The storm that came through yesterday zapped quite a few electronics


DEAD
1 x Dayton Audio MA1240a Multi-Zone 12 Channel Amplifier
1 x Epson Home Cinema 3100 1080p 3LCD Home Theater Projector
4 x Philips - Hue White and Color Ambiance A19 Wi-Fi Smart LED Bulb
1 x Google - Home Mini
1 x Onkyo TX-NR676 7.2 Channel Network A/V Receiver
1 x AT&T Uverse Modem
1 x AT&T Uverse TV Box
1 x Security Sensor
1 x GE Z-Wave Plus Smart Lighting Control Light Switch

Potentially Damaged/Dead
5 x Klipsch CDT-5650-C II In-Ceiling Speaker
1 x Klipsch R-12SW 12-Inch Front-Firing 400W Max Subwoofer
1 x Polk Audio RC85i 2-Way In-Wall Speakers
3 x Pyle Home PIC8E 300 Watt High-End 8-Inch In-Ceiling Speakers
1 x Ubiquiti Networks UAP-AC-IW-US UNIFI AP IN-WALL
1 x Chamberlain Smart Garage Hub MYQ-G0301
1 x BESTEK 12-Outlet Power Strip Surge Protector
1 x Ubiquiti Unifi Cloud Key
1 x Ubiquiti UniFi Switch - 24 Ports Managed (
1 x CyberPower OR500LCDRM1U
1 x Steam Link
1 x Garage Door Opener ?
2 x Google - Chromecast Audio
1 x Samsung - SmartThings Hub

Ugh. Surge protectors didn't do anything.

Yeah, I knew. Still held out hope as I went upstairs to check the media room.

AggieChemE09 said:

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Yeah, I knew. Still held out hope as I went upstairs to check the media room.

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They do contain lots of hope in their circuitry!

Love that we do not have that risked out here for the most part.

Worst we might get is power spikes during fall/winter wind storms.

So is there any reasonable measure to protect equipment vs a lightning strike or is that just always a lost battle?

Smoked salmon is the bomb, btw.

Engine10 said:

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So is there any reasonable measure to protect equipment vs a lightning strike or is that just always a lost battle?

Smoked salmon is the bomb, btw.

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yeah, this post is more of a vent of frustration and looking for ideas.

I have a whole home surge to help stop these, if it came in on the power side of the house. Check your home owners policy for coverage if what you lost is over your deductible.

Had my house in Prosper struck while I was on vacation, it fried everything on an external wall including my battery powered front door deadbolt. the alarm siren went off for three days while we were gone, I didn't know the code and had never armed it before we left. The only things that survived were things that had a built-in voltage regulator like the Xbox, it fried the Black Box on the cord and all I had to do was replace the cord not the whole thing.

Engine10 said:

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So is there any reasonable measure to protect equipment vs a lightning strike or is that just always a lost battle?

Smoked salmon is the bomb, btw.

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For a direct lightning strike you'd need a lightning rod system (rods, conductors and ground rods), surge protection on both sides of your panel (between utility/panel, between panel/house) and point surge protectors at each outlet you want to protect. Even that doesn't guarantee protection and is very very expensive. Stopping 4 billion joules of energy is no small feat.

Your most reasonable measure is to unplug everything. Ok, so that's not so reasonable.

What the hell is a jigawatt?!!

AtlAg05 said:

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Does that translate roughly to 1.21 gigawatts?

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Well unless you get the house up to 88mph, it wont matter.

AtlAg05 said:

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Does that translate roughly to 1.21 gigawatts?

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About 10-20 gigawatts in a lightning bolt on average with some estimated to reach over a terawatt. Doc just needed 1.21 gW to run the flux capacitor.

dlance said:

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aggieforester05 said:

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My driveway got hit last year and it fried a bunch of stuff in my house and my neighbor's house. Came into my house via coax from the cable internet connection. Power only surge protectors would have done no good.

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The electricity from lightning doesn't even have to actually enter any of your wiring to fry something. The electromagnetism from the lightning can induce a current strong enough to fry some electronics.

