RE: Re: Lightning - More Probs Found

["Keith Doxey" <ukha@xxxxxxx>]

Contrary to popular belief, lightning DOES strike twice. (As Mark will
agree)

Actually, more than twice. Some sites are prone to lightning stikes due to
their location and at these sites it is worthwhile TRYING to MINIMISE the
impact of a storm. As I said before, you cant protect 100% but if you are
hit once, there is a strong chance you will get hit again unless it was a
totally freak occurance.

In Mark's case he has a large house in the middle of nowhere fed by lots of
overhead cables for both Mains and Telephone. Even if the area local to the
house isnt hit, there is a strong possiblity of Phone or Power lines being
hit somewhere along the way. Add to that the large amount of equipment all
interconnected and it adds up to quite a problem.

Sadly there isnt a foolproof way of protecting the kit. Its pointless
paying
thousands of pounds to protect old equipment just in case it might get
destroyed. Better add basic protection and to save the money to replace
what
kit does get damaged with shiny new toys.

Whenever possible unplug equipment likely to be damaged during a storm when
the weatherman predicts bad lightning. Also make sure you have an insurance
policy that will cover the damage in the event of a serious strike causing
thousands of pounds worth of damage.

Keith

www.diyha.co.uk
www.kat5.tv


> -----Original Message-----
> From: alcinababe [mailto:alcinababe@xxxxxxx]
> Sent: 14 August 2003 14:18
> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
> Subject: [ukha_d] Re: Lightning - More Probs Found
>
>
> Where I work (a large College) got hit by lightning a couple of years
> ago - or rather the road by the side got hit (we think, judging by the
> circle of devestation).  All the telephone, network and alarm cables
> buried under the road had an induced voltage on them.  Every building
> down the street was affected: ethernet ports (on both computers and
> hubs) were blown, telephone sockets were blown, the doctor's surgery's
> NHS direct ISDN was blown, all the alarms were blown.  Fun, fun, fun!
>  Interestingly not a single mains socket or psu was affected!
>
> I don't know how effective the filters are, I suspect not particularly
> effective.  I guess it all depends on how much kit you have (we have
> too much to afford a filter at every connection) and how frequently
> you expect to be hit!  I've worked here 13 years and we've only been
> hit the once.
>
> Alcina
> =8-)
>
> --- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "Keith Doxey" <ukha@d...>
wrote:
> > Were these unconnected ports or were thay patched to something.
> >
> > If they had cable connected it could just be induced voltage on
the
> wiring.
> >
> > Keith
> >
> > www.diyha.co.uk
> > www.kat5.tv
> >
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Mark McCall [mailto:lists@xxxxxxx...]
> > > Sent: 10 August 2003 13:11
> > > To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
> > > Subject: [ukha_d] Lightning - More Probs Found
> > >
> > >
> > > I've now discovered that at least 2 ports on my rackmount
hub
> > > have been
> > > killed by the lightning.
> > >
> > > I can't understand what path the lightning took to do this
though?
> > >
> > > Anyway, just a reminder to anyone planing their N0 -
> > > lightning protection
> > > should be a consideration.
> > >
> > > M.
>