Lightning strikes again(pun intended)

[Sonic2k]

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.

Uhm... where I live, it can all be unplugged.. it still gets in.
Most of the stuff I lost, was POWERED OFF and UNPLUGGED at the time.

 

[ichigo]

We have very terrible storms here in summer and other times of the year but never had anything break or blow up cause I unplug everything way before the storm starts as you can feel when one is going to come.

Only thing which does break is the Telkom box down the road or Eskoms one which took down our telephone line for a few days, same with the electricity .

 

[Joka69]

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?

Dude, i fell your pain hey, I've been through 4 Billion Routers from MWEB, then got 1 from Telkom (Netgear DGN) comes with Surge protection plugs and everything, but that does not prevent lightning damage at all, beginning of January we had horrible lightning all of a sudden, this took out my TV, XBOX and GPU, and then since that day my Routers been acting up, i just took it to Telkom without questions or anything, they just replaced it...

Then i suggest you try and prevent Surge protection as much as you can, the Netgear DGN that you get from Telkom (when you sign up for a contract) comes with a proper surge protection, so i plugged that into a surge protector i bought from Samsung store, i paid about R150 for this and on the plug Ellies gives its own guarantee, that if anything plugged into that surge protection gets damaged, they will give you R20 000.

But, if your lightning is anything like the lightning we have in the westrand (Jhb) i suggest that as soon as you see lightning, you unplug everything! You can never be sure with lightning!

 

[Joka69]

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.

I know what you mean bud, im 2 streets away from Pick and Pay where the Vodacom mast! We have the worst when it comes to lightning hey!

 

[Sonic2k]

I know what you mean bud, im 2 streets away from Pick and Pay where the Vodacom mast! We have the worst when it comes to lightning hey!

Welcome to my world. Come over for a beer when you have a gap and I'll show you all my blown equipment.

 

[Joka69]

Welcome to my world. Come over for a beer when you have a gap and I'll show you all my blown equipment.

Tell me about it bud, in 2013, i lost an entire PC and i think like 3 or 4 MWEB Billion routers and 1tb External HDD! In Jan 2014 - I lost 1 Router, 1 XBOX 360 my LCD TV and a GPU... And i need to mention this, this happened all with 1 swift lightning strike!

Now, as soon as it looks like its about to rain, i unplug everything even at the wall sockets... I cant even leave my downloads to run over night some nights, in fear that a storm will creep up on me, and take all my electronics like a thief in the night!!!

 

[Sonic2k]

Tell me about it bud, in 2013, i lost an entire PC and i think like 3 or 4 MWEB Billion routers and 1tb External HDD! In Jan 2014 - I lost 1 Router, 1 XBOX 360 my LCD TV and a GPU... And i need to mention this, this happened all with 1 swift lightning strike!

Now, as soon as it looks like its about to rain, i unplug everything even at the wall sockets... I cant even leave my downloads to run over night some nights, in fear that a storm will creep up on me, and take all my electronics like a thief in the night!!!

I feel the same, let me guess, it was that klap that one Saturday afternoon last month that took all your stuff?
My losses were:
2 x printers
1 x PC
1 x cellphone charger
1 x cordless phone (I managed to repair it)

Your losses in 2013 probably co-incided with mine
1 x entire PC
2 x routers (the Cisco ADSL router had a hole blown into it)
1 x external HDD
2 x network switches

With the 2013 strike in March, I wasn't home. Total losses came to R9800. With the second strike, I was busy cleaning when it struck, and was in the same room as the computers when it happened. I am going to speak to Vodacom about that mast, they must either move it or make a plan. They are causing me to incur loadings on my household insurance.

What I figured out works for me, is to ensure the wires are off the floor, and run vertically or 90 degrees to the floor. This reduces the induction by 90%.

I can also provide you with protection modules for the mains from the people I sourced mine from.. R360+VAT for Class B.
The only real solution is to go wireless, and to use a 3G stick when the weather is bad and you need to stay online.

