Greetings Folks we are back.

[AngelinaCatHub]

[momof5]

I have heard about this happening, is it called a 'surge'?

[JRScott]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune Hub, hope you get it replaced soon.

[PoorGrammyinBK7]

Sorry you guys had this happen. Glad YOU are okay!

[rfassett]

When I put my system in at work I actually contracted it out to a very heavy hitter in the industry. During the initial meeting, I told the system developer what my criteria was. My business deals with highly confidential information so breeches were not an option, I told him. And I told him that I wanted a system that will never go down, for any reason. He just laughed at me. And when we were done designing the system, he told me that the only thing that can not be protected against is just what you experienced Hub, a lightning strike. We have firewalls and off site back up so the files are protected, but the hardware is exposed and I hope I never have to smell that odor. Best of luck in getting up and running, and I am thankful that there was not more damage - non-computer related.

[MomIcantFindmy]

WOW.....that is scary..the smell of burning computer. I am thankful that you are ok. Hopefully everything will be back to normal for you soon Hub.

[AngelinaCatHub]

Yes it was quite a surge. I am real surprised we did not lose the electricity. I have everything on a surge arrester as well as UPS system, but what happened is it hit a communication wire between buildings, or at least the EMF spiked it high enough to go through all the either net stuff. Took out the port on daughters machine, but I can put a card into it. However the server lost the main board. I have mirrored several machines with RAID 0, and redundent back ups and a small portable off site disk in off site vault. I don't think I lost too much data but will not know until I can afford the main board. Data is stale by two days.

Yes I too am pleased that the house or person did not get blown up. It sure smelled like it was burning when I went in to see smoking machines. I missed BK forum

[Flamingo]

Momof5 is correct - the lightening fried anything connected to outlets and "surged" through your computers or other electrical appliances. Gives you an idea of what can happen when you are on the phone at the same time if that is hit also. You guys are lucky and I am glad you are all OK.

[AngelinaCat]

I have a cousin that used to work as a telephone operator back in the days when you had the plug-in wires that you had to move back and forth to make the various connections. She tells of one time when she was on the phone during a thunderstorm and the building was hit by lightning and she was thrown across the room. To this day she will not be on a phone of any kind during a storm.

[AngelinaCatHub]

We have a police detective in our town. He lost one arm. He and his friend were up a tree for whatever reason. The tree was struck and his friend killed instantly, he had his arm burned off on the site.

I was standing talking to a neighbor one day when out of the blue, lightings struck a pine tree across the street from us. It blew the 50 ft pine tree apart and almost into toothpicks.

The closest thing I ever had happen was when a kid, I was riding my bike when a felt all my arm hairs raising and a tingle in my body, when a tree next to me was hit. Too close.

[justplaintired]

Glad your ok, sorry about the computer mess. I don't really understand all that stuff you're talking about, but I can feel your pain. About 2 years ago we lost our computer to a storm. Not sure if it was lightening or power surge, but it fried the mother board. Another computer we lost our power supply due to a storm. They (storms) are mean to electronics for sure. We also lost a TV to a storm. So needless to say we have surge protectors on stuff now. Can't afford to have another fried electronic.

Just glad your ok and with your smarts I'm sure you'll get everything up and running soon.

Good luck!

[momof5]

I am so NOT computer savy but I do have a power strip that is a surge protector in case of what I thought would be an electrical surge due to a severe storm with lightening. I thought it was supposed to not allow any electricity to flow throw and cause a 'surge' which in turn can destroy a computer. I always assumed it would redirect the power back out of the house.

Are these basically useless? or am I just totally confused? I assume with all your computer equipment you had these as well. Are they only good for a certain amount of voltage?


Your story about being on the bike and the hair raising gave me goosebumps! We went camping many years ago on a local lake. It was storming terrible outside and we were in a tent. I unzipped the tent door and just got my body out, started to stand up and looked towards the lake. BAM! it felt like lightening hit inches from me but it was many yards away. It hit the water(thank God). All I could do was stand there and cry. I can still imagine the tingling feeling through my whole body as if I was frozen. Freaked my husband out thats for sure because he said the inside of the tent lit up like a hundred flashlights were turned on. Scarey stuff!
I am glad you are all okay!!

[WhatMoney]

I thought it was supposed to not allow any electricity to flow throw and cause a 'surge' which in turn can destroy a computer. I always assumed it would redirect the power back out of the house.

Are these basically useless? or am I just totally confused? I assume with all your computer equipment you had these as well. Are they only good for a certain amount of voltage?

The "surge protectors" you find in power strips and computer power supplies are only good for very small voltage surges, such as a motor starting or the power company diddling with the voltage during switchover times, etc.

They basically short circuit to ground excessive voltage usually above 160 volts on your AC line. But they have very limited power and energy capacity. They will easily blow up or open up with any serious surge making them useless. Lightning is a very gigantic surge, thousands of times more voltage and current than any simple 10 cent part the size of a dime can handle!

There is a whole industry that provide real lightning surge protection devices. They monitor the atmospherics for lightning within miles of your location and then shut down and disconnect your equipment. They also have real lightning arrestors, sparkless gap devices to protect the protection equipment. They are for commercial use and really work. Downside is the cost of a basic unit - around $3,000. For example:
http://www.rabunlabs.com/model1000/Default.htm

And a brief explanation of lightning and ac line surges:

http://www.citelprotection.com/citel/ac_surge.htm

[BKParalegal]

I always have an electricity diverter on my lines, so that if my home does get hit by lighting by at least one million jigawatts, the diverter will send it directly into the flux capacitor. Most likely my computers will fry, but at least I can go back in time and unplug them.

[FLBK7]

I have heard about this happening, is it called a 'surge'?

I think that's what it is called. My stereo receiver got killed by a lightning storm in South Florida, and my so-called "surge protector" didn't do a thing. I posted about this a few weeks ago. I also asked for advice as to what to buy to replace my system. To date, I haven't done anything because my son lent me his portable system (which works, but doesn't play my music the way it should, alas). And also because I'm bracing myself for whatever will happen in September when my current job will be abolished. I'm just being prudent and saving as much as I can because of all the unknowns.

I think we all need to do research into the so-called "surge-protectors," because from my experience the low to medium-priced ones don't seem to work on any consistent basis.

Hub, at least you know how to fix it because it's your field. Yes, parts cost money. But labor always costs more than parts. Always.