Lightning

mardatha

What should you do in thunder & lightning re computers & routers ? I took the plug out of this and the wireless router - but when I came back on I had no internet for ages. We had a biggish flash of lightning earlier and the answerphone on the BT landline started talking to itself

[Deleted User]

Invest in some good quality surge protection devices and you should be ok.

Money_Grabber13579

mardatha wrote: »

What should you do in thunder & lightning re computers & routers ? I took the plug out of this and the wireless router - but when I came back on I had no internet for ages. We had a biggish flash of lightning earlier and the answerphone on the BT landline started talking to itself

If the lightning hits the lines, it can burn out the equipment. However since you got your internet back, it obviously did no lasting damage. Instead it probably just affected the exchange. In the past, even fireworks have knocked our internet off.

Bit freaky though when the phone starts talking to itself though!:D

isofa

If you are unplugging things, ensure you unplug the phone line to the router, massive spikes can come down the line.

Obviously good quality surge protection will help, or preferably a UPS unit, but remember to protect the phone line as well as the mains power!

I had 2 computer modems get fried by a lightning strike on an overhead telephone line about 6 years ago, luckily it didn't go as far as the computers which were UPS protected, but killed the external modems stone dead!

mardatha

OK, forgot about the phone line, will unplug everything until we get a surge protection thingy. We live high up and have had sky fried before, this si why I always unplug stuff. Will remember the phone line next time...it was a wee bit weird LOL !

Marty_J

Unplug stuff if you're really worried about it. Lightning laughs in the face of surge protection.

Money_Grabber13579

Marty_J wrote: »

Unplug stuff if you're really worried about it. Lightning laughs in the face of surge protection.

Yep, surge protectors aren't generally designed to protect against a spike of 100,000,000 Volts!

isofa

Money_Grabber13579 wrote: »

Yep, surge protectors aren't generally designed to protect against a spike of 100,000,000 Volts!

A surge protector certainly should, (unless in very rare extreme circumstances of a direct strike) it should blow its fuse in a few millisecond before anything gets to the equipment, which is why all the good ones come with thousands of pounds equipment guarantee.

I had a £30 belkin surgemaster which protected a colour laser from a spike a few years ago. It had a 20K equipment guarantee with it.

Surge / spike protection is very different to UPS protection which may, or may not, have surge/spike protection.

For example, coverage and info of Belkin's products is here: http://www.belkin.com/uk/powersolutions/

Marty_J

It can provide some protection depending on the circumstances, but for a direct strike, forget about it.

Lightning that has travelled hundreds of metres through the air isn't going to be deterred by a blown fuse.

4743hudsonj

Marty_J wrote: »

It can provide some protection depending on the circumstances, but for a direct strike, forget about it.

Lightning that has travelled hundreds of metres through the air isn't going to be deterred by a blown fuse.

exactly

millions of volts and 300Ka are not deterred by a 1cm gap in a broken fuse

isofa

4743hudsonj wrote: »

exactly

millions of volts and 300Ka are not deterred by a 1cm gap in a broken fuse

And how often does a direct strike occur rather than one via underground cables?

Put it this way if you are experiencing a direct strike, worrying about your PC equipment isn't going to be the first thing on your mind as your house bursts into flames.

For most cases a spike/surge protector will protect your equipment and if it doesn't (other than the above), the manufacturer will insure you against the failure - clearly having confidence in their equipment. I've been using IT equipment on surge and UPS systems for 20+ years, in offices and in home environments, though tens of storms (possibly 50+), only one failure, due to my foolishness of not protecting a phone line many years ago on a home system.