Surge
Test
A lightning strike a mile away can still do damage through the power line. So can a heavy machine switch on and off nearby? Both send a short, high-energy pulse through electrical wiring — a surge — and unprotected equipment on the receiving end can fail instantly.
Surge Test as per IEC 61000-4-5:2014
A lightning strike a mile away can still do damage through the power line. So can a heavy machine switch on and off nearby? Both send a short, high-energy pulse through electrical wiring — a surge — and unprotected equipment on the receiving end can fail instantly.
IEC 61000-4-5:2014 is the standard that measures whether a product survives that pulse. It's built around a specific waveform, often called the 8/20 microsecond surge test, matching how a real surge behaves rather than some abstract worst case.
Here's how it plays out in the lab: a surge generator fires controlled high-voltage pulses into the equipment's power or signal lines. After each pulse, engineers check whether the device is still working normally, or whether something inside has degraded.
Equipment installed outdoors, or wired through long cable runs, has more surge exposure than something sitting on a desk indoors. Lightning surge testing confirms the internal protection circuits are actually doing their job — absorbing the shock instead of passing it straight to sensitive components.
Aldo Compliance runs this in a few defined steps:
Surge Generator Verification
Verifying the surge generator's waveform and impedance against IEC 61000-4-5 requirements before any product testing starts
Increasing Surge Levels
Applying increasing surge levels to find the actual protection limit, not just a single pass/fail point
Device Inspection
Inspecting the device after each pulse for functional loss or physical degradation
Test Documentation
Documenting every surge level applied, alongside the final pass or fail outcome
Frequently Asked Questions
What actually causes a power surge?
Lightning strikes, heavy equipment switching, and sudden load changes on the grid are the usual culprits.
Is this the same as short circuit testing?
No — surge testing checks voltage spike immunity, while short circuit testing verifies protection against current overload.