Lightning go boom!

[armadillo_115]

Bad Thunderstorm here last night. Lightning ran in on Sat system at 3:30 am. Little Bit's bed is within 2 feet of the main system. When it popped, she about had a heart attack. lol. Didn't do me much good either since I was within 3 feet of it myself.

Too soon to know the full extent of the damage since it is raining off and on today. But:
Lost 2 of the 3 HDMI ports on main tv,
1 of 2 HDMI ports on bedroom tv
Blew out Titanium lnb on main dish.
Seems to have blown only one side of both Titanium dual lnb's on momma's dish... Or possibly destroyed the coax from momma's dish to bedroom.
Possibly blew momma's sat receiver. Boots up, but no signal to tv yet.

I replaced both diseqc switches and temporarily bypassed the grounding block since I figure those got smoked. Will test them another day just in case they are still good. Replaced my lnb with an old spare, so we have Sat tv in the den at least.

Good news: Old positioners and actuators seem ok. Den receiver is functioning. Tv's seem ok except for the blown HDMI ports. OTA antenna system is ok. Have not found anything else bad in the house .... yet!

Could have been MUCH worse!

 

[FTA4PA]

Bad Thunderstorm here last night. Lightning ran in on Sat system at 3:30 am. Little Bit's bed is within 2 feet of the main system. When it popped, she about had a heart attack. lol. Didn't do me much good either since I was within 3 feet of it myself.

Too soon to know the full extent of the damage since it is raining off and on today. But:
Lost 2 of the 3 HDMI ports on main tv,
1 of 2 HDMI ports on bedroom tv
Blew out Titanium lnb on main dish.
Seems to have blown only one side of both Titanium dual lnb's on momma's dish... Or possibly destroyed the coax from momma's dish to bedroom.
Possibly blew momma's sat receiver. Boots up, but no signal to tv yet.

I replaced both diseqc switches and temporarily bypassed the grounding block since I figure those got smoked. Will test them another day just in case they are still good. Replaced my lnb with an old spare, so we have Sat tv in the den at least.

Good news: Old positioners and actuators seem ok. Den receiver is functioning. Tv's seem ok except for the blown HDMI ports. OTA antenna system is ok. Have not found anything else bad in the house .... yet!

Could have been MUCH worse!

Sorry to hear that but as you said it could have been worse. I hate lightning! Bit me once and now I disconnect everything if I know a storm is coming. Also have ASKA PT-1 surge suppressors on all coax lines for some protection in case I don't get to it in time. All equipemnt is connected to UPSs as well. Hope you can get it sorted out!

 

[delta_charlie]

Glad you are ok. Nothing quite like a real close one to make one jump. No doubt it's getting too close when you hear it before you see the flash ;-)

 

[Comptech]

You know it is close when you can taste and smell the Ozone. This coming from a central Florida native.

 

[armadillo_115]

Another dual lnb bad on BOTH sides. One side seemed ok then just quit.

 

[N6BY]

Another dual lnb bad on BOTH sides. One side seemed ok then just quit.

I have some extra LNBs I could give you. Do you need C Band, KU, or both?

 

[Cham]

Glad you and your buddy are ok.
Takes a while to find all the damages from a hit like that, sometimes it doesn't show up right away. Last hit I had here it took out most of the NIC cards in the various computers, routers, and A/P. Had two computer power supplies fail within a month after the hit.
Also take a look (with binoculars) at your HV line coming in to the transformer, look at the insulators on the poles carefully, sometimes they crack and can cause problems later on. If you hear sizzling when things are wet or they are physically damaged you might want to call the power company right away and have them check.
Take care!

 

[armadillo_115]

I have some extra LNBs I could give you. Do you need C Band, KU, or both?

Thanks for the generous offer N6BY, but i'm good. Only C Band here.... took the C/Ku lnbf off a while back. I have enough single output spares to get by. I'm going to keep both systems separate for the time being. 55W to 121W in the bedroom, 87W to 127W+ in the den. I gave up on 40W circular, not much ITC interested us there anyway.

The only thing we momma will miss is having 55W in the den. She can go to the bedroom if she wants 55W. Heck.... Papa may even get some tv time now. lmao

I may buy 2 dual output lnbfs after the 5G shake-out. Will depend on whether I need 5G filtering or not.

Thanks again for the offer!

 

[armadillo_115]

Glad you and your buddy are ok.
Takes a while to find all the damages from a hit like that, sometimes it doesn't show up right away. Last hit I had here it took out most of the NIC cards in the various computers, routers, and A/P. Had two computer power supplies fail within a month after the hit.
Also take a look (with binoculars) at your HV line coming in to the transformer, look at the insulators on the poles carefully, sometimes they crack and can cause problems later on. If you hear sizzling when things are wet or they are physically damaged you might want to call the power company right away and have them check.
Take care!

Cham, good idea to check the utility lines to be on the safe side. I'll look at that tomorrow., light rain right now.

I believe a near miss came in from one of the dishes rather than thru the utility line though. My thinking is that the grounds at the dishes, and the grounding block at point of entry bled off most of the voltage. It seemed to be a very low powered hit. Didn't even trip the ground fault circuit in the den. Even the 'normal' power flickers around here kick that booger out.

 

[armadillo_115]

Advice needed
My cheap digital voltage meter is malfunctioning. My plan is to swap around various components to determine what is still good and what is trashed by trial and error. I'll be testing with NO switches, preamp, etc in-line.

Question: If a coax or lnbf is shorted, could that damage my receiver? Anything else I need to know to avoid additional damages?

 

[Cham]

If it is shorted yes it might damage a satellite receiver or power injection device unless it has a circuit breaker or fuse. If you suspect a short, disconnect the feedline at both ends and check with an ohmmeter between the shield and center conductor. Should read infiniti. If it shows anything there could be a short. Check the way you hold the probes though you might be measuring your own resistance...
To test an LNB(f) check the resistance of a known good unit (same model if possible) at the F connector, if the unit in question is close it won't likely damage your receiver but that doesn't mean the LNB(f) is good though.
Get another VOM or fix it if yours is messing up... This is an invaluable piece of equipment for testing for shorts, proper voltage, etc. get a decent one though, doesn't have to be a Fluke or top end, but something you can trust.
Good luck!
-G.

 

[armadillo_115]

Thanks for the info Cham!

I'll hold off on any testing/changes until I get a new multimeter.