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[benn600]

I am currently sitting here listening to a lightning storm.  These storms can get quite constant and often cause me to gain concern and eventually end up shutting down and unplugging my server.  What does everyone here know about lightning and its possible issues?  I have the server and monitor running through an APC battery back up device...moderately priced one, too, $200.

I don't really mind unplugging it but it does never seem to fail with annoying myself because I always end up at the bare minimum losing my music stream via MC accessing the shared drive.

Can lightning pass through an APC device?  I have heard a lot of people say it can but then again, who really knows?  For the time and effort I've put into it, the last thing I want is to lose it, even with the huge "insurance" policy for connected equipment.

Then I was thinking...hmm, with enough battery backup devices --or a special APC unit-- it could actually provide 100% battery power as it would just continually switch between battery devices to provide power.  Obviously this would be expensive and not an option, but it's something to think about.

[bob]

Some UPS's do run off the battery all the time. They are generally heavier duty than the "switchover" units. The monitoring software can also show what load they are currently pulling. Still, if you get a lightning hit close enough the pulse will pass through the UPS to your equipment whether it's running on the battery all the time or not. Other things to check for are long wires attached to your computer (I call them EMF antennas Ethernet cables, audio cables, etc. That's one reason why some UPS units had phone wire surge devices.

[KingSparta]

Can lightning pass through an APC device?

Ummm, yes, and leave a mess all over your walls including the acid burn marks all over the wall, and try dodging lead projectiles.

A bolt of lightning can travel at a speed of 45 km/s (kilometres per second) (100,000 mph, 160,000 km/h). [6] It can reach temperatures approaching 28,000 °C (50,000 °F), hot enough to fuse soil or sand into glass channels.[7]

An average bolt of negative lightning carries an electric current of 40 kA (kiloamperes), although some bolts can be up to 120 kA, and transfers a charge of 5 coulombs and 500 MJ (megajoules), or enough energy to power a 100 watt lightbulb for just under two months. The voltage depends on the length of the bolt: with the dielectric breakdown of air being 3 million volts per meter, this works out at about one billion volts for a 300m (1,000 feet) lightning bolt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning

[jgreen]

benn, your chances of being struck by lightning are roughly equivilent to, well, being struck by lightning.  Are you staying awake all night worrying about this stuff?  What about that new house you were going to build?  Or that flying car?

[benn600]

The flying car never really took off.

lol

And I was really hoping for someone with first hand experience who could say, yes, my $5K server got struck and destroyed even though it was on an APC device--and here are some pictures of it.

What exactly needs to be struck to take out electronic devices?  The transformer on the light poles?  How often are light poles struck?  I must say I've never seen something get "struck."  I know if trees get struck the sap can be vaporized and blow huge portions of the tree off--that could probably destroy a part of your house.

As far as building a new house, that's at least a few months off.

I couldn't get the flying car going because of exterior concerns.  I was worried about lightning strikes.

[KingSparta]

Actually Each Pole Is Grounded, if you notice there is a copper wire running down it, they are looped like 10 times at the base, the base is in the ground about 5 feet.

that's not to say it will not travel down the line to your new plasma TV

I have had one Phone, Two Ethernet cards, and one computer (power supply) fried.

[benn600]

How does that work...if your line is struck, wouldn't it get EVERYTHING?  How does it only get a few minor things like that?  I think my APC unit has an ethernet protector thing but I don't use it at the moment.  I also unplugged the ethernet when I was worried about lightning...and the monitor, too.  It was not connected to anything.

[newsposter]

Benn, I've told you before that it costs about $200 to install whole-house surge protection.  Devices available from GE and Square-D.

[Mr ChriZ]

Benn, I've told you before that it costs about $200 to install whole-house surge protection.  Devices available from GE and Square-D.

I was under the impression surge protection does nothing against lightning.
Even if they guarantee it, that is basically a game of odds.  They win because
chances are they'll sell many times more protectors than their guarantee is worth vs the odds.

[gappie]

i saw a lightning hit a barn 50 meters below our tent when camping on a hillside. my father was once hit indirectly via a water thingy when i was walkin with him through the mountains. he survived but had a bad leg the rest of his life. im not afraid of thunderstorms, but i do have a huge respect for them. the changes you are hit are small, the same is for your equepment. just make good backups and put them far away. just in case. also might be handy when your house burns down, or all your stuff is stolen. things that occur more often.

[KingSparta]

How does that work...if your line is struck, wouldn't it get EVERYTHING?

I think the Ethernet card was basically a large fuse

[JimH]

That's not a very happy thought.

I've always been afraid of lightening, but I'm drawn to lightening bugs, as we called them in Nebraska in the '50's.  Fireflies to out of state folks.

[benn600]

The entire point of this thread is to ask if surge protectors have ANY chance to protect against lightning strikes.  A whole house surge protector seems like nothing next to a lightning strike.  Again, I haven't ever seen a lightning strike...ever...anywhere.  So if they don't touch ground, then it really doesn't matter.  It just worries me when I see multiple lightning strikes per second.  Then I get worried.  However, when there are more frequent strikes, they don't seem to get as close to the ground as less frequent but louder, boomers.

[johnnyboy]

A surge protector should in theory work against lightning - the electricity hits it, the power is too great so it breaks the circuit - no power pass through.
Only real question I can see though might be that so much power is shooting down it that it jumps accross however big the break in the circuit it creates is

[newsposter]

for lightning protection you need lightning rods.

But lightning rods won't protect your home wiring, espec if the strike is on the power lines.

Don't forget to also have lightning/surge protection on your incoming phone and tv (antenna, sat, cable) lines too.

My house is stucco with a significant underlying steel mesh.  I have that mesh grounded to a few 4' copper stakes driven into the ground around the foundation.  Additionally, I used no metal boxes or conduit for the low-voltage wiring and have minimal outlets, switches, and network points on the outside walls of the house.

Defense in depth is always better.  Good news is that it's cheap to do but you need to cover all the bases.  Doing the job half-assed for bragging rights is the same as not doing it at all.