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Author Topic: Lightning strikes survey  (Read 6250 times)

Weaver

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Lightning strikes survey
« on: March 03, 2016, 11:52:39 PM »

Have you had any damage to kit as a result of a lightning strike, near-miss or surge or similar electrical storm-related event?
« Last Edit: March 04, 2016, 04:14:48 AM by Weaver »
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kitz

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Re: Lightning strikes survey
« Reply #1 on: March 04, 2016, 01:49:28 AM »

Not ever had any physical damage to kit.   Ive had a Voyager 2100 that went weird after a lightening surge and got all confuddled when it came back up.   It was ok after a manufacturers reset though.
 
I think the scariest thing I had was when using the phone during a lightening strike.  It wasn't full on strike but more of static burst & shock that made me drop the phone.  My next door neighbour came knocking as they'd been sat in their conservatory and thought they'd seen my house take a direct hit , but everything seemed ok aside from it tripped the downstairs electrics.  Next day we realised it had actually struck one of my trees. 
Surprisingly, the silver birch actually lived, but bore a large black scorch mark and hole which was later put to use by wildlife.   About a year or so ago though dad cut that part off, as it started to decay and any new growth only came from underneath.
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sheddyian

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Re: Lightning strikes survey
« Reply #2 on: March 04, 2016, 02:06:57 AM »

I was looking after a VAX/VMS system some time back, in a building that had (as I vaguely recall) metal-clad walls and at least a partly metal roof.

One morning there was a loud bang and a simultaneous flash outside, the lights flickered and I could taste metal in my mouth.  Lightning!

I then started to get calls as to what had happened to the computers?

A number of devices connected to the thickwire ethernet had died; curiously (thankfully!) mostly lower cost devices like DECservers [terminal multiplexers] rather than the VAX computers themselves.


Also once visited a house that had had a lightning strike and it had taken out an internal dialup modem.   No physical damage but it stopped working after the strike.

That house was also directly under a high voltage power line supported on pylons, one side effect of this was that the CRT computer monitor would flicker violently.

Regardless of the (perceived) negative health effects of such radiation, it was unsettling (also the hum!) and I was glad I didn't live there.

Ian
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sheddyian

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Re: Lightning strikes survey
« Reply #3 on: March 04, 2016, 02:11:54 AM »

And slightly related : a few years back, one evening the lights began to flicker, then the TV and hifi started blinking and clicking, and this lasted for a minute or two before the power failed completely.

When I tried to phone the power company, I had a dial tone with loud buzzing, and the dial tone and buzz gradually faded out to a dead line.

I went outside, expecting to see total darkness but only a few houses were affected, so went up to the nearby phone exchange expecting to see that in darkness, but it wasn't.  I reported the telephone and electrical faults.

Next day it turned out that the mains cable under the pavement nearby had burnt out, and taken out the telephone cables that were running very close to it.

Power was restored several days before the phone was  :o

The mad power fluctuations prior to complete power cut killed my ex-rental hifi midi system, which never worked again.

Ian
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roseway

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Re: Lightning strikes survey
« Reply #4 on: March 04, 2016, 06:55:22 AM »

Many years ago I saw a dial-up modem fry in a thunderstorm. I was using it at the time, and I saw blue flashes coming from it. Needless to say, it didn't work afterwards, but nothing else was damaged.
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  Eric

Starman

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Re: Lightning strikes survey
« Reply #5 on: March 04, 2016, 07:52:56 AM »

I've attended a number of jobs locally over the years where houses have had direct lighting strikes which has caused sockets to explode from walls etc - A number of these have had what we consider to be poor earth connection/undersized on the incoming mains head which no doubt increased the affects.
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renluop

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Re: Lightning strikes survey
« Reply #6 on: March 04, 2016, 08:43:08 AM »

I'll put in a bit of humour. I crave forgiveness :).
Fifty years ago I was courting my wife, and once a month we stayed at her mother's. There had been a strike and the chimney got it. On the lounge floor was a lot of soot and a disc of, "It Really was Such a Night".
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aesmith

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Re: Lightning strikes survey
« Reply #7 on: March 04, 2016, 08:47:17 AM »

Have you had any damage to kit as a result of a lightning strike, near-miss or surge or similar electrical storm-related event?

Both from nearby lightning, i.e. no actual strike on or near our property.
(1) Took out a BT telephone answering machine, no other damage
(2) Took out microfilter and DSL router, both had actual components blown apart with bits lying loose inside the cases.  On that occasion the answering machine was unharmed.
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: Lightning strikes survey
« Reply #8 on: March 04, 2016, 08:48:16 AM »

@Renluop, you are forgiven :D

I've known people blame lightning for damage, and even claim off insurance when it could easily be avoided.

