Lightning strikes again(pun intended)

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supervegeta41

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This is the second router I have lost due to lightning and I don"t wanna fork out R600 for another one as I am saving for a ps4. There was aloud bang I heard and my TV and xbox turned off for around 1-2 seconds then continued from it stopped(online). I unplugged everything that instant now a little later I noticed all is in order but only me modem is gone (again). Same thing happened last time. The power light on the billion n73x is red and no other lights turn on. Can I get a new free modem from telkom or can i maybe sign a 2 year contract for 2meg uncapped and then get a modem. Is there anyway to get connected again without buying a router and if I am forced to buy one what is a good cheap one?
 
I feel your pain...
I was hit again two Saturdays ago... things were unplugged but nothing is safe against a direct hit in the back yard.
My nerves are still shot from the explosion.

Anyways, this time my routers survived, unfortunately my printers and one computer weren't so lucky. I was in the room when it happened... 1 metre length of LAN cable picks up approximately 2000 volts.

Now I have a house full of industrial surge protection, and I am getting quotes in to put up a lightning conductor in the yard, which I am told, apparently helps to discharge the clouds, preventing the direct hits in the first place. BUT I am also told, if it does hit the mast, it will mean even more protection would be needed in the house, possibly a surge arrester on every plug, and wireless where possible, ethernet cables to an absolute minimum.

In this process we have worked out that any cable that lies on the floor here, is a sitting duck. Despite the direct hit which nearly gave me cardiac arrest (it is louder than a .38 calibre revolver at close range), all LAN cables that were on the wall, and ran into the roof, had almost NO voltage induced into them. They say my house is built on rock with lots of iron in it.
 
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I was under a metal roof over the porch while smoking and lightning hit the roof above me. It rattles you to the core really as you dont expect it either needless to say I had a strong dop afterwards to calm the nerves.
 
A year and a half ago I had my house almost burn to the ground due to a direct hit. Lucky damage was only burnt down store room, electrical power in the house and telkom lines burnt in the whole area plus of course all my networking equipment, tv's etc. Hope not to experience it again
 
Years ago in the old Transvaal lightning hit a blue gum about 20m from the car I was driving, the whole world turned white and the noise deafened me for about minute - my first thought was that a rock had gone through the windscreen. How myself and six other cars avoided an accident astounds me to this day.

We stood in a group in the rain and surveyed the tree which had been split down the middle and was still smoking debating whether the cars rubber tyres had any bearing on our survival (don't think so myself) and it was about 10 mins before we got back into our cars and left.
 
Glad I live in the Cape. We get a mild little storm once or twice a year and even that scares me!
 
biometrics said:
Glad I live in the Cape. We get a mild little storm once or twice a year and even that scares me!
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Gives me an incentive because my insurance is now getting stroppy with me, 2nd claim in a year for the same thing.

Found more casualties last night.... Samsung Galaxy charger, not working so well anymore, dead port on an ethernet switch, one of my son's toys doesn't work anymore.

Replacement printer is wireless... purchased Netgear wireless adapter for the other printer that also got smacked (which I was able to repair- Ethernet PHY chip was toasted and I was able to replace it).

Everything except the Ethernet to the lounge is going wireless now.
 
I was lying on my bed reading a book the one time with the wall of the house right behind my head, about a 1.5m gap and then the security wall... Lightning decided to hit the electric fence post on that wall. I have NEVER shat myself like that in my life, I was off the bed and in the lounge before I knew what was happening.

Completely blew two sections of the wall to bits and chuncks of the flying security wall blew holes in the house wall. The electric fence box in the kitchen pretty much vapourised as well, a direct lighting hit is properly properly awe inspiring to thos who've never experienced it, and beyond terrifying as well.
 
If it rains fine, but if there is a lot of lightning why dont you unplug your stuff OP? I mean you just asking for your equipment to blow if you dont unplug it, all you have to do is unplug the multi plug from the wall (assuming thats your setup) and unplug the ADSL cable from the router. Its that simple, dont take chances.
 
Years ago (back in the day when we still had DSTV) lighting hit our house. Hit the TV, the decoder, the video recorder and the radio complete melt down. Before then had another hit when it hit the telephone box in the house shooting flames every which way and caused a rather nasty explosion in the house ....... Both hits, the melt down and the explosion were topics of discussion for a while afterwards!!

