General Thunderstorm headaches

[oldsoundguy]

In the US, many of the power providers will install a whole house surge protector and along with that grant a replacement for anything that blows after install. But they charge for the install and your monthly rate goes up to pay for that "insurance".

What most do not understand is that more damage happens to electronics equipment with "brown out" conditions (low voltage) than from surges. Hence a quality UPS for critical electronics. (and a good UPS has built in surge protection as well.)

[uRock]

First, resistance is futile. ... Sorry. Wrong thread.

I am sorry for posting in the wrong thread.

I know the difference between impedance, capacitance, resistance and all the other happy non-layman's terms coined in electrical circuits. "Path of least resistance" is a term used by lightning experts in a few of the documentaries I have seen, as well as by professors in my electronics and physics classes.

Things to consider;

The house was built in the 1920s.

The lady lived alone and was more than 70 years old. (I do not think she was an electrical engineer, nor physicist.)

The TV had sat unused for years, since her husband had died in the early 80s.

BTW, All I can say to your building codes is, My house was completely rewired and codes ignored and the building inspector approved every bit of the work even though it was completely different from the prints which had been approved by the Fire Department.

NLSI's statistics tell me that the current safety measures aren't trust worthy. http://www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_...usa_losses.htm

I have shorted many circuits and watched as the the 110 arced all over the circuit before the breaker tripped. Some of these appliances even had the grounding prong, which didn't seem to help much.

I do not trust these low voltage appliances to protect me from a 30,000 to 300,000 amp lightning bolt should the ground where their grounding lead is installed be too dry to receive the current. Not all storms involve rain and a dry ground doesn't conduct electricity.

[coffee412]

There was a very good study performed a few years ago as to why lightning takes a particular path. The findings indicated that there is a initial electron flow that travels up towards the cloud in a storm that basically completes a path to ground. There are typically more than one electron transfer going on as the cloud increases its negative voltage potential. The strongest path will take the lightning down to ground.

Lightning does not have to hit directly for a surge to occur that damages most equipment. The energy from the lightning strike to ground can generate a voltage potential to wires in the area. Therefore the power companies do install fuses inline that trigger on spikes in power. However, These are designed mostly to save the transformers.

If your serious about protecting your equipment a UPS is the best savor of them all. A UPS is equiped with a vary large pass thru transformer and capacitors. These filter the power and protect against surges, spikes, power outage. However, the cost of the batteries should be figured in as they last on average 3 years.

Storms are kinda killer where I live in Indiana, USA.

[westom1]

There was a very good study performed a few years ago as to why lightning takes a particular path.

You are confusing construction of a lightning conductor (plasma) with actual lightning current. A conductor takes milliseconds to construct (and can be photographed). The actual surge current in done in microseconds (obviously cannot be photographed).

Since nearby lightning is so destructive, then every nearby car radio, TV, wrist watch, and cell phone is destroyed. Reality. None are damaged. Fields from nearby strikes are so trivial as to be made irrelevant by protection inside electronics. Lightning damage is always about a current incoming and outgoing through the victim.

Example: lighting was connected to earth via bulding's lightning rod and ground wire. Only four feet away from that wire (and maybe 20,000 amps) was an IBM PC. Clearly the PC was destroyed. Reality. The PC did not even blink. Those destructive EM fields are wild speculation claimed by even ignoring numbers.

If a UPS does protection, then manufacturer spec numbers were posted that claim that protection. Any protection that might exist inside a UPS is already done better inside electronics. Why? Some of the 'dirtiest' power comes from a UPS in battery backup mode. Power so 'dirity' as to be harmful to small electric motors and power strip protectors. That same 'dirty' power is also ideal for all electronics. Because protection routinely inside electronics is so robust. UPS manufacturer specifications make protection claims that are near zero.

Be concerned about transients such as current from direct lightning strikes that can ovewhelm protection inside all appliances. No UPS claims protection from typically destructive transients. But again, read the numbers. Even power strips claim better protection.

[Bandit]

Good plan. You never know when those roving gangs of tailors will show up. Best be prepared.

LOL serge.. go go spell wrecker..

[mips]

BTW, All I can say to your building codes is,

From what I've seen on TV I would have to agree with you. Even a certified US installation would not pass the grade here.