AutomatedOutlet
Senior Member
Steve,
I'll match whatever funds you raise.
I'll match whatever funds you raise.
got hit by lightning :(
- Thread starter electron
- Start date
Rupp
Senior Member
Dan,electron said:
I have guaranteed replacement Homeowners insurance so I gave them the list of damaged hardware/software, phones (model numbers), TV's (model numbers), appliances and they offered me the option to either replace all of them and submit the receipts or take a one time check. I took the check and ran. So all of my PC's were upgraded as well as the appliances.
I have the guaranteed replacement cost thing as well. Did you have any PC's which had minor damage? I have several PC's which had a dead nic, and some other weird behavior, so technically they run, but have problems. Since one of these machines is a high end HTPC, it's pretty important to me. What happened to your old equipment? I really don't want to give them my HD's since they contain tons of personal data. I realize our policies aren't the same, but any guidance would be helpful for sure.
Guy Lavoie
Active Member
Well, if our contributions can cover the 1% that *is* related to CT and the deductible, then even that would be a good start. I don't personally believe in forcing someone to accept donations (this can be a personal thing) but I do also believe in making our case for why we'd like to help out too. If its not for the lightening strike recovery itself, it could be just another way to pitch in along the lines of the AO special sale last week. I didn't need anything at the present time so I didn't participate in that one.
Steve
Senior Member
Well said Guy. And there is damage related to CT. The CT chat server was damaged, the UPS that supports it, etc. Not to mention indirectly stuff that you have that you use to figure stuff out to help us all out. And don't forget time. How many countless hours do you spend keeping this going. And directly related to the lightning, look at all the time you are spending just to get systems back up, and that is time away from your family. You could be having a nice dinner with your wife instead of troubleshooting and rebuilding pc's just for us. And why is it that the chat server was your first priority over all your personal stuff? You have been very generous and its not like we're raising thousands of dollars here, but why not just accept the small amount we can give back to you and CT in the same spirit as the AO fundraiser.
Rupp
Senior Member
Dan,electron said:
We took a direct hit. All of my PC's, electronics, TV's and appliances and even 2 wires in the walls had to be replaced. I kept all of my older PC's and the people that replaced out appliances took the old ones with them. Not only did my MB have melted spots on them the hard drives wouldn't spin any more. It was a catastrophic failure. I couldn't event open one of the DVD drives and had to pry it open to get out a DVD.
JohnBullard
Active Member
I don't think anything will protect against a DIRECT hit.
In my mind I think of surge protecters as just suppressing some of the spikes and junk from the power lines.
A real close lighting strike can induce ( electo-magnetically couple) some tremendous EMF into almost any electronic device. In the past, I had a close hit, and it not only fried electronics plugged in, but some stuff NOT PLUGGED IN THE THE POWER, TELEPHONE NOR CABLE.
Lightning can do weird things when it hits close by.
In my mind I think of surge protecters as just suppressing some of the spikes and junk from the power lines.
A real close lighting strike can induce ( electo-magnetically couple) some tremendous EMF into almost any electronic device. In the past, I had a close hit, and it not only fried electronics plugged in, but some stuff NOT PLUGGED IN THE THE POWER, TELEPHONE NOR CABLE.
Lightning can do weird things when it hits close by.
Spanky
Senior Member
Last night about 1:30 AM we had a massive storm in NC and took a close strike. The whole house cracked. A short time later the M1 started beeping. I check the keypad and it said EEPROM Fault. I power cycled the M1 to clear the EEPROM Fault and reloaded the program settings from ELKRP to make sure everything was set right. So far so good!
Thank goodness this was not a direct strike. On direct strikes all you can do is call the insurance company and evaluate all the things blown out.
I suggest in lightning prone areas, to install a telephone line lightning suppressor like the ELK-950. It is a sacrifical lamb and alot cheaper than replacing controls. Also make sure it is 6 feet or more from the control to allow for its lightning suppressors to kick in before the controls suppressors have to start working.
Thank goodness this was not a direct strike. On direct strikes all you can do is call the insurance company and evaluate all the things blown out.
I suggest in lightning prone areas, to install a telephone line lightning suppressor like the ELK-950. It is a sacrifical lamb and alot cheaper than replacing controls. Also make sure it is 6 feet or more from the control to allow for its lightning suppressors to kick in before the controls suppressors have to start working.
As Spanky said, if it's direct hit, all bets are off. Just call the insurance company. If lightning can jump through xxx ft/xx miles of open air, it's not going to have any problem blowing through the 1/16 inches of insulation in a surge suppressor. I've seen a spark from just an induced surge (aka a close strike) jump ~18 inches from the end of a piece of coax to a baseboard electic heat. As I was holding the coax at the time, let's just say that I REALLY needed to change my pants afterward..... 
