There was a storm that I thought had passed.....I was down in the man cave just pulling a record from the turntable and pop! a lightning strike about 100 feet from the house and the lights went out. It knocked out the right channel of my 3 month old Ortofon Cadenza Red, volume control of my Raysonic SLP 120 integrated(stuck at max) Also damaged is my internet modem, wifi and alarm system- two days after I was downsized out of a job.
Unfortunately, the Raysonic was not plugged into my Furman PC since I was playing with power cords and was using an outlet strip due to the thickness of the cord. It looks like a surge went from the outlet thru the Raysonic, interconnect and into the turntable thru the Whest phono into the cartridge?
What suggestions does everyone have about protection against such events? Sure I can unplug things but what if I am not at home and a storm rolls up?
What a drag! Not sure what I can suggest for future other than whole house surge protector, but suggest you check to see if you homeowners or renters insurance will cover it. Mine did 30 years ago when lightening fried an amp and pre-amp I had.
I use an APC, but it will not protect from lightning. Short of extensive grounding in your home's electrical system, nothing will protect from a bad strike. Protection at the breaker box may be worth looking into, however. I used to unplug my APC when I went to work due to frequent lightning in my area (South Florida), but now my AC outlet is out of reach and it's a pain. Also, sorry to hear about the job. A lot of us have been thru this in the last few years (myself included)...keep your head up.
Bijack is right. You really can't protect against a lightning strike. Its not the same as a power surge. Unfortunately, a fire policy is the best protection. If you read the details of most surge protectors lightning guarantee, you'll see that they treat it in a self insuring manner. Meaning they know their product can't actually protect against lightning, so you send them details about your system along with a copy of your dec page, and they'll pick up wherever your policies leave off.
I never had to use it, but I had a panamax years ago that they said would protect against a lightening strike. They said it had a $1,000,000 connected equipment guarantee. Maybe they have some fine print that gives them a way out. I'm not sure. It might be worth a look.
I watch the weather forecasts every day and unplug when there is a possibility for severe weather while I'm away. Never a problem with lightning yet, but a raccoon once shorted the power lines messing up a piece of equipment a few years back. Can't plan for something like that.
Get whole house surge protection installed at the main supply to the house. Mine is Eaton, there are other brands. My electrician installed it for around 300 bucks (he did some dedicated lines too and I can't remember the exact breakdown). I live in lightning prone North Texas and so far so good. Many times your local power company will install and bill monthly, or you can pay once and have it done, but either way it's pretty reasonable and effective. You do need surge protectors on your equipment too, follow above advice.
Contact your insurance company. The same thing happened to me and lightning does what it wants to do regardless of any protection you think you may have. If you can prove you took a hit, even indirect, you'll be covered as long as you had it in your policy. BTW-You should have replacement value specified in the policy. I now have a Monster Power center in front of all of my components, which is supposed to carry something like 10 G's of coverage, but you should contact your insurance company first. Note-my company gave me some BS that the strike had to hit my property. If it came down next door and bounced over, it wouldn't be covered. I went out back and found a dead branch from my pear tree and told them that was where the strike occurred. After you get new gear, put it behind a surge protector and make sure everything is properly grounded. For example, the mast of my roof antenna is earth grounded to an eight foot x 5/8" copper rod driven into the earth. That just diverts static down to earth, a full out strike is unpredictably destructive.
I forgot to mention before, but one of my amps that wasn't even plugged in got fried by the hit. My theory is that the huge moving charge induced a voltage in the amp's mains primary. The tech that looked at it said every single component in that amp was damaged.
As I said, lightning is a force of nature and will do as it pleases. I was home looking out the window when it hit. Everything got super bright as I heard an explosion. You know how you usually hear the boom come at you, getting louder and then fade away? I never heard it coming, just the boom and fade.
In my opinion, no surge protector will make a difference when it's a direct or near direct hit. Don't get me wrong, I believe in them and use them like crazy to isolate inter-component surges or capture the surge of a compressor turning on. But a good insurance policy with replacement value is your best protection.
Short of installing lightning arrestor system to keep lightning from hitting your house in the first place, nothing will protect your electronics from a direct lightning hit to your house or the service entrance; however, a few basic precautions will go a long way in minimizing damage from a nearby hit.
