Tfryman:
You are correct with some of my incorrect verbiage at times. It is I squared x R to get power but I was just trying to emphasize that the oxidized contact resistance is where the heat is being generated.
Also, when I talk about AC power, I am referring to the power loss across the oxidized/corroded resistance giving rise to the resulting heat. I know it is related to the RMS AC x the RMS I, not taking into account the exact phase relationship. I do not want to get too technical and am sorry if I hurt your feelings.
Also, most "surge suppressors" are actually just tranzorbs that look like little ceramic capacitors that break down due to the instantaneous peak voltage applied across the tranzorb. Fast and short rise time voltage transients or spikes are absorbed by these units but will fail if to much or too long a transient persists resulting in too much internal heat, rendering the tranzorb into a very low resistance that trips some safety device such as a fuse or a circuit breaker. I know you probably are familiar with these devices.
I just get tired of everybody thinking that the melted connector is a result of a "short circuit" when if it was truly a short circuit, a circuit breaker would trip. If there was no circuit breaker, and there is a true short circuit, sparks would really fly.
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