LIGHTNING!!!! my AVR burst, my PC dead.

[dexmax]

I really am feeling bad. my PCs dead. AT least only 1 is. Since last year two of my PCs got hit by lightning. but this time, it got worse. Everything died, except for my ASUS vid card(thank God), 96mbRAM, and my SB APCI 128. the mobo, proc., modem, power supply, zipdrive. Just when I looked at the stickers on the board, the warranty expired last June27, the day it got hit.

Now I'm using my old one.

My friend, who owns an ISP got a really good spanking. 10 modems, the router. Over $5000 0f damages.

[Win_98]

You didn't use any surge protector?
I think even cheap one will do, about 10 bucks.
There too much power during lightning and without it
it will overload your computer frying every component.
Fried both my 2 TV a long long time ago
when I didn't have these to protect it.



[This message has been edited by Win_98 (edited 07-04-2000).]

[wtp]

Wow, curse? Since when does a computer break when the warranty is expired? http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif ::cough:: comcrap, blah blah. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

wtp

[socalgal]

One word: UPS

[BBA]

You must have taken a direct hit on one of your lines. Just be glad every thing you own isn't hit.

A surge protector is very good insurance, especially the ones that have insurance!

I know nothing can withstand a direct lightning hit, but it's nice knowing you can get it replaced if it does get hit!

[Gomer]

My gramps furnace was fried by lightning. He didn't have a surge protector for it. He was having it checked before winter when the damage was detected. There was a board in it with obvious burns. It was at this time he noticed the light on the surge protector for the wash machine was out. He is a tinkerer and took it apart to look at it. The insides were fused solid. There was a capicator inside that looked like it had exploded. It's life for the wash machines I guess. After that incident he now has a surge protector on everything

[Win_98]

LOLOLOL
Exactly what I am doing too due to a few incident like that.
Surge Protector are so cheap plus they add extra output for you to use, what can I say,
the best protection you can get paying very little.
If there an overload of electricity it will
just cut off and you turn it back on and all
work fine again.

[wyvrn]

Err Win98 sorry to disagree here. There is not a surge protector on the market that will stop a direct lightning hit. Are you trying to say a surge capacitor would stop a lightning arc? Nope. You are right that if it is a minor hit, then the protector would absorb it and save the machine. If I were to buy a surge protector, I would definately get one with the warranty on it.

[brandon184]

I don't think a UPS will solve your direct problem, well it will, but it MAY have features you don't need. For your situation, just buy a surge protector, they are pretty cheap.

- Brandon

[thekingofpain]

I have an 10 foot iron rod in the ground next to the pad with the whole house system attached to it with MEGA-UPS and generator backup, havnt seen lightning in years, figures huh?

[krusty the klown]

Certainly if you recieve a direct lightning strike, a broken computer will be the least of your worries! (OK, I wasn't talking about you personally being struck http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif ). The bill for re-wiring the entire house will be far more.

I've heard the stories - kettle leads physically melted to kitchen worktops, 45amp cable totally burnt out, etc.

Which makes me think - will your household insurance cover the damage, dexmax??? Or do they spring some ***** like 'ur not covered against an act of God, sir' Hehe - just tell them ur an athiest and it was a natural phenomenon!!

Surge protectors are a good investment to deal with minor spikes that are non-lightning related, or a strike that is a long way away.

[CMonster]

wyvrn - thanks again for a breath of sanity.

I have never seen a surge protector that did not have a disclaimer regarding lightning strikes. They simply can't provide adequate protection if the strike is nearby.

kingofpain - your ground rod and UPS are the best protection against lightning - the first thing I always hear is that proper grounding for the whole house/electrical system is of upmost importance when it comes to lightning strikes and proper electrical protection.

Still I wonder, if I used two (2) surge protectors in series would it double the protection?

[tonym]

dexmax,

I feel your pain!!!

But, you can do a lot to attenuate the effects of lightning...why do you think that every (100%, EVERY) time that you pickup the phone and 99.996% of the time you use your AC line power after a thunderstorm that it works? Surge remedy deployment by the utilities! Otherwise they'd spend lots of time replacing "struck" equipment.

There are a lot of ways to prevent lighting surge damage. I consult for a test lab that performs IEC EN61000-4-5 testing (Lightning surge), and remediate and redesign LOTS of design flaws that make the customer's equipment less-than-robust to a surge. So I know something about this topic!

Some suggestions:

1.) You will never, ever protect against a direct hit strike in your home (telcos and electric companies can do lots in this area!!). Too many Joules of energy to handle in this situation.