First is to make sure that all grounds are tied to one place at the service entrance and it's a good ground with at least two ground-rods pounded deep in the ground. Cable and satellite TV installers are notorious for sticking a ground rod in wherever it's convenient with no bonding whatsoever to the house's service-entrance ground. When there are two grounds, one at each end of the house with no direct common bonding, a lightning-strike occurring nearby can crate a high-voltage unequal-potential between the two separate grounds. Guess how the potential balances itself out? That's right. Through the lead-in coax and through your TV and anything else that is connected and grounded or tied to the neutral leg - which is everything that's plugged in! So check and fix your house ground first and foremost.
Now, like Swanny said, go out and buy or rent through your electric-service provider a whole-house surge-suppressor. Don't worry it would hurt the sound of your system and it's worth every penny.
Also remember that MOVs, which actually do the surge suppression in most strips and power conditions, wear out with age. Depending on the number and size of surges that are absorbed by it, figure on replacing the MOVs in the device every four- to eight-years. MOVs are quite cheap but require some soldering to install. You may be quite surprised open your power conditioner and see a blackened and burnt MOV or two, but it not uncommon, especially here in Florida.
I am also in Florida , the central part . I have gotten used to leaving everything unplugged until I want to use it . The tubed amp and CDP only take 30-45 minutes to warm up. But the SS phono stage takes @ 7 hours and that is a real PITA ! I will be starting a new thread looking for recs for a decent , warm sounding tubed phono stage to replace it . It is the price that I pay for living in paradise ! I really hate the winters up north ! And I agree with the replacement value coverage suggestion.
> My theory is that the huge moving charge induced a voltage in the amp's mains primary.
First start with basic concepts even introduced in elementary school science. Lightning seeks earth ground. A path for a 20,000 amp electric surge is via a wooden church steeple destructively to earth. Wood is not a good conductor. So 20,000 amps creates a high voltage. 20,000 amps times a high voltage is high energy. Church steeple damaged.
Franklin installed a lightning rod. Now 20,000 amps is via a wire to an earthing electrode. High current creates near zero voltage. 20,000 amps times a near zero voltage is near zero energy. Nothing damaged.
Lightning seeks earth ground. A lightning strike to utility wires far down the street is a direct strike, incoming to every household appliance, destructively to earth. Appliances are not a good conductor. So lightning creates a high voltage. Lightning current times a high voltage is high energy. Appliances damaged.
Second, for over 100 years, facilities that cannot have damage installed superior earthing connected low impedance (ie 'less than 10 feet') via one 'whole house' protector. Then high current creates near zero voltage. 20,000 amps times a near zero voltage is near zero energy. No appliance is damaged.
In your case, everything that was damaged had both an incoming and an outgoing path to earth. If both current paths do not exist, then no damage. Often damage is on the outgoing path. For example, the amp. Incoming on AC mains. Outgoing on the right channel to earth via a speaker wire touching the floor. Surge passes through everything in that path; simultaneously. But only damaged is a part(s) inside the amp.
Third, one shot protectors are a scam. Either earth a surge BEFORE it can enter a building. Or a surge will go hunting for earth destructively via appliances. Earth ground electrode is your protection. Each incoming wire must connect low impedance (ie 'less than 10 feet') to that single point earth ground either via a hardwire or a protector. For reasons even demonstrated by Franklin and his lightning rod.
Nothing new. Protection has been done this way for over 100 years. 'Whole house' protectors come from other and more responsible companies including GE, Siemens, Ditek, ABB, Polyphaser, Square D, Syscom, Leviton, Delta. Siemens. and Intermatic. To name but a few. A Cutler-Hammer solution sold in Lowes and Home Depot for less than $50. A least expensive solution has also been the best. Proven by over 100 years of experience and science. So that a protector remains undamaged even after a direct lightning strike. As explained in four topmost paragraphs.
Respectfully, it is no secret that lightning wants to reach earth ground by the path of least resistance, but that is a simplistic view as I believe there are other things going on as well.
Even without instrumentation, I can vouch there must have been a great magnetic field moving through my house that day as every one of my TV's had their CRT's magnetized. Not destroyed, magnetized. In the case of my unplugged amplifier, I think the moving magnetic field of the tremendous bolt induced a current into the coils of the mains transformer. The damage cascaded from there. Preamp was undamaged, as was the tape deck and CD player. Only the component with the biggest transformer was affected.
