Lightening damage - any hope?


We had a violent electrical storm at my home a couple of days ago and some of my AV gear no longer even turns on. The damaged components are Sony Blu-ray player, Marantz AV Processor, AppleTV, Spectrum Cable box, Netgear router. It seems that the damage came in thru the Spectrum cable for my Internet service.. All of the damaged components were connected to my network via Cat6.

Curiously, the components that I had isolated with fiber converters (to lower the cable noise) were undamaged. That included my ML5505 integrated amp and my Aurender N200 streamer (thank goodness).

For the electrical geniuses out there is there any hope that the damaged components can be repaired from a spike coming in thru the ethernet cable? I'm rather surprised that these components won't even turn on.

Any insight. would be appreciated.

jhcjr

Sorry to hear that but it's good that the N200 and the amp were spared .   I have both systems isolated with fiber optic media converters.   I also did it to combat noise , I never thought about stuff getting fried via Ethernet.  

Hopefully your post will save someone that nightmare.  It's cheap to do,  in my main system I have a TP Link gigabit switch with 2 SFP ports one going to a TP media converter .   The second system uses a TP Link media converter on each end.   Cheap insurance and absolutely dead quiet digital

Apple TV box is disposable electronics at best.  Spectrum (bastards) will replace the cable box for free.  The router is likely toast.  I'd open up the Sony and Marantz and check the fuses in the switch mode power supplies with a meter.  The problem is that both those units are in constant standby mode, and hence susceptible to such problems.  Since the strike entered via the network ports, I'd say there's little chance of repair.

I would also go into your basement, and check to be certain Spectrum correctly bonded the incoming CATV line to your cold water pipe or ground rod.  If Spectrum failed to do so upon initial installation, you could get all your gear back and some.  

Most of the more valuable components should be able to be repaired. Keep in mind repair charges usually start at a few hundred $$, so some stuff might not be worth it. As others have said, do some basic diagnosis if you have not done that. Check for fuses and basics. If you are able to use a multimeter you can sometimes figure out where the current stops flowing. If the damage came through the network cable, might be a more difficult thing to diag, and we have had that happen in the past few years ourselves. I still have a HT receiver that no longer connects to the LAN due to storm damage. That said, most of my gear is behind a protection device that also protects the LAN connections. Internet gateway is on a separate UPS/surge protector. Lifetime Florida resident here, and have spent thousands at the repair shop in my life due to storms, and now my protection devices probably cost more than my first stereo rig! :-) Lessons learned the hard way.

 

Some units may also have internal fuses in addition to the Aac mains.   Might be worth taking the covers off what you can. 

Thanks for the comments and ideas. BTW, I do have everything powered thru a Furman power conditioner. And I checked the ground wire at the outside cable connection and it is as it should be. I bought additional media converters to isolate the Ethernet on my replacement/repaired gear that wasn't isolated. 

I found the fuse on the power supply of the Sony Blu-ray player and it is fine, but the service manual provided instructions to check 2 pins that connect the PS board to the main board for +12v and they both showed nuttin'. So, at least the PS board got zapped and possible more. I haven't a clue on how to repair the PS board and a replacement is $100. The player was only $500 and there they be more trouble if a new PS energizes the other boards and they don't work. Unless someone has a way to test the components on the PS board I guess I'll sell the unit for parts and get something else.

The Marantz is another can of worms. There are a number of boards stuffed on top of the main board and PS board such that disassembly will be quite a task. I think I'll take it to my excellent local repair shop and pay for a diagnosis.

Thanks again everyone.

Are you sure it was Ethernet issue and not power mains spike? It is pretty common for storms to cause voltage spikes. This is why I have surge protection for the entire home.

Now, have you checked fuses? They may have been blown.

None of the damaged items have 'regular 'fuses like an amp has. I suspect they are mounted on the circuit boards. Any hints on what to look for on the boards to identify a mounted fuse?

The damaged items are probably not worth repairing, but I'm taking this 'opportunity' to learn a little more about them.

Thanks for the help.

A little late to this thread but I identify with it.  Had a lightning hit last year, Hit a tree that was just 15 feet or so away from the underground electrical entrance.  Took out 2 TVs, 3 switches, 2 UPS, Router, and Bluesound box. Also took out the electrical meter and my solar system inverter.  What took out the TVs, Switches, Router, and Bluesound box was the LAN port.  Strangely enough the cable modem was ok. One of the UPS actually smoked.

My theory is that a large static electrical charge hit the LAN ports.  Most of them would power up but the LAN ports would not connect.  I have since added these devices to the incoming COAX and between the cable modem and the router:

LAN Lighting Suppressor

Coax Lightning Suppressor

I added the optical link between the router and Bluesound box mainly for noise reduction as it replaced a 50 foot ethernet cable run and for the protection.

Ethernet Media Converter

Fiber Patch Cable