A local ham friend had most electronics in his house destroyed by lightning............not a direct hit, but one where his ground returns provided a path. We have some of the worst lightning storms in the USA (Central Florida) and its a daily chase to make sure as much of our gear is not connected during the daily T-storms. There are some who are beginning to disconnect the RF and Electrical grounding of their gear due to the nature of lightning and its ability to find a route to true ground. Tough stuff, this lightning! I hope each of us does the best we can to minimize our exposure to the effects of a lightning discharge. Good luck to us all after we've done our best to disconnect from all sources of lightning intervention. Best 73 to all. ChuckW4MIL
-----Original Message----- From: David Gilbert <[email protected]> To: [email protected]; [email protected] <[email protected]> Sent: Tue, Aug 23, 2022 5:47 pm Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [K3] KIO3 failure mode When my KIO3 got zapped, I had everything disconnected. Antenna and all accessories from the K3 ... power supply as well. The one thing I didn't have disconnected was the RS-232 link between the laptop and the KIO3. Somehow a transient from a nearby lightning strike (not a direct one to my tower) traveled through the laptop power brick and to an otherwise completely floating K3. If I remember correctly, the laptop power supply was even plugged into a quality surge protected UPS. It takes very little to zap the KIO3. I now disconnect EVERYTHING in the shack during lightning season. I was able to get a replacement set of KIO3 boards from Don, and even in that case the audio board I got from him was blown. Luckily my original audio board was OK and all I had to do was replace the RS-232 board. I don't know what I would do if the KIO3 goes south again since the primary use of my K3 is for contesting and I absolutely need connection to the logger for that. Dave AB7E On 8/23/2022 2:31 PM, [email protected] wrote: Not owning a K3, but have the KX3..............and other rigs! Perhaps disconnecting the antenna (before and during an electrical storm) from the shack hardware makes little boards like the K103 enjoy a longer life. Just suggesting. No disrespect in this comment. 73 Chuck W4MIL -----Original Message----- From: David Gilbert <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tue, Aug 23, 2022 5:15 pm Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [K3] KIO3 failure mode Yes, for sure. That little board seems to have by far the poorest reliability history of anything in the K3. Dave AB7E On 8/23/2022 2:05 PM, Al Lorona wrote: > Ah, lightning. Whoever performs an analysis of the KIO3 failure mode after being struck by lightning might have what's necessary for a very lucrative business. > Actually, I'm surprised that the board hasn't already been reverse engineered in China, enabling an aftermarket for KIO3 replacements. I bet everybody on this reflector living east of the Rockies would buy two of them in anticipation of future thunderstorms. > Al W6LX/4 > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > Message delivered to [email protected] ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected] ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected]