> I can vouch there must have been a great magnetic field moving > through my house that day as every one of my TV's had their CRT's > magnetized.
A tiny field creates that distortion. Nuclear submarines suffer a similar effect by simply traversing oceans. A tiny degaussing coil of similar strength automatically undoes residual fields in that CRT.
Meanwhile, lightning struck a lightning rod. Maybe 20,000 amps flowed from that rod to earth. Some four feet away from that wire and 20,000 amps was an IBM PC. It did not even blink. That field is much larger than anything you saw in your house. It did not affect an IBM PC, nearby digital watches, mobile phones, digital clocks, or anything else. The most sensitive transistors connect to a radio antenna. To amplify tiny radio fields. Even those were not harmed. Because a field created by 20,000 amps is made irrelevant by protection already inside all electronics.
Damage means a current had both an incoming and an outgoing path. Only then can internal protection be overwhelmed.
Was the transformer damaged? Or some other internal part? Valid conclusions do not exist without knowing specifically what internal part failed. And every electrically conductive material it was in contact with. Even concrete is an electrical conductor.
We did this stuff. If damage occurred, we had to find the human created mistake that permitted an incoming and outgoing current. That current always explained the damage. But many items you may have assumed are insulators (ie floor tile) are actually electrical conductors.
I understand everything you have stated but I still think it falls short of explaining why the amplifier was damaged in such a specific manner. Absolutely nothing else connected to the stereo was electrically damaged in a similar manner. The only other damage incurred was to the antenna input stage of the tuner, which given the circumstances is intuitively explainable. The damage to the amplifier however was complete. Every component after the power transformer including the main filter capacitors were damaged. I doubt the lightning path to ground could have occurred via the speaker wires through concrete as the amp has a timed speaker connect relay in the normally open position while off. There was also no damage to the speaker wire insulation, which I would have expected had such a path to ground occurred. There is no doubt in my mind that a very strong and rapidly moving magnetic field was in the proximity of the amp as the (two) nearby televisions were magnetized as a result of the event. No other set in the house was affected. I personally wired the house and can state to a certainty that each of the damaged sets were on separate branch circuits on different levels of the house and that no other devices on either branch circuit were affected in any manner. The stereo was and still is on a dedicated circuit using 12-3 BX. Each of the four duplex outlets on that dedicated circuit have internal surge protectors, and their indicator lights still glow to this day indicating they were not "spent". The roof antenna is FM only and is in no manner connected to the CATV, except for a singular 10 gauge wire from the coax grounding block to the ground buss in the main service panel. Each TV is connected to the CATV via starship pattern to a single 4 way splitter to the CATV. The CATV coax is also grounded to the main ground bar. The only difference between the power amp and every other interconnected component in the dedicated stereo system is the size of the Power Amp's Power transformer. Much bigger than any other power transformer in the system. I don't think it is unreasonable to theorize that a current could have been induced into the coils of the transformer by a rapidly moving powerful magnetic field. I also believe Ohm's law can be applied in this situation as there was never a direct path to ground other than via the interconnects.
To summarize, it is my belief that a great voltage was induced into the primary or secondary side of the amp's power transformer, which simply went on to blow out the power supply of the amp thus causing a cascading failure to the remainder of the amp's internal circuitry. Why the power amp alone was singled out is beyond me. The only difference between it and the other five components (preamp-tuner-CDP-EQ-Tape Deck) connected at the time was the size of the amplifier's power transformer.
Insufficient information exists. For example, normal is for a surge be incoming to many adjacent appliances. But only cause damage in one. The surge is incoming to everything but only does damage in one or a few parts inside one appliance. Yes, it may pass through maybe 15 parts. But only the weakest part fails.
Relays open or closed are a conductive path to any surge. A common path through a relay is from its coil to its wiper contacts. Open that relay and find no indication. Normal is for destructive currents to pass through most items without any indication. Even open relays.
A surge can also connect to concrete via the wire and not leave any indication on wire insulation. Observation alone is one reason why many never understand how a surge does damage.
