This timed exposure of multiple lightning strikes probing for unprotected electronics illustrates the very real threat to humans and their homes. The many lights beneath this storm is Norman, Oklahoma. Photo courtesy of the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL).
Protecting your valuable electronics from electrical surges and lightning strikes begins with the understanding that your remotely operated components are never really “off”, even when you think you turned them “off”.
By Frank Ross
I was at my desk, writing a new blog post yesterday, when a thunderstorm blew in off the Gulf of Mexico, bringing an unusually strong storm for this late in November. It was quite a storm, what the locals call a real frog strangler. The rain began falling softly at first then the skies opened up and lightning was cracking all around our central Florida home.
At the first rumble of thunder I started shutting down everything electronic, and went through our home pulling plugs to sensitive electronics. One of the most susceptible avenues of destruction is through the telephone lines, through your modem and ultimately your computer. The surge protection system I use has a plug for protecting the phone line, and they guarantee their unit will protect my computer . . . up to $1,000 in damage. Unfortunately, it will not cover the aggravation and lost time, not to mention the thousands of images I have stored on three drives. I have a backup, and you can call me a chicken, but I would rather be safe than sorry when it comes to my computer.
This circuit board shows the damage that can happen when lightning comes calling. Photo courtesy of the Copper Development Association Inc.
A very important thing to remember about lightning inside your home is that without a lightning protection system and a very good ground, nothing is safe as long as it is plugged in. Just turning your electronics off does not protect them from a lightning generated surge. And if your expensive electronics items are plugged in when you experience a direct hit, you can start making a shopping list because what you owned will be toast.
The danger is created by the design of our electronic conveniences, which are tailored to our desire to stay in one spot and use remote controls to turn entertainment components on and off.
Because of the way remote controls work, home electronics are really never “off”. All of our modern televisions, home theater systems, CD and DVD players that are remote controlled, are always on, even when we think of them as being turned off.
When you turn off the TV or DVD with the remote, the device actually goes into standby, not fully off. A small detector circuit in the device is always on, waiting for a signal from the remote to go to full power in its operational mode. When you couple this standby nature with a poor ground, it gives a lightning surge a great path to ground and the microsecond that the surge passes through your electronics on its way to ground is all it takes to fry a circuit board, chips, and power transformers.
The only way to make sure a remote controlled device is off is to unplug it. Also, keep in mind that lightning doesn’t have to be very close for you to get zapped. When lightning strikes a power pole or substation, the resulting surge of electricity can travel a long way, very fast. A good rule of thumb is when you hear thunder; it’s time to pull the plug. And in the summer, when you typically get a severe thunderstorm several days a week, it’s a good idea to unplug your electronics if you’re going to be away from home. It just makes for a more pleasant trip when you have the peace of mind that you won’t find a pile of melted metal that was once a TV, or computer hard drive on your return.
Of course, there is an easier solution; have a good lightning protection system installed and ground all of your electronics properly. That will also reduce the wear and tear on your wall outlets!
For information on all lightning protection options, call Storm Copper’s friendly customer service staff, or hook up to a live chat session on StormGrounding.com.
