Author Topic: What do people unplug these days in a lightning storm ?  (Read 7067 times)

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Offline tinhead

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Re: What do people unplug these days in a lightning storm ?
« Reply #50 on: September 10, 2021, 03:13:04 pm »
i have both, huge surge protector for my house and each every device conneted via smart plugs, so when necessary i shut them all down. The surge protector didn't helped 2 times in last 6yrs, so i lost some of these smart plugs (they exploded, but the gears connected to them survived). So honestly, 40EUR per each is still cheaper than new gears. A self-buil lightning detector, conected to the smart home system, is being used to turn off everything (except the smart home controller).
I don't want to be human! I want to see gamma rays, I want to hear X-rays, and I want to smell dark matter ...
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Offline Jan Audio

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Re: What do people unplug these days in a lightning storm ?
« Reply #51 on: September 11, 2021, 12:34:53 pm »
Surge protector only protects agains surges from the power net.
*maybe try a russian build one ?

No just kidding, whats the maximum joules it can block ?
Ligting has many more joules then the best version out there.
 

Offline 1audio

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Re: What do people unplug these days in a lightning storm ?
« Reply #52 on: September 16, 2021, 12:19:00 am »
People have done a lot of measurements of lightning (needs patience) and there are standards https://electrical-engineering-portal.com/surge-protective-categories-defined-by-ansi-ieee-c62-41

Outside and at the panel you can have a lot of energy. Once inside the building the resistance and inductance of the wiring limits the energy, if you call 6KV and 3KA limited. A typical 3/4" MOV can handle that surge. An array of several can handle multiple strikes with no deterioration. However all the wiring MUST pass through THE surge protector or all bets are off. 100 feet of 12 AWG is around .15 Ohm. 3000A across .15 Ohm is 450V. That's the kind of differential voltage you can see even with a really good surge protector if something is grounded separately.
 

Offline passedpawn

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Re: What do people unplug these days in a lightning storm ?
« Reply #53 on: September 17, 2021, 02:54:42 am »
I unplug nothing.

I have full multi level surge protection installed in my home confirming to the latest standards and recommendations.

Hmmm, lightning jumps 1000's of feet from the clouds in the sky, through the air, and hits your house.  And you think your surge protector will save you.  haha. 

I live in Clearwater Florida and believe me, when the sky's terrible swift sword wants your TV, it will have your TV.  My house was hit by lightning.  There's a scar where the energy blew from the rebar embedded in the concrete walls out to the wet concrete driveway. 
 

Offline Monkeh

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Re: What do people unplug these days in a lightning storm ?
« Reply #54 on: September 17, 2021, 03:08:22 am »
I unplug nothing.

I have full multi level surge protection installed in my home confirming to the latest standards and recommendations.

Hmmm, lightning jumps 1000's of feet from the clouds in the sky, through the air, and hits your house.  And you think your surge protector will save you.  haha. 

Thankfully, science trumps ridicule..

These surge protectors aren't intended for the extraordinarily rare direct hit, anyway.
 

Offline justme1968

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Re: What do people unplug these days in a lightning storm ?
« Reply #55 on: September 17, 2021, 05:17:54 am »
we had surge protection installed in our company some time ago. the result was that on more than one occasion we had to replace parts of the surge protection equipment in addition to the broken equipment…
 

Offline rfclown

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Re: What do people unplug these days in a lightning storm ?
« Reply #56 on: October 25, 2021, 02:19:51 am »
I unplug nothing.

I have full multi level surge protection installed in my home confirming to the latest standards and recommendations.

Hmmm, lightning jumps 1000's of feet from the clouds in the sky, through the air, and hits your house.  And you think your surge protector will save you.  haha. 

I live in Clearwater Florida and believe me, when the sky's terrible swift sword wants your TV, it will have your TV.  My house was hit by lightning.  There's a scar where the energy blew from the rebar embedded in the concrete walls out to the wet concrete driveway.

I'm in Florida and back when we used modems (remember those days?) it seems they blew out at least every other year due to thunderstorms. I finally bought two so I'd have a spare.
 

Online BrokenYugo

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Re: What do people unplug these days in a lightning storm ?
« Reply #57 on: October 25, 2021, 03:21:41 am »
I unplug nothing.

I have full multi level surge protection installed in my home confirming to the latest standards and recommendations.

Hmmm, lightning jumps 1000's of feet from the clouds in the sky, through the air, and hits your house.  And you think your surge protector will save you.  haha. 

I live in Clearwater Florida and believe me, when the sky's terrible swift sword wants your TV, it will have your TV.  My house was hit by lightning.  There's a scar where the energy blew from the rebar embedded in the concrete walls out to the wet concrete driveway.

I'm in Florida and back when we used modems (remember those days?) it seems they blew out at least every other year due to thunderstorms. I finally bought two so I'd have a spare.

Had this problem at my parent's house in MI, most lightning damage was through the phone system. Once it blew the DSL router/modem bad enough it opened the case a bit, completely killed the connected PC, and blew the network card on another farther away. Eventually complaining at the phone company got a competent lineman to show up who actually drove a ground rod at the telephone service box and rebuilt the box with fresh surge protection stuff, no more problems. Somewhere I have the DSL filter/splitter box from the last time it happened, some traces were totally removed from the board.
 

