Save your equipment from Lightning

[PAAI]

With the recent subject on RC, I thought I would post a thread for information to help on the process of reducing lightning damage.

http://www.polyphaser.com/ppc_ptd_home.aspx

There are many technical papers to view and make your head hurt.
I also have a video tape to loan to anyone who cares to see it. No this one will not make your head hurt, just your eyes because of the video quality ;)


I hope more of you can add posts and links to protection equipment and information to create a resource thread about lightning.

[TedW]

that looks like a good link. So many of these companies have absolutely zero white papers on their product, which usualy means that I won't buy the product.

this looks like a lot of info and the timing is good. I just had a receiver slightly damaged and I beleive the surge came up the outdoor speaker lines. The customer is furious because I do have surge protection on the system. I explained in detail at the contract signing that the best surge protection is not full proof in a major lightning strike. They lost the well, pool equipment, invisible fence, garage doors, three TVs, computer, three phones and some other stuff.

Not what I'd call a light hit and none of the other equipment I installed had any damage whatsoever. I'm not even sure the receiver problem wasn't just a coincidental failure.

[aforlano]

Thanks!

I started the 'Lightning Crashes' thread over there. I could use all the reading material I can get. Unlike Mr. Stanley, I'm a sales guy who tries to learn and AVOID issues when I can.

Any additional info would be greatly appreciated.

Fred

[ejfiii]

Ted, Alan and I have had many long conversations about this. In fact, he has decided to stop using Crestron amplifiers because if an outdoor speaker gets hit and it travels into the amp, there is a possibility that it will jump onto the crestron network (amps are connected) and fry the important stuff. If you have RCA cables from the amp to the receiver then this is what could have happened.

Bottom line is that there is only so much we can do. Direct hits are going to do a lot of damage no matter what stuff we put in. We had a brutal lighting storm last night and two neighbors trees are down this morning - you can see the burn marks in the tree trunks from where the lighting hit. It was the most intense thunder storm I have even been in.

[AudibleSolutions]

All true, but Polyphaser makes a device that is just perfect for grounding outdoor speaker lines. Nonetheless, I think it unwise to use an amplifier for outdoor speakers that sits on a RS-485 bus as any surges entering the system on a magnetic pulse from a lightning strike will certainly make the jump from the speakers across the internal relays and onto the power of your 485 network. You can follow the advice in the Polyphase white papers and deal with this and the entry/exit of these wires. But you still need to devise a proper grounding system. Some of this information for constructing this ground system can be found in the white papers in the above link. But putting this into practice may prove more problematic than just throwing a Panamax Coaxmax into the system. Of course, you may find that throwing these sorts of solutions into your job may not provide much of a solution.

What are the effects of corrosion on your system? How many ground rods will you need to sink? How many of you, after reading the appropriate paper now understand how to measure the impedance of the grounding system you expect to install? The point I made to EJ is when do you stop? Since surges once in your system will emerge out of any wire and travel into other interconnected components you would need to protect the interconnects on your external speaker amplifier. You would need to make sure that all satellite/CATV coaxial cables are protected and all voice wires--as do not all satellite IRDs have a voice line connected to them? Now add data lines, if you install lighting systems you will need to place a surge protector on the RS-485 bus and any data/serial ports of the processor. There will almost certainly be outdoor lighting connected onto the system and magnetic pulses will certainly enter the system on either the mains feeds to the lighting modules or the outdoor loads.

If you have external structures on your system ( pool houses, guest houses and such ) you will need to deal with these surge magnets either by placing them on your surge protection system or by using fiber as the interconnecting cable. And what of ground loops induced by your protection system? One of the Polyphase white papers makes the point that racks sitting on concrete become surge magnets intensifying the surge and increasing the possibility of a surge entering the system. This is a very complicated topic and one very will worth everyone's time and study.

Kudos to Fred for bringing it up--although it will not stop me from making unwelcome and repeatedly unfunny remarks about salesmen and salesmen IQs. Perhaps Fred should be given the assignment of bringing the ever embarrassing Mr. Stanley up to snuff. Though one does admire his pluck and absence of any sort of embarrassment it might be a test of Fred's skills to see if he could bring the vapid North westerner into the 21st century.

Do I love spell check. It's will worth my $100 dollar contribution of making me seem intelligent.

Alan

[PAAI]

Just took a hit Saturday night and have some induced damage. Just bought a new cable modem and got back on line. New router too. Checking the sonos and the 12ch amp. Looks like one of the amp channels is open.
HDMI matrix switch is toast, as well as two cat5 receivers.
Looks like it came in on the Kitchen speaker line or ethernet in the kitchen.

Just how I wanted to spend my monday -yea.

[Kelly]

Had a client call me bitching about taking a hit on a system installed by a competitor a few years back.


He lost:

5 TV's
1 CD
1 DVD
1 AVR
6 Telephones (Base and 5 Handsets that were on charging bases)
1 Washing Machine
1 Dryer
1 Sub-Zero Refrigerator
1 Viking Range (control module)
Garage Door Opener
Doorbell
Light bulbs (every single one in the house blew).
Several electrical outlets (blew out of the wall.
2 HVAC units (just the electronics)
1 Swimming Pool controller
1 Sprinkler system controller


AND

1 Decorative Bird Bath Fountain & 1 TV antenna


The wife had run the electrical cord for the fountain just under the gravel walkway and plugged it into an outside outlet.

Lighting hit a neighbors tree and came into the house via that particular power cord and left the structure via the (in the attic) TV antenna.

You could see a burn line down the tree, across the yard, where it blew the bird bath to pieces. It traveled into the structure following all the high and low voltage cabling and then exited through the roof via the amplified TV antenna that was hanging from the rafters (blew a 2 foot hole in the roof).


Two items that were not destroyed by the hit?

1 VCR & 1 Turntable

They were the only items plugged into a Panamax surge protector....:confused:

Yeah, the Panamax blew as well. And yeah, the house had a "whole house surge protector" installed by the electrician.

[PAAI]

Wow. That was a direct hit. Oouch!!
Are you getting the work?

Hope so.

I need and estimate for my insurance company on some items. Interested?

Hey Kelly, Since I did not see you at CEDIA, I have something here I need to send you. $