Specifically, a friend with burglar alarm with maintenance contract.  It was obviously hyper-sensitive because any electrical storm for miles around would  bring on its 'fault' light,  requiring £50 or so for engineer visit to reset.  Even after the 3rd or 4th occurrence in as many years, the engineer's diagnosis was always 'lightning damage', and advice to reclaim it from household insurance. >:(

About the same time I installed a DIY alarm myself, it was also very sensitive and kept crashing.  A call to the maker's helpline resulted in a surge arrestor for the mains supply, and anti-static covers for the buttons.   No more 'lightning strikes' at all, after that.   :)
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clayyy

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Re: Lightning strikes survey
« Reply #9 on: March 04, 2016, 10:43:43 AM »

never witnessed any domestic damage but at work i've seen a POE switch get fried as it didnt have any surge protection or UPS. During the same event, a small workshop office nearest where the lightning hit closest to, PoE Cisco IP phone popped and the PC it was connected via ethernet to  had to eventually get replaced due to the weird motherboard related issues it started having
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Black Sheep

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Re: Lightning strikes survey
« Reply #10 on: March 04, 2016, 11:14:49 AM »

I've witnessed shed-loads of electrical storm damage on other peoples homes and equipment. But one event I didn't actually witness but brings home the power of such storms, is when the ex-landlord of my 'Local' was upstairs one evening supping his brew whilst sat in the enormous bay-windows the pub has, watching the electrical storm outside ............... then next thing he was being awakened by his wife shouting his name ............ he was led on the floor on the opposite side of the room.

Yup, the bays had metal frames and had been the subject of a direct strike. Dave (The landlord) was shaken up, but with no injuries other than aches and strains. He has a completely different approach to lightning events now ..... as you would.  ;) ;D
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renluop

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Re: Lightning strikes survey
« Reply #11 on: March 04, 2016, 12:01:13 PM »

@Renluop, you are forgiven :D

I've known people blame lightning for damage, and even claim off insurance when it could easily be avoided.

...
It probably got hit as house was on the heights of S E London. As to insurance "nooh, nooh!", connected to profession.
Lovely place to live with wonderful views!
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c6em

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Re: Lightning strikes survey
« Reply #12 on: March 04, 2016, 12:42:07 PM »

About 15 years ago nearby - this is rural area.
In the days of dial up

Direct strike on a oak tree.
Surge travels down though tree to about 15 ft up where it exploded outwards from the tree.
So there was a  huge amount of bark and other wood debris on the floor
plus the tree left "tottering" I think is the word.
We are not talking about a small oak here -a proper fully grown mature tree.
I walked underneath some hours later and saw the mess on the ground spread around and at first I could not figure out why and how and what - until I looked up.... and decided that staying around underneath it was not a good idea.

It also blew every single modem in about a 0.25 mile range

Another occasion was a work in an engineering factory again a direct hit on a nearby assembly building overnight. This is in the 1980's so lots of "dumb" monitors in the next door staff offices connected to mainframe computers.  Computing staff were busy for days replacing all the blown monitors.

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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: Lightning strikes survey
« Reply #13 on: March 04, 2016, 12:49:21 PM »

It probably got hit as house was on the heights of S E London. As to insurance "nooh, nooh!", connected to profession.
Lovely place to live with wonderful views!

I wasn't suggesting yours was an 'unnecessary' case, wasn't commenting on your earlier post.   I was simply smiling at/with your humour, before 'moving on'.   :)

Don't get me started on Insurance though.  These days you are damned if you do claim, and damned if you don't claim.  If the insurance finds out somebody suffered damage, didn't bother claiming and and didn't tell them, even if it was minor, I think they can get sometimes awkward over 'non-disclosure'.  And in this age of big databases, and all-encompassing  (non)privacy policies,  they probably know things about our past that we ourselves have long-since forgotten.   >:(
« Last Edit: March 04, 2016, 12:51:35 PM by sevenlayermuddle »
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neilius

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Re: Lightning strikes survey
« Reply #14 on: March 06, 2016, 07:37:07 AM »

I lost a HG533 a couple of years ago. There was a strike extremely close to us (loud bang woke everyone up). Went downstairs in the morning and saw the router's LEDs flashing randomly. No connectivity. There was no visible!e damaged on the outside, nor any burning smells. The NTE/5A and MK3 SSFP were both fine.
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