Lightning and broadband

I lost two routers and two motherboards to lightning this year.

Ellies surge protectors didn't help.

The article talks about companies that provide proper protection.

Which companies are these?
 
Errr... can someone translate this article to English please. All the electro-techno babble got me lost. I have no idea what he is talking about.

Also, first he says there is NOTHING you can do, not even surge protector plugs will help. Then he says there are companies that provide proper protection? WTF? Or is this article just written very poorly!?

I don't use any protection :D at the moment. What should I do? Get a surge protector?

I will really cry like a baby if lightning takes out my LCD, Home Theatre, DSTV and PS3, all connected to the same mains plug. Probably the reason why I don't sleep so well at night...
 
'Tis truth! I got hit by lightning a while back and although it was a crap experience, I at least got a new PC out of the deal. Was a mission with the insurance company though, they checked whether there actually was lightning that night, then I had to take the PC in to 2 different places for quotes and then they still made me wait 3 weeks. Good article - I thought if I plugged everything out I'd be safe. You have helped me reach the next level! Thank you :-)
 
Boet it is called induction!

A nearby lightning strike sets up a magnetic field.
Click to expand...
I'm not buying this. Sure it does build up a magnetic field...but I don't think it would ever damage tech.

For induction to have any real effect the cable would have to be fairly long and vertically positioned. Very few cables in a house fulfill those criteria.
 
I lost my printer and PC in a heavy thunderstorm. AND it was unplugged as well as the telephone line disconnected. The computer shop said that it was impossible if it was really disconnected from the mains, but I saw the sparks - it was scary. The strike was about 30 metres from my house, it struk the palisade fence.
 
Bloody hell. Just spent R 400 on surge protectors from Ellies. One for the sat dish to pvr with a plug and the other a multiplug surge arrestor for tv setup. Is this article saying that these products are useless?
 
From my school days I remember this, cheap surge protectors use a VDR (Voltage dependent resistor) to short out the power surge. A surge big enough will be short-circuited but in the process may also destroy the VDR. The trouble is that few cheap protectors have an indicator that this happened, so you live with the belief that you have protection whereas you have none whatsoever.
 
eish, my plasma, media center pc, sound system and adsl router are all plugged into the same plug at home..... with those apparently useless sure protectors....

at least here down in PE lightning is not nearly as big a problem as on the highveld....

but still gonna unplug it all when i go away on holiday tommorrow ;)
 
Yes, any advise would be grand, I lost my router last week but as I had surge protection everywhere else apart from the telephone line I thought that was the culprit, I did however put a surge protection on the Phone line as well thinking all is sorted again.

So, what should be done to avoid lighting strikes taking out my kit??
 
There is no such thing as lightning protection! It has traveled 20km to get to discharge and anyone thinking a plug will stop it is living in a fantasy world.

The only lightning protection is 'Unplug and isolate the device'
 
The dude who wrote the article did the explaining poorly.

A lightning bolt is the discharge of static electricity from the clouds to the earth.

This bolt is basically pure static of gigantic proportions, and it too has a mother of a static field.

So if lightning strikes for instance your metal gate at the front of your driveway directly, your whole house will be bathed in static electricity.

This is where the fun starts. Like a magnetic field this static will travel through walls and doors looking for the first place to discharge, namely electrical appliances.

It does NOT make a difference if they are plugged in or not, if they are the shortest way to the ground, they will get fried. End of Story

The easiest way to combat this is to get one of those lightning rods you see next to all the houses with thatched roofs. One in each corner of your property will do the trick

So when the the static field travels towards your house it has a place to discharge, namely the rod which will safely discharge it into the ground
 
Ricard said:
There is no such thing as lightning protection! It has traveled 20km to get to discharge and anyone thinking a plug will stop it is living in a fantasy world.

The only lightning protection is 'Unplug and isolate the device'
Click to expand...

+100
 
Surge protection platform, or anything else for that matter, will protect you equipment ONLY to some degree.

It’s like bullet prove jacket/body armor, it stops 9mm and .38, but not AK47.
 
VJB 449 said:
I believe Eskom is more dangerous than lightning.
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We lost a few things after cable thieves started cutting wires in our region which seem to have caused an electricity spike. I was not aware that we were not covered – only lightning is covered and no Eskom related damage :(
 
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