Demonstrated by the IBM PC and so many other engineering examples is the near zero damage created by fields. The resulting energy is big time too small. A nearby strike only ten feet from a radio antenna can create thousands of voltage on that antenna's lead. And an NE-2 neon glow lamp (less than a milliamp) attached to that lead then converts thousand of volts to tens of volts. Near zero. Because fields create a high voltage with near zero current. Nowhere near sufficient energy to create damage as described.
Lightning can also create other conductive paths causing much higher energy from AC electric to then create a follow through current. That follow through current is one reason for more serious damage. And an example of why damage is traceable to a human mistake that let a surge inside the building.
To have that damage means a current had to be incoming on one path and outgoing on another. Routine is to have a surge incoming to every appliance in the house. But only one appliance is damaged - ie the amp. Because that one appliance made a best connection to earth. Because that one appliance acted like a surge protector for everything else - the preamp, tuner, tape deck, refrigerator, answering machine, computer, bathroom GFCI, mobile phone on a charger, and even smoke detectors.
Damage always means a current that was incoming on one path while simultaneously outgoing on some other path to earth. Damage that exists only because the surge was not earthed BEFORE entering the building. And that is a common human mistake. To not earth every incoming wire either by hardwire or via a protector.
Too many possible and unreported paths can exist. But we know this from well understood energy numbers and over 100 years of experience. Fields do not and cannot cause damage you have described. And you do not know all the many and possible paths and electrical conductors that exist from the appliance to earth. A surge can even pass through wire insulation without leaving any indication.
You have wires entering the building without first connecting to single point earth ground. Not safety ground. For many electrical reasons, safety ground and earth ground are different. Even when interconnected. Even wire length (ie 'more than 10 feet') makes the two grounds electrically different. TV cable connected to safety ground bus bar in a breaker box) means it is not properly earthed for electronics protection.
Adjacent surge protectors never indicate 'spent'. That light only reports when a protector was so grossly undersized as to disconnect internal parts as fast as possible. To otherwise avert a house fire. Nothing on those protectors report 'spent' - also called degradation. The light only reports when a protector was grossly undersized and was a threat to human life.
View how a protector is wired. Surges at thousands of volts can pass through those protectors. And only create tens of volt differences across the protector parts. An example of relevant electrical concepts that cause many to ignore significant details. You have assumed protector lights report things that those lights can never report. A protector could be completely degraded. But its light will still report good. Light can only report one type of failure.
Without actual inspection and other details, nobody can say exactly how a surge found earth. But this much is obvious. You did not have properly earth protection on every incoming wire. Somehow a surge current was all but invited inside where it found a destructive path to earth. Damage, as described, can only occur from something with higher energy. Induced fields can never create that damage. Otherwise every RF amplifier in every radio (something far more sensitive) is destroyed.
Insufficient information exists. For example, normal is for a surge be incoming to many adjacent appliances. But only cause damage in one. The surge is incoming to everything but only does damage in one or a few parts inside one appliance. Yes, it may pass through maybe 15 parts. But only the weakest part fails.
Relays open or closed are a conductive path to any surge. A common path through a relay is from its coil to its wiper contacts. Open that relay and find no indication. Normal is for destructive currents to pass through most items without any indication. Even open relays.
A surge can also connect to concrete via the wire and not leave any indication on wire insulation. Observation alone is one reason why many never understand how a surge does damage.
Demonstrated by the IBM PC and so many other engineering examples is the near zero damage created by fields. The resulting energy is big time too small. A nearby strike only ten feet from a radio antenna can create thousands of voltage on that antenna's lead. And an NE-2 neon glow lamp (less than a milliamp) attached to that lead then converts thousand of volts to tens of volts. Near zero. Because fields create a high voltage with near zero current. Nowhere near sufficient energy to create damage as described.
Lightning can also create other conductive paths causing much higher energy from AC electric to then create a follow through current. That follow through current is one reason for more serious damage. And an example of why damage is traceable to a human mistake that let a surge inside the building.
To have that damage means a current had to be incoming on one path and outgoing on another. Routine is to have a surge incoming to every appliance in the house. But only one appliance is damaged - ie the amp. Because that one appliance made a best connection to earth. Because that one appliance acted like a surge protector for everything else - the preamp, tuner, tape deck, refrigerator, answering machine, computer, bathroom GFCI, mobile phone on a charger, and even smoke detectors.
