (and users) from incoming voltage spikes, but also to minimize outgoing voltage spikes - apparently violet wands can generate significant electrical noise, which can be passed back into the outlet and damage or disrupt anything else plugged into the same circuit without its own surge suppressor (computers, stereos, etc. - pretty much what I figure happened during the "unfortunate event".)

I have discussed this setup with two other out-of-town violet wand users at events over the past several months, both of whom were somewhat surprised by my setup. One of them had simply started unplugging all major electronics when they were playing with the wand, and resetting any digital clocks when they were done. The other did not comment as much on his own experiences, although he appeared to consider my setup as new to him (though he was familiar with the devices from other contexts).

I understand that the pads I use are slightly redundant - if the subject became grounded through a floor nail and there was a wiring failure in the wand, the GFCI would kick in, and there would just be a sharp-but-non-lethal shock and an interruption of play. Using just the pads, there would only be a hazard if a ground path intruded into the play area (which can happen in chaotic environments). Using just one or the other would probably be technically safe, but using both protects against inconvenience (and wandering spectators) as well.

However, I disagree that the GFCI and the surge suppressor are truly redundant, relative to each other. The way I see it, just about everything I use serves some unique purpose, safety-wise. Is there some aspect of wand design that would make some or all of my "standard party setup" unnecessary?

(Edit: Post was bloody long. Some details/phrasing precision snipped. Will fill in if relevant.)

No, the GFI or GFCI or there for safety with the use of a violet wand. There are other safety steps in place in the newer violet wands them self. But the GFI or GFCI is a good tool to have and most clubs or groups, or even private play partys wont allow use of a violet wand with out those tools in place.

 

 

For sure a GFCI and surge protector are quite different. The surge protector you could live without, but it's for sure nice to have the GFCI for safety.

Most surge protectors are based on MOV's (Metal Oxide Varistors), which don't conduct unless the voltage gets above I think it's like 160v, but I would have to go look that up. Bottom line is that if you get a high voltage surge that's above that threshold then MOV will start conducting and in esence short out that surge voltage. They work wondeful, but are one shot devices, once they start conducting, that is the end of their life, and must be replaced.

This is why many surge protectors have a light to show they have been tripped, as when that happens they no longer protect, and should be replaced. Now the question I am not sure of is if the vwand would trip them at the low current enough to destroy the MOV, I just don't know that one, and haven't tested it.

On the other hand as you said above, the GFCI watches for variances between the Hot and Neutral power lines, implying the power is going someplace else if they are now equal. Here is a link on GFCI operation, and for sure they are always good to have for safety..

GFCI Information


Hope this helps explain it all some..

-CD

Wow! Quick responses! Thanks!

Something else about surge protectors (at least, the one I'm using) is that they protect against EMI noise passed in/out of the outlet. Mine can apparently handle a fair amount of moderate-level EMI before the MOVs fry (although a really strong voltage spike would probably still kill it). And I'm really using it more to protect other electronics in the building from EMI than to shield against big voltage spikes (though that's a bonus). I've been using mine for close to a year now, and haven't fried anything yet (that I wasn't intending to fry). And at $7-$10, when it does burn out, replacement is cheap...though I might still upgrade to this sort of thing eventually.

The GFCI article is pretty decent, although I went into a little more detail before assembling my inline GFCI, since I'm trusting my life to my own wiring job.

The Uncle Abdul/Woodsman Engineering article about the BB2 was what clinched my decision to go with a GFCI and EMI-filtering surge suppressor. Although my Belkin isn't as heavy-duty as the BB2, it is at least rated for 43 dB EMI suppression, and the 900-volt spikes mentioned would correspond to about 17.5 dB, if my calculations are correct, so in theory, it should hold...

I also use both a portable GFI (the one sold by EE is small and does the job) and a surge suppressor power strip. I cover this in my demos with the reasons stated here - in essence, the GFI is to protect the people involved, the surge suppressor is to protect the toys and electronics. Using a power strip version surge suppressor also gives me a bit more extension and extra plug ins for lights, if needed.