As a child we lived on farm and we had a lighting strike which hit my late mom in the kitchen and my late dad in lounge the both limped towards each other to tell of their experience and met in the passage...... Of course us being kids did what kids do in these situations, we laughed like mad, while dodgeing a clip on the ear !! :p
 
MickZA said:
Years ago in the old Transvaal lightning hit a blue gum about 20m from the car I was driving, the whole world turned white and the noise deafened me for about minute - my first thought was that a rock had gone through the windscreen. How myself and six other cars avoided an accident astounds me to this day.

We stood in a group in the rain and surveyed the tree which had been split down the middle and was still smoking debating whether the cars rubber tires had any bearing on our survival (don't think so myself) and it was about 10 mins before we got back into our cars and left.
Click to expand...

A year ago we wrote off and settled a claim for a Golf GTi that was hit by lightening whilst driving. So no being in a car isn't 100% safe.
All the wiring, computers and safety equipment was shot. The Golf was 6mths old.
 
I am transitioning over to wireless for EVERYTHING.
All the power to the sensitive stuff sits behind a Class B lightning arrestor now... This is a serious piece of equipment, it even has an alarm contact to report when its been smacked to pieces. The cartridges are replaceable.

I am busy designing a solution to solve the major source of trouble.. USB cables... to make all the USB printers (all HP) be able to talk over WiFi

The good news is, it WORKS! Had a violent storm on Sunday morning at around 3AM, and the protection module clamped the socket nicely, protecting EVERYTHING, whilst next door the people are crying, the TV is blown, etc..

As for me, I have been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder from the strike.. on treatment now.

Still finding stuff around the house that's been smoked... We now have one dead HDMI port on the TV :mad:
 
I had a lightning strike take out a ups, a modem, a router and a network card in one strike.
Best of all, the next morning when I walked out, there was a scorch mark on the bottom of the swimming pool, just outside my study. About 10 cm in diameter... Seems my pool hat been hit by lighting.
That spot still feels rippled, but some solid brushing cleaned it up. Later chatted to someone - I was lucky - could have cracked the pool itself.

And once house sat for someone in Northcliff - gorgeous view of the city skyline. But seems that area was a lighting rod. Strike during a storm took out the alarm, electric fence, modem, phones in the home office, and best of all - blew a Telkom Venus box off its mountings on the wall. That was a long two weeks.
 
Most definitely hit your pool yes. And you are very lucky. Had it hit harder, it would probably have melted every single wire in your house, making a complete rewire, and new DB board necessary.

Northcliff, and places like Wilropark, are notorious lightning rods.
There is a Vodacom mast in Wilropark, that is frequently hit, hard!
When hit, it sends huge ground currents in approx 450m radius, and this induces around 2000V in any cable lying on the floor.

I live 200m away from that mast, so unfortunately now I have to have wireless, and every single wire sitting with a massive arrester behind it.

Due to the ground currents, the rule is that nobody is allowed outdoors when there's bad weather, not even the pets.

With the last strike, I found that the induced voltage in the phone line was a fraction of that induced in all my ethernet cables lying on the ground. Phone line runs on overhead. The three Ethernet cables that were on the ground, caused terminal damage to the equipment they were attached to, we're talking vaporised components, holes burnt into PC boards. If the ADSL had been plugged in, I reckon it would have survived because devices that had cables running through the roof, they didn't even reboot, nor were they disrupted. The blown HDMI port, its cable was on the floor.
 
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Koosi said:
Most definitely hit your pool yes. And you are very lucky. Had it hit harder, it would probably have melted every single wire in your house, making a complete rewire, and new DB board necessary.

Northcliff, and places like Wilropark, are notorious lightning rods.
There is a Vodacom mast in Wilropark, that is frequently hit, hard!
When hit, it sends huge ground currents in approx 450m radius, and this induces around 2000V in any cable lying on the floor.

I live 200m away from that mast, so unfortunately now I have to have wireless, and every single wire sitting with a massive arrester behind it.

Due to the ground currents, the rule is that nobody is allowed outdoors when there's bad weather, not even the pets.
Click to expand...

If only there was a way to harness it.
 
Why don't people unplug? I've never lost a TV or a PC to lightning, despite a couple of direct hits. You can't unplug everything (lost an alarm system, electric gate motor and a telephone line), but surely you can minimize the risk.
 
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