So, last week, nasty storm, lightning hit very near by. Modem, router, garage door opener all toast. Modem and router I figured it came through the cable line, garage door opener was not on a surge protector.
Now it seems the Playstation 4 Pro is dead and the computer speakers in office here at the house are dead. Different rooms, on different sides of the house, on different surge protectors. Nothing else on either surge protector was damaged.
Just a crazy coincidence?
Electricity is some funky stuff. Especially a lightning strike. It could be as simple as everything effected was on the same phase in the panel. Or they could even be landed near each other on the ground or neutral buss. Could be FM. (Freaking Magic)
Call your insurance company. They will probably cover it.
I already asked about it, $2500 lightning/surge deductible. We are only at about $1300 in damaged stuff, so even if it had taken out the fridge, for instance, we still wouldn't be at the deductible.
Just thought it was weird!
NOHOME
UltimaDork
8/17/18 9:59 a.m.
Just got over the damage caused by lighting strike at work. Took out the transformer on the pole, the meter, one of the 600 amp fuses in the main feed and a few electrical things inside. My computer woke up and behaved as if it had a virus but came around after a disc repair run but was touch and go for the day. Electrikery is both cool and weird.
Not a crazy coincidence, electricity at 7-digit voltages goes where it wants. Even if that might be through a thick layer of insulating material, sometimes. Even disconnected equipment can be fried by an EMP-like effect if the strike is close enough. If a surge protector ever saves any of your equipment from a lightning strike, you should consider yourself lucky. Real protection from lightning strikes requires things like gas discharge tube lightning arrestors and lightning rods.
As a wee little sprout we had lightning hit the metal clothesline pole approx 20 feet between our house and our neighbors.
We lost everything hooked up to the cable TV - two TVs and a VCR. That was it.
Our neighbor lost basically everything plugged into 120 or 240. Fridge, freezer, all TVs, clocks, stove, washer, dryer, etc.
Neighbor two houses down had every single mains powered light bulb fried but no other damage. Every. Single. Bulb.
Lightning is weird stuff.
z31maniac said:
Modem and router I figured it came through the cable line,
Is the cable bonded to house ground per code? If the surge came that way it would have damaged splitters and other stuff before hitting your equipment. Most likely the surge came over your power, it couldn't dissipate it fast enough, and when the electrons saw the grounded coax it tried to get out that way because electrons are always good at finding a ground. In fact they excel at it.