Offline Fungus

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Re: What do people unplug these days in a lightning storm ?
« Reply #58 on: October 25, 2021, 04:51:47 am »
Me? I connect all my multimeters to the mains so I can find out which ones have genuine CAT ratings.  :-+

 

Offline Psi

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Re: What do people unplug these days in a lightning storm ?
« Reply #59 on: October 25, 2021, 05:13:04 am »
It's extremely rare that I unplug anything due to lightning or extreme weather.

I'd be more worried about the 11kV lines touching the 240V lines nearby and backfeeding than I am of direct lightning strikes.

One time it was really bad, lots of heavy rain, high wind and lightning overhead. I unplugged my PC, the server, the 4k projector and the feed to my work bench that powers all the test equipment. That covered the 95% of the expensive stuff.  But I have insurance and backups, so its not such a big deal.  Though better to avoid having to argue with the insurance agent about why my scope is a personal expensive and not a business one. (I actually talked to them over the phone about this ages ago and recorded it just in case)
« Last Edit: October 25, 2021, 05:16:11 am by Psi »
Greek letter 'Psi' (not Pounds per Square Inch)
 

Offline coppercone2

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Re: What do people unplug these days in a lightning storm ?
« Reply #60 on: October 25, 2021, 06:05:30 am »
Hmm, a knife switch solves these problems to a degree. a long one on a dielectric lever.

 

Offline Andrew_Debbie

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Re: What do people unplug these days in a lightning storm ?
« Reply #61 on: October 25, 2021, 06:22:08 am »
The TV, Apple TV and sound bar are on a single plug.  I pull that whenever there is a thunderstorm warning.     (I disconnected the antenna ages ago.   It is still wired which is  a concern.)

My TE is unplugged unless I'm using it.

I switch off this computer at the power supply when it is not in use.  The power switch on the back is double poll.

 

Offline VK5RC

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Re: What do people unplug these days in a lightning storm ?
« Reply #62 on: October 25, 2021, 07:06:22 am »
Many years ago I lived on a ridge about 2000 feet, on about 6 acres, we lost a telephone about every 2yrs, fortunately we had to rent one from the tel-co😁. In those days colour tv, vcr and HiFi were expensive - so got unplugged when not in use in the lighting 'season'. Had suppressors on the electricity and telephone - they would last about a year. Fortunately no PCs and internet in those days. Tree about 30 feet away got hit - loud, bright and the pre-strike quite eerie. Happy to not have that experience again. House had lighting rods and earth mat, problem was on the top of a rainy ridge, soil conductivity isn't great. I don't think anything will save a direct hit but a bit of sensible protection can save the nearby strikes.
Where I live now - for 25yrs - don't bother - I occasionally disconnect and earth the antennas, but usually they are switched to a dummy load.
Whoah! Watch where that landed we might need it later.
 

Offline james_s

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Re: What do people unplug these days in a lightning storm ?
« Reply #63 on: October 26, 2021, 05:58:21 am »
I'd be more worried about the 11kV lines touching the 240V lines nearby and backfeeding than I am of direct lightning strikes.

Something like that happened to my friend's house when we were teenagers. A high tension transmission line fell on a 7200V line and caused the voltage to go up. All the lights got really bright and most of the bulbs that were on burned out and it fried some electronics.
 

Offline HobGoblyn

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Re: What do people unplug these days in a lightning storm ?
« Reply #64 on: October 27, 2021, 07:47:15 am »
Broadband. Overhead phone lines and over past 15 years, have had 2 routers die in storms, while Sky replaced them for free, still took a week+ to get  the replacement
 

Offline HobGoblyn

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Re: What do people unplug these days in a lightning storm ?
« Reply #65 on: October 27, 2021, 07:53:22 am »
I unplug nothing.

I have full multi level surge protection installed in my home confirming to the latest standards and recommendations.

Hmmm, lightning jumps 1000's of feet from the clouds in the sky, through the air, and hits your house.  And you think your surge protector will save you.  haha. 

I live in Clearwater Florida and believe me, when the sky's terrible swift sword wants your TV, it will have your TV.  My house was hit by lightning.  There's a scar where the energy blew from the rebar embedded in the concrete walls out to the wet concrete driveway.

My local hospital had a direct hit a few years. A friend lives around 400 yards away and the same hospital strike killed his TV
 

Offline Paceguy

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Re: What do people unplug these days in a lightning storm ?
« Reply #66 on: October 27, 2021, 11:22:02 am »
I added a Square D surge suppressor to my breaker box for whole home protection and I have APC power bars with surge protection for my critical electronic devices. We have moderate lightening activity in my area, and the possibility of ice storms in winter.
 

Online Doctorandus_P

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Re: What do people unplug these days in a lightning storm ?
« Reply #67 on: October 27, 2021, 06:06:45 pm »
I once was hiking through the mountains, and early in the afternoon the weather started changing so I found a horizontal spot, took my tent out of my rucksack and put it up.
Then I doubled up my thermarest sleeping mat and sat on it.

Lots of thunderbolts and lightning. One of the thunderbolts was so close by that it's pressure wave partly pushed my tent aside. That was quite an impressive experience.
 


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