Astraphobe failure

E

ernestank

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Joined
Jan 17, 2014
Messages
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Location
Pretoria South
I had a lightning strike last night which took out my ADSL modem, Wi Fi router and Computer. The Astraphobe did not prevent the damage. All the settings were as follows:

Audible alerts: connects only
Disconnect distance 6km (default)
Reconnect in: 5 minutes
Sensitivity High (default)
Suppress EMI: Yes (default)
False Alarm Control: High

Installation was done according to the manual.
Apologies for posting information on several posts (All relevant to Astraphobe queries). I feel members need to know that this device is not the answer to protect equipment against lightning or surge strikes through the copper telephone lines. I wasted my money and would not want anyone else to do the same.

Edit: Jorgen Nielsen from Jacstech (Astraphobe designer) has contacted me and we are busy investigating the cause of the failure. I'll post his findings.
 
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ernestank said:
I had a lightning strike last night which took out my ADSL modem, Wi Fi router and Computer. The Astraphobe did not prevent the damage. All the settings were as follows:

Audible alerts: connects only
Disconnect distance 6km (default)
Reconnect in: 5 minutes
Sensitivity High (default)
Suppress EMI: Yes (default)
False Alarm Control: High
Click to expand...

Please stop spamming the forum with what looks like a personal vendetta.
 
calypso said:
Please stop spamming the forum with what looks like a personal vendetta.
Click to expand...
Uhh He is cautioning all of us about this phony/defective product. Each to his own but I personally am grateful for the report
ScottulusMaximus said:
Ooh ooh ooh
I can here westom coming in now...
Click to expand...
:crylaugh::crylaugh:

westom actually knows his ****... I guess people just don't like to hear the hard truth sometimes
 
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Hi there i have had the Astraphobe for over one year now and i have had no problems at all with it but my phone lines are underground from the exchange so maybe that is different from your install as wires that are up on poles can pickup high static electricity and lightening I still dont know why telkom dont put all lines underground.
 
We haven't had many lightning strikes in the past year so no use for protection.
 
craigcul said:
Hi there i have had the Astraphobe for over one year now and i have had no problems at all with it but my phone lines are underground from the exchange so maybe that is different from your install as wires that are up on poles can pickup high static electricity and lightening I still dont know why telkom dont put all lines underground.
Click to expand...

I live in an old suburb with all phone lines on poles. No FTTH either :mad::cry:
 
ernestank said:
:erm:Still waiting for the rep to contact me. i shall post as soon as I have new information.
Click to expand...

tks and your location in the country? Town will do .....

What was the damage? Any sign of a direct strike? Sure how the strike/surge got in to your place?

What other protection do you have in place? Surge protection on the incoming power at the meter box, in the main DB board?

Astraphobe protection the only protection on the telephone line? Normal ADSL modem protection in place?
 
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daniellgr said:
tks and your location in the country? Town will do .....

What was the damage? Any sign of a direct strike? Sure how the strike/surge got in to your place?

What other protection do you have in place? Surge protection on the incoming power at the meter box, in the main DB board?

Astraphobe protection the only protection on the telephone line? Normal ADSL modem protection in place?
Click to expand...

I updated my location.
In answer to your questions,
1 Unfortunately I was asleep when the lightning struck.
2 The Astraphobe seemed to be working ok. Never gave any errors. Normally it would disconnect when I could not even hear any lightning or thunder, in fact it still does.

1 I do not think the Astraphobe went faulty.
2 Can not comment on direct hit or not, I was asleep. Only the equipment connected to the copper Telkom line was damaged.

I have SurgeTec surge arrestors in the DB. Most of my electronics is connected to a Surge arrestor multi plug.
 
Update:
The Jacstech rep came to my home and replaced the Astraphobe with a new one. He said he would send it to Cape Town for tests and let me know what the cause of the failure was. The new unit works exactly like the old unit.
Here is a list of events that the Astraphobe has detected and the settings on it.

Date 31/10 01/11 02/11
Odo 1171 1201 1249
Strikes 1171 1201 1249
Storms 4 5 10
Disconnects 20 25 27
EMI jams 0 0 0
EMI pulses 3102 3309 3424

Audible alerts: connects only
Disconnect distance 6km (default)
Reconnect in: 15 minutes
Sensitivity High (default)
Suppress EMI: No (default)
False Alarm Control: Low (default)
 
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