Damage always means a current that was incoming on one path while simultaneously outgoing on some other path to earth. Damage that exists only because the surge was not earthed BEFORE entering the building. And that is a common human mistake. To not earth every incoming wire either by hardwire or via a protector.
Too many possible and unreported paths can exist. But we know this from well understood energy numbers and over 100 years of experience. Fields do not and cannot cause damage you have described. And you do not know all the many and possible paths and electrical conductors that exist from the appliance to earth. A surge can even pass through wire insulation without leaving any indication.
You have wires entering the building without first connecting to single point earth ground. Not safety ground. For many electrical reasons, safety ground and earth ground are different. Even when interconnected. Even wire length (ie 'more than 10 feet') makes the two grounds electrically different. TV cable connected to safety ground bus bar in a breaker box) means it is not properly earthed for electronics protection.
Adjacent surge protectors never indicate 'spent'. That light only reports when a protector was so grossly undersized as to disconnect internal parts as fast as possible. To otherwise avert a house fire. Nothing on those protectors report 'spent' - also called degradation. The light only reports when a protector was grossly undersized and was a threat to human life.
View how a protector is wired. Surges at thousands of volts can pass through those protectors. And only create tens of volt differences across the protector parts. An example of relevant electrical concepts that cause many to ignore significant details. You have assumed protector lights report things that those lights can never report. A protector could be completely degraded. But its light will still report good. Light can only report one type of failure.
Without actual inspection and other details, nobody can say exactly how a surge found earth. But this much is obvious. You did not have properly earth protection on every incoming wire. Somehow a surge current was all but invited inside where it found a destructive path to earth. Damage, as described, can only occur from something with higher energy. Induced fields can never create that damage. Otherwise every RF amplifier in every radio (something far more sensitive) is destroyed.
Very impressive description, thank you. What else can I say, lightning struck while I was home. As the days passed I noticed more and more appliances had failed until I realized there was a common event. To collect from my insurance company each failed component was checked out by a technician who provided a notarized affidavit stating that the damage was indeed lightning caused.
The one thing everyone stressed is that lightning does what it wants, engineering logic be damned.
So the issue will remain unsatisfactorily explained to me while you are certain that my house was insufficiently earth grounded as a surge current found it's way to one appliance that wasn't even switched on. The fact that no other components, devices or even a single light bulb was damaged is a testament to their resilience I suppose.
Wow, I didn't realize there was so many audiophiles that know this much about lightning strikes. Even the people that make a living studying lightning could learn something here.
I can honestly say when it rains it pours. As if it wasn't enough to lose a job, you get struck down by one of nature's most fierce weather conditions. I lost a transformer in an amp one time due to lightning, it was repairable though.
I was struck by lighting twice, lucky I was grounded both times. Second time I was laying commo wire in the army and had a retinal image burned in my brain of the lightning rod being no more than a meter from the ground about a hundred meters away and making a perfect 90degree turn to the commo wire I held in my hand. First and only time in my life that I made a perfect total backflip!
Schubert, do you remember the flight in the air? I accidentally touched 220V in a receiver I was working on while in the Navy. I was thrown through the air about 10 feet. It was like a brief space in time was missing, the time it took to get where I landed. Don't remember the flight, just wondered how I got there. No pain at all, just bewilderment.
Abuck, not really, it was just like you said, the other two wireman told me. I can still see the bolt though, it was like a snapshot taken with a Lieca at one 10,000 of a second. I had a boyhood buddy who was killed working on Navy Radar underway.
Schubert, You're lucky you didn't break your back, not from the flight or landing, but from the muscle contraction. Having witnessed a nearby strike for myself, it's amazing that anyone could survive the amount of energy unleashed. There's a very interesting discussion about lightning on the "tech talk" section of the Audiogon Discussion forum.
Heyrazz, I never would have if the wire in question was not grounded to a 6 ft iron stake pounded in the ground with water poured over it which was SOP for Army field telephone switchboards. I was once looking out of a barn window during a moderate T-storm when a bolt hit a 1200 lb Holstein not 100 ft from me,she was on her back with all 4 legs straight up as straight can be within 2 seconds. Amazing sight !
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