I plug the GFI into the wall, then the surge strip, then my on/off foot pedal, and lastly the wand. Any reason why this order should be changed? It sounds like Halo is plugging the GFI and surge protection in the opposite order?

Halo, when you look at various surge strips, you will see they come in various different ratings. A good surge strip will actually be a combination of MOV's and wound inductors. Needless to say having multiple MOV's is a good thing, and greatly increases the clamping capacity the strip can take against surge voltages, and of course the max current the strip can shunt before the MOV's melt down. FYI, I have seen MOV's blow apart from surges before. Also the inductors are what reduce the EMI, as high frequency does NOT like to pass through an inductive circuit.

If you take apart a quality strip that is designed to clamp surges, and also reduce EMI type noise, you will generally find something like this:

Outlet -- MOV -- Inductor -- MOV -- Outlet -- MOV -- Inductor -- MOV -- Switch -- Breaker -- Power Cord

That would be a two outlet unit, and the outlet furtherest from the power cord would have better supression than the one closest to the power cord. This is pretty normal, some of the TripLight strips I have even even list that each stage has increased supression.

I am not sure what is in Unc's box, but $150 for a two outlet supression box with a GFCI is for sure making a nice bit of extra change for him. To increase the surge handling, I am sure all he does is take and parallel multiple MOV's in the box, which have gotten damn cheap now days. Heck he should have just used an internal GFCI outlet instead of making it external.

To AG, as to which order is better, sure many could come up with a reason why this order is better than that order, and arguments could be made on both sides of the coin on the issue, like. If you take and put the surge strip before the GFCI, then that surge strip could protect the electronics in the GFCI outlet, granted they are pretty tough overall. On the other hand, putting the GFCI before the surge strip, could detect any leaking electricity inside the strip as well, so a lot of that would be personal prefrences.

In homes, most GFCI's are just built into the wall, so in reality they are normally first just by default. In an add-on extention cord like you would take to do a demo, it could be wired up either way, and should work perfectly fine. With most wand usage, you have a bakelite housing that is a good insulator, and if your using electrodes with a spark gap (ie the glass tubes, or a solid with a gap) you should in general be safe from any dangerous ground loops anyway. If you do anything where your using an ungapped electrode, then for sure you need to be more cautious, as it would be very possible to create a conductive path for the raw A/C line voltage. As one who has been bitten a few times by line voltage over the years, I am here to tell you it's no joy, or I didn't think so..

-CD

(slap forehead) Inductors. Those were the bits that suppressed the EMI, more so than the MOVs. Now I remember. Thank you.

I seem to remember something about MOVs/inductors being connected between the individual pins of each outlet, providing clamping of voltages between hot-ground, hot-neutral, and neutral-ground - am I off on this?

I just use a single outlet surge suppressor, rather than a strip, since I'm (currently) only plugging in one VW at a time. Maybe one of these days I'll open the thing and see what components it actually uses - couldn't seem to find circuit diagrams on the Belkin site.

I use the sequence I do because (A) I couldn't find compelling significant evidence one way or the other, and (B) plugging things in the other way would require either a very short extension cord or a rebuild/modification of the GFCI box. Given Cyberdude's comments, and looking back over the (available) specs (and geometry) of my equipment, I think I'll continue with my current plug-in order - the GFCI seems more robust than the suppressor.

Given the anecdotal evidence I've picked up(1), and responses here, maybe there should be some brief mention of surge suppressors added to the VW Safety Basics FAQ? Maybe fried electronics aren't as common as I suspect, but maybe so...

Regardless of the order of the GFCI/suppressor, I agree with AuburnGoddess about putting foot pedal(s) between the wand and the GFCI/suppressor - though now I'm thinking about adding suppression to the pedal itself (either internally or a few inches "downstream" of the pedal, to reduce unintentional (but probably harmless) foot-zaps...


(My current gear: 1159-safety gear.jpg)

(1) Online/offline comments about reset/fried computers from a few others, plus the "unfortunate incident" mentioned above: An "imported" "highly respected" pro-Dom performing at a local club I frequented tried to use a VW on me, and managed to fry/reset the club's sound system three times before being asked to stop. I had to wait for years before finally purchasing my own...