Charles Scott wrote:
> Probably a lot of other things that need to be considered, but the main
> thing is that you want to protect your equipment. The single point ground
> approach will do that.
Actually the main thing you're protecting in a home installation is your
HOUSE - the equipment is secondary. Keep lightning outside and
single-point ground to get everything to rise and fall at the same
potential.
Having seen the amount of damage done to internal wiring by a lightning
strike that hit my dad's house directly on a DSS dish that entered the
house through the coax (before the coax vaporized into black oily smudge
all over the living room ceiling and walls) was impressive. And
expensive to repair. Much of the 1st floor wiring had to be replaced
after "megger" tests showed that the cables and outlets were simply
"cooked".
The sonic damage to concrete and brick in the driveway was also
impressive. (Brick pavers blown completely out of the side of the
driveway concrete and lying in the driveway in little pieces.) Two
neighbors with broken basement windows also.
Cheap surge-supressors actually saved certain equipment, and burnt
themselves in the process. I was surprised by that one. I figured most
of the cheapies aren't worth it, but they actually sacrificed themselves
to do the job.
And from the looks of it, the leader is all that hit the DSS dish -- the
return stroke (the big'un) went around the yard via metal edging,
spot-welding it together into one long strip, and split up the center
and killed a 30' tree on the way back up. Of course the path could have
been the other direction -- from the tree through the edging to the
house, but it's pretty much impossible to tell. Pretty wild to poke at
the edging and see the welds where the electricity jumped the gaps
between the pieces.
The DSS receiver made a cool rattle-toy from all the components blown
off the board too! I forgot to ask him if we could open it up and take
a look before he tossed it... oops. Would have made for some
interesting photos. The VCR, TV, and everything on that first circuit
behind the DSS reciever was toast. The wall where the coax entered from
ouside was blackened and the wall plate the coax used to pass through
was lying on the floor.
He wasn't home at the time of the strike. It could have easily set his
house on fire with no one home.
Nate Duehr, [EMAIL PROTECTED] - WY0X
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