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That's what I'm pretty sure happened at our place. I never was able to find where the strike hit - it came sort of at random after the storm was almost done. From what I remember we lost the LCD controller in the TV, Wii power supply, and the DVI port on a video card and the breaker those devices were on tripped along with a couple of others on the same subpanel. Scared the hell out of the cat and dog too.

So buying these high dollar Isobars, whole house surge protectors, and AC surge protectors is just a huge farce and fear induced money making scheme?

Well, my speakers and subwoofer are still working. That is about 2k of stuff I don't need to replace.

BrazosDog02 said:

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So buying these high dollar Isobars, whole house surge protectors, and AC surge protectors is just a huge farce and fear induced money making scheme?

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No. You can still get surges from the utility side or a surge from something like your fridge that goes back through your panel to your electronics. They're great at protecting against those.

The farce is anyone selling those items as protection against a lightning strike when the docs with those items will specifically say they don't.

AggieChemE09 said:

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Well, my speakers and subwoofer are still working. That is about 2k of stuff I don't need to replace.

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Silver lining?

For real though, that blows.

dlance said:

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aggieforester05 said:

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My driveway got hit last year and it fried a bunch of stuff in my house and my neighbor's house. Came into my house via coax from the cable internet connection. Power only surge protectors would have done no good.

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The electricity from lightning doesn't even have to actually enter any of your wiring to fry something. The electromagnetism from the lightning can induce a current strong enough to fry some electronics.

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The only things that got fried were directly in line with electronics connected to the coax.

I think I am gonna cancel the insurance claim now that I know the speakers are not damaged. The damages are probably under the deductable now.

Would you potentially need a rider on your home owners insurance for these items?

My house took a hit while for sale in sept 2015 which was the last thing we needed at that time in FW.. thank goodness we were home as it started small fire in attic that could have gotten much worse had I not smelled smoke. It blew the air vent to shreds down the fireplace and a hole in the attic decking. Fried a bunch of our electrics down stairs and took out the majority of my 25 zone irrigation system, controller, wiring and solinoids all throughout yard (1 acre+). Pretty crazy where that stuff can go and the path it'll take. You'll never catch me in the shower again with even the smallest threat of lighting after that one.

You might take a look at your grounding in the house. It is possible that there could be an issue with it.

A few years ago, one power company in Texas was losing radio gear on a regular occurrence. At some point, they began to understand the importance of grounding and they made sure that all of their radio gear was properly grounded. Their loss of radio equipment reportedly dropped to about once per year.

I was reading about one tv station that built a new studio and the engineer had them install grounding rods every two or three feet around the building tied to the rebar. He was very proud of the fact that they never lost one piece of equipment in the building due to lightning.

By the way, what I'm looking at doing on our network in the building is to switch to fiber optic so that the network itself won't conduct a power surge to other parts of the network.

eric76 said:

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By the way, what I'm looking at doing on our network in the building is to switch to fiber optic so that the network itself won't conduct a power surge to other parts of the network.

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T&P for your wallet

Lightening

Quick question on UPS. link

I have several power supplies like these on all my electronics equipment. I realize lightning might fry it and my stuff, but will they cover the connected items? Or will a lighting strike be excluded?

Quote:

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• 3-Year Limited Warranty and $100,000 Ultimate Lifetime Insurance for connected equipment

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dubi said:

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Quick question on UPS. link

I have several power supplies like these on all my electronics equipment. I realize lightning might fry it and my stuff, but will they cover the connected items? Or will a lighting strike be excluded?

Quote:

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• 3-Year Limited Warranty and $100,000 Ultimate Lifetime Insurance for connected equipment

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No lightning coverage.

Quote:

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Tripp Lite warrants, for the lifetime of the product, (at Tripp Lite's option) to repair or replace (on a pro rata basis) directly connected equipment that is damaged due to power transients while properly connected to Tripp Lite products offering the Ultimate Lifetime Insurance Policy. Power transients include spikes and surges on the AC power, data or telephone lines that the Tripp Lite products have been design to protect against (as recognized by industry standards)

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