Sorry to hear about your past loss. Hope everything has been replaced. This is a subject of serious interest to me. We get lightning strikes every year here where I live and have also lost electronics. There are some things I would like to bring up for discussion if any one has expertise or similar issues.
1) Ground everything according to code and tie everything to nearby grounds. It has even been suggested to me to ground my 24VAC irrigation valves directly to an in-ground grounding system in addition to the appliance ground (killed two irrigation controllers from electrical surges up the valve wires). I have not tried this yet and yes every lightning storm trashes some irrigation controller but all get repaired or replaced under warranty. It's still a hassle to undo the damage.
2) I use current UPS and battery/inverter technology whenever possible or necessary (my computer is run from a bank of batteries, the solar panels are mounted on a steel post which acts as a major ground sink for my 12VDC system which is also tied to the house ground). I have not seen computers/equipment damage yet when properly connected to an UPS. I can't determine if the size of the battery is important, even small UPS batteries seem to work.
I have not seen one computer or appliance damaged under these conditions. My grid electrical transformer was struck directly just this past winter and had to be replaced, but my equipment suffered no damage, (first time ever). The television cable wire from the transformer pole to a splitter before my surge protector melted and had to be replaced. Have I just been lucky or is this isolation/grounding effort working? Of course not all things are battery protected so we unplug what we have to so not to worry that the grounding will be effective.
My assumption is that batteries can absorb and filter a lightning strike surge if properly grounded. I learned this the hard way when a nearby lightning strike exploded a battery (not grounded), but it could also have been a spark that ignited battery gasses. I didn't see it happen, fortunately.
My second assumption is that electrical energy from lightning gets stuck in the wiring and equipment because of weak or improper grounds and explodes different things depending on where it accumulates.
I am no technical expert but have years of experience defending against direct/nearby lightning strikes. I really am open to discussion on these subjects to avoid future problems.
Grounds should be setup to be the most attractive path to earth to minimize electrical surges in your wiring. Ye old lightning rod technology.
I put this out in order to be corrected so that I can avoid a situation similar to Electron's Thanks William
1) Ground everything according to code and tie everything to nearby grounds. It has even been suggested to me to ground my 24VAC irrigation valves directly to an in-ground grounding system in addition to the appliance ground (killed two irrigation controllers from electrical surges up the valve wires). I have not tried this yet and yes every lightning storm trashes some irrigation controller but all get repaired or replaced under warranty. It's still a hassle to undo the damage.
2) I use current UPS and battery/inverter technology whenever possible or necessary (my computer is run from a bank of batteries, the solar panels are mounted on a steel post which acts as a major ground sink for my 12VDC system which is also tied to the house ground). I have not seen computers/equipment damage yet when properly connected to an UPS. I can't determine if the size of the battery is important, even small UPS batteries seem to work.
I have not seen one computer or appliance damaged under these conditions. My grid electrical transformer was struck directly just this past winter and had to be replaced, but my equipment suffered no damage, (first time ever). The television cable wire from the transformer pole to a splitter before my surge protector melted and had to be replaced. Have I just been lucky or is this isolation/grounding effort working? Of course not all things are battery protected so we unplug what we have to so not to worry that the grounding will be effective.
My assumption is that batteries can absorb and filter a lightning strike surge if properly grounded. I learned this the hard way when a nearby lightning strike exploded a battery (not grounded), but it could also have been a spark that ignited battery gasses. I didn't see it happen, fortunately.
My second assumption is that electrical energy from lightning gets stuck in the wiring and equipment because of weak or improper grounds and explodes different things depending on where it accumulates.
I am no technical expert but have years of experience defending against direct/nearby lightning strikes. I really am open to discussion on these subjects to avoid future problems.
Grounds should be setup to be the most attractive path to earth to minimize electrical surges in your wiring. Ye old lightning rod technology.
I put this out in order to be corrected so that I can avoid a situation similar to Electron's Thanks William
If Zeus wants your @$$ there is nothing you can in reality do about it, we simply do no make insulators for this. You gotta remember this just arced 15-20k feet through air, it's an insane amount of energy.
Dan needs time more then $ so next I am in his area I will offer to wire up that which I am capable. You guys know we all have much more labor time then we do actual cash in these systems, even if you only paid yourself minimum wage.
Dan needs time more then $ so next I am in his area I will offer to wire up that which I am capable. You guys know we all have much more labor time then we do actual cash in these systems, even if you only paid yourself minimum wage.
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