2.) Your best chance of surviving a nasty nearby strike is to use an UPS with an output side surge protector. The UPS gives your load equipment (PCs, etc.) isolation from the utility and the nasty transients that can occur. The surge protector (buy the highest Joule rating protector that you can afford, 1000 Joules minimum) affords a "second line" defense against any transients that may bleed through the UPS.

3.) If you live in really active thunderstorm areas, the safest act is to UNPLUG the equipment. Discretion is the safest form of valor!

4.) If you want to stay online during a storm (I question your sanity here) then I would hire a lightning strike engineering specialist and pay the $2000-25000 that it will take to outfit your house with lightning rods and your utility power panel with carbon-arc suppressors and gas tubes.


I personally have UPSs and surge suppression in my office and labs, but when I have a very local thunder/electrical storm, I open the power breakers and ride out the hour or so offline!!! Wimp? YES! But I've only lost an answering machine to lightning...never a PC!


Just my $0.02...


Tony

[dexmax]

Thanks all of you. I have all the protection I needed, but it can't simply handle a direct hit.

I am still lucky, seconds before the strike, i was talking to my dad in the phone, which was attached to the modem. he said he'll call me back from my mobile phone since its cheaper. So when it rang, i went downstairs and got it. on my way up, i saw a very bright light, just outside the house, it was huge(i figured it was VERY CLOSE). ANd the sound rattled almost anything. 5 sec later, my mobile phone rang, and i told my dad what happened. and he laughed.

now, my P55 166MHz is out from the closet and now in my table. I can just recall, 3 years ago this is one of the fastest PCs.

[Win_98]

You must have bad luck if something like that keep happening to you.
And you say even surge protector won't protect you hmm, it an act of god I tell you
like hurricane, thunderstorm etc.

[lynchmob]

Watch the Weather Channel and when they say lightning is in your area, unplug the computer. I use a ups, which is good for a clean supply of electricity and for when the power goes out when you're not home to unplug your pc.A surge after a power outage is the best reason to use a surge arrestor.I use both devices: ups on computer and surge arrestor for tv,stereo,vcr,dvd player etc. When there is a threat of lightning, I unplug everything including phone lines and cable tv.
lynch

[brandon184]

Wow.. You guys take a lot of precautions during a thunderstorm.

I don't do anything differently.. hehe

- Brandon

[Wiz]

Win, you arent listning to us. a surge protector cannot stop a full on hit by a lightning bolt. The best way of protecting yourself is to get a lightning rod, and lead it into a cement enclosure, where it can fade out.

[SDT]

Denmax, Contact your local utility company. They often have an implied obligation to replace appliances that get fried during a thunderstorm. This applies if the over current from the lightning strike enters your house through the utility lines (In other words it is not a direct hit on your house). I know people that have had 1) hot tub control replaced, 2)PC replaced 3)Fridge motor replaced 4)Microwave Oven replaced.
I don't know if this will work where you live but it is certainly worth a try.

[Emc2]

My dad on lightning:

He told me the best protection for the computer is to have a UPS and unplug it from the wall during a lightning storm. We used to do this for a lot of things, as it seemed we used to be plagued by it. We never used the phone during a storm, so the modem got unplugged too.

Also, when you unplug the UPS from the wall and run the computer off of the battery, if you completely drain the battery, you'll get a complete charge when you charge it back up. This insures that you can do stuff on the computer, but it won't get hit.

You should also note that this obviously doesn't work for computers working 24/7.

DrCorvette: I also live in Ga. Too bad we haven't had much lightning (or rain) lately...

[truffeltje]

Wow such a sad thing.
I see people talk about protection but for lightning there ain't any.
When lightning strikes into the neighborhood
you get such immense magnetic field that you're computer even with power protection doesn't survive it.
Ask pilots of aero plains they don't flight through thunder storms because of that even they have no contact with earth.

truffeltje

[DrCorvette]

Listen to SDT, in my state, Ga, the company will sell you protection, warranty whatever you want to call it for lightning. I had a direct strike to my power pole in 1988, the phone box and the cable connections outside the house were smoked, literally. My entertainment center was dead, several grand of stereo and 27" TV in 88 was big bucks. I had a $3.00 surge protector on it, removed it and plugged into the wall, and EUREKA, everyting worked. The surge protector was a wire about the size of a hair, it was burned to the walls of the box, that's it.. a small wire. I have a huge 10'copper ground in the back yard next to all the stuff that got smoked, the lightning took the "easiest" path to ground, give it somewhere to go, and it will follow, a tip for those with electric fences, drive a ground rod next to the fence. Make a 1/2" or so gap between the hot wire and the ground rod, the lightning will follow the rod and won't smoke the charger.. DrVette