Counters of the impulse number were used for the previous generation of MOA – it was gapped valve-type arresters. That generation had a concept of “resource” for them because of a small thermal resource of nonlinear elements connected in series with gap. It was only 20-30 discharges of the gap, after which it was necessary to replace the arrester with a new one. Of course, it was important to check counter’s readings and didn’t miss the time to change valve-type arrester to a new one. However, for modern gapless MOA, the concept of “resource” is absent, and no one knows how many pulses the MOA can withstand. Therefore, even if you have counted the number of these impulses, what should you do with this information? Especially if you don’t know from the counter readings whether it was low-energy impulses (low current and short duration) or high-energy pulses (high current and long duration) of a big danger.

For instance, on the figure below you can see two impulses with the same amplitude of 4 kA but of different duration. The counting device will count them as equal ones. However their energy (and heating of the MOA) differs in 3.5 times (10 kJ and 35 kJ respectively) and they couldn’t be counted as equal ones.

CONCLUSION: by the FIRST and the SECOND reasons, the device (current meter and/or impulse counter) shown in the photo above is useless. And it does not matter at all, whether they are made in China or in Germany or somewhere else. Installing of this device is a waste of customers’ money and waste a time of your maintenance staff. Please do not spend money for these stupid devices. If you have money, you always can find a way to spend them for something more useful.