ADSL Lightning Protection

V

vicv

Expert Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2013
Messages
2,169
Hi all

I've looked at similar threads but I'm gonna make my own here.

Summer is upon us and with that comes thunder and lightning (very very frightening).:whistling:

I know when there's lightning the best thing to do and only way to be sure that your'e safe against lightning strikes is to unplug your devices. BUT...

If I'm not at home, unable to unplug and there's a storm a-brewin', what can I purchase to have some kind of lightning protection on my ADSL line and on my PC?

In similar threads people spoke about Clearline and Ellies products. I have no idea of what specific product I would need for this, but with my time spent previously working at Ellies I do know that there is a difference between "Surge Protection" and "Lightning Protection".

Would these products solve my problem?
http://www.ellies.co.za/index.php?id=420
http://www.ellies.co.za/index.php?id=426

The devices I want to protect:
Netgear DGN2200
My PC (connected via CAT5 cable to the router)

Any help / advice appreciated (Except for "Unplug your devices", which I already know is the best solution.)

Thanks

TL;DR
Need lightning protection for ADSL router and PC when unplugging it isn't an option.
 
Z

Zyron

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 7, 2009
Messages
122
The best way to protect against lightning is to unplug your phone line. Come on! I had to!

Anyway, a lightning protector isn't guaranteed and the cost could prove to be prohibitively high for you in the long run. A lightning protector is only good for one strike so you're more than likely going to be replacing it weekly at what, R300 a pop?

Not worth it imo.
 
W

westom

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 18, 2009
Messages
244
Wires from every building in town connect to a telco's switching computer. That computer is threatened by about 100 surges with each thunderstorm. And no damage. Protection even from direct lightning strikes is simple once basic concepts are learned. Most have no idea what is required. Buy protectors that do not even claim such protection. Suffer damage. Then assume nothing can protect from direct lightning strikes. Meanwhile, effective protection has been proven by over 100 years of experience. Using devices that are completely different but, unfortunately, share a common name.

How to protect ADSL was discussed in an AT&T forum. Important points are below:
How can I protect my DSL/dialup equipment from surges?

Surge protection takes on many forms, but always involves the following components: Grounding bonding and surge protectors. ...

Grounding is required to provide the surge protector with a path to dump the excess energy to earth. A proper ground system is a mandatory requirement of surge protection. Without a proper ground, a surge protector has no way to disburse the excess energy and will fail to protect downstream equipment.

Bonding is required to electrically connect together the various grounds of the services entering the premises. Without bonding, a surge may still enter a premise after firing over a surge protector, which will attempt to pass the excess energy to its ground with any additional energy that the services surge protector ground cannot instantly handle, traveling into and through protected equipment, damaging that equipment in the process. ...

Now, if all the various service entrance grounds are bonded together there are no additional paths to ground through the premise. Even if all of the grounds cannot instantly absorb the energy, the lack of additional paths to ground through the premise prevents the excess energy from seeking out any additional grounds through that premise and the electronic equipment within. As such, the excess energy remains in the ground system until dissipated, sparing the protected equipment from damage. ...

By far, the whole house hardwired surge protectors provide the best protection. When a whole house primary surge protector is installed at the service entrance, it will provide a solid first line of defense against surges which enter from the power company's service entrance feed. These types of protectors can absorb/pass considerably more energy than any other type of protector, and if one does catastrophically fail, it will not typically be in a living space. ...

Plug in strip protectors are, at best, a compromise. At worst, they may cause more damage than they prevent. While they may do an acceptable job of handling hot to neutral surges, they do a poor job of handling any surge that must be passed to ground. ...

Then, to add insult to injury, some strip protectors add Telco and/or LAN surge protection within the same device, trying to be an all-in-one sale. Remember bonding? When Telco or LAN protection is added to a strip protector, if the premise ground, which is not designed to handle surges, cannot handle all of the energy, guess where that excess energy seeks out the additional grounds? You got it! The Telco and LAN connections now becomes the path, with disastrous results to those devices. ...
Click to expand...
 
Raphael123

Raphael123

Expert Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2010
Messages
1,814
Well if it does'nt work you can take Ellies up on the R20 000 warranty.
 
R

reactor_sa

Executive Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2009
Messages
7,844
I have a sacrificial adsl router, which connects to a very expensive broadband dual wireless band router which connects to a gigabit switch.
The sacrifice is usually enough, and about R300 to replace. Haven't had any damage in recent years though.
 
V

vicv

Expert Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2013
Messages
2,169
NomNom said:
I have these:

http://www.ngrcomputers.co.za/apc-p5bt-essential-surgearrest-p-60777.html

http://www.ngrcomputers.co.za/apc-ptel2-surge-protector-p-59789.html

Otherwise a better option would be to get a UPS.
Click to expand...

mdaptel2.jpg


Where does that wire go?
 
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