 

[Joka69]

I feel the same, let me guess, it was that klap that one Saturday afternoon last month that took all your stuff?
My losses were:
2 x printers
1 x PC
1 x cellphone charger
1 x cordless phone (I managed to repair it)

Your losses in 2013 probably co-incided with mine
1 x entire PC
2 x routers (the Cisco ADSL router had a hole blown into it)
1 x external HDD
2 x network switches

With the 2013 strike in March, I wasn't home. Total losses came to R9800. With the second strike, I was busy cleaning when it struck, and was in the same room as the computers when it happened. I am going to speak to Vodacom about that mast, they must either move it or make a plan. They are causing me to incur loadings on my household insurance.

D@mmit! and i though i was bad, my last claim to my insurance now was a total of R18K replacing my NEWLY Bought Samsung LED, 2 month old XBOX and a few months old GPU that was replaced in March/April 2013 also due to Lightning strike!

I feel the same, let me guess, it was that klap that one Saturday afternoon last month that took all your stuff?
.

Thats exactly when it was hey, and it just happened out of the blue, all of a sudden the lightning struck and took everything out!

I can also provide you with protection modules for the mains from the people I sourced mine from.. R360+VAT for Class B.
The only real solution is to go wireless, and to use a 3G stick when the weather is bad and you need to stay online.

That will be awesome bud, i really think i should consider something like that! I was speaking to friend of mine, and he suggested i get a Lightning ROD installed in my yard, and at the rate im going, i think all insurance's are going to turn me away, so i should consider something like that! Now, we even have a drill type thing set up, whereby, i check the weather before i leave the house, and if it seems like its going to get damaged, i unplug everything and then leave, if someone's at home like my mom in law or the helper, they'll call me at work and tell me its about to storm, and they have already unplugged everything, so even if i need to stay online, i rather unplug just to be safe, it can wait! I got a surge protection unit from Ellies (Got it at Samsung when i replaced my TV for about R250) all my valuable electronics are plugged in to that - TV, XBOX, PC and Router, they have a guarantee on the actual product, you complete the form, with serial numbers of attached devices and send back to them, and they assure you, that if lightning damages any items plugged into that protection unit, they will pay you a Total of R20 000[i think its or R15 000, somewhere there]

 

[Compton_effect]

Best thing I ever did was fit a surge protector to my mains.
Seems some insurers won't pay out on lightning damage if you don't have module fitted to your db.

 

[Joka69]

What about the telephone pole, its situated in my back neighbors yard, and honestly the lines look a slight bit exposed to me, so whenever lightning strikes, it seems as though that is the obvious point of contact, and that's the only variable when it struck in January this year, my TV was plugged in via Ethernet to my router and so was my PC and XBOX, so that to me seems to be the common denominator? How do i protect that - aside from the surge protection the Netgear comes standard with?

 

[Sonic2k]

As you know... where we live, it can be blue sky and then it comes up in the afternoon.
The weather has been cycling... terrible heat for 2-3 days then it comes up, and when it comes, oh boy, you can be almost guaranteed that mast is going to be hit. Until El Nino abates, I suspect we will have this going into 2014-2015 too.
I now unplug everything when I am not at home, and if I see dark clouds I unplug too.

 

[Sonic2k]

What about the telephone pole, its situated in my back neighbors yard, and honestly the lines look a slight bit exposed to me, so whenever lightning strikes, it seems as though that is the obvious point of contact, and that's the only variable when it struck in January this year, my TV was plugged in via Ethernet to my router and so was my PC and XBOX, so that to me seems to be the common denominator? How do i protect that - aside from the surge protection the Netgear comes standard with?

So you live probably facing my yard, from your description. Hmm... so you can probably see into my property. Please confirm.
Since you have the same problems as me...ethernet induction, I'd be very interested in speaking to you.
You have a PM.

That pole you describe... is in my yard, behind my garage!

 

[Joka69]

As you know... where we live, it can be blue sky and then it comes up in the afternoon.
The weather has been cycling... terrible heat for 2-3 days then it comes up, and when it comes, oh boy, you can be almost guaranteed that mast is going to be hit. Until El Nino abates, I suspect we will have this going into 2014-2015 too.
I now unplug everything when I am not at home, and if I see dark clouds I unplug too.

Dude, tell me about it hey!! If you live in Wilropark, you can never be too safe!