Lightening Strike!!!

[David]

Lightning Strike!!!

Last night, lightening struck a tree about 100 feet from my house and started a fire at my neighbor's. After I expressed my sympathy, I went back inside to watch TV and found that I could not get a lock on the 110 satellite on all three of my boxes.
I rebooted and ran a check switch but to no avail. I still get all channels off of 119 and 129.
Called tech help the next day, and was told that the LNB is probably no good. (I didn't mention the lightening strike). Have an appointment for a tech to check things out on Saturday.
Does this sound like the probable problem, or is there something else I can do myself to get things back to normal?

 

[webbydude]

More than likely the lightning strike did fry something. Either the LNB or even the receiver. Hopefully there isn't too much on the 110 you needed to watch until Saturday's appointment.

 

[David]

Fortunately, it's not the receiver because I have two 721's and a 622 all with the same problem.

 

[Pepper]

(or unfortunately it fried all three of them)

I would guess it's either the LNB or the switch (or "either one, who cares") if you have a DPPTwin (switch and LNB included in same assembly)

At least the EEPG for the DVRs moved off 110 to 119 recently.

 

[David]

When I talked to the tech rep, she said that I was just outside of the 90 warranty, but she would waive the fee anyway. I thanked her, but I wonder what they expect me to pay to repair something that I am only leasing? If I owned the dish, it is reasonable to pay for the repairs myself, but with a piece of equipment that E* owns, why should I pay anything at all?

 

[rickaren]

I have posted before about having a "whole house" surge protector install by the power company and having a $1.99 monthly insurance supplied by them that covers spikes from phone or cable lines. Since I did have a claim and received $180 for a fried DVR it might be worth checking to see if you have this option available. However it may never happen again.

 

[Hotrodphil1]

Lightening strike reply

Last night, lightening struck a tree about 100 feet from my house and started a fire at my neighbor's. After I expressed my sympathy, I went back inside to watch TV and found that I could not get a lock on the 110 satellite on all three of my boxes.

Few years ago I was a directv subscriber. Had a lightening strike near my home also. Knocked out BOTH of my receivers and my dial up computer modem. I'm guessing the spike came through the phone line. Were your boxes hooked up to the telephone jack? Anyway if I remember correctly Directv replaced both boxes at little or no cost.:up

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

I have posted before about having a "whole house" surge protector install by the power company and having a $1.99 monthly insurance supplied by them that covers spikes from phone or cable lines. Since I did have a claim and received $180 for a fried DVR it might be worth checking to see if you have this option available. However it may never happen again.

In our area, you pay for the whole house surge protector on the line and rent each month, but it does not cover anything inside unless you ALSO purchase individual line protectors on all electronics that you want covered FROM THEM - thus they have 2 lines of defense against the strike with the outside line designed to take out the larger strike and the smaller interior units to ground out anything that is left.

That gets VERY expensive going that route.

 

[bhelms]

I installed some type of surge protector in my panel some years ago. I'm not sure if it's helping, but I haven't had any surge failures of equipment connected to the powerline. Over the years I have however had surge problems via my phone line, taking out several electronic phones and 2 modems. I purchased a phone line surge protector and use the 3-way protectors at my "expensive equipment" locations (power, RF, phone). It's not a perfect system but I haven't had any recent equipment losses. I did have one of the supressor strips go bad (all power outlets lost) recently, not sure if that might have been due to a surge or if it just failed. I hear mixed opinions about replacing MOV-based surge protectors after a hard hit or after about a year since the MOVs do fail eventually after multiple events. Many folks in this forum also swear by UPSs, but I haven't made that investment yet myself.

Also - make sure the coax feeds from your LNBs and the dishes themselves, and any OTA equipment you have, are properly grounded...

 

[David]

I have an OTA antenna in the attic but I didn't ground it because it is inside. I wonder if I should and where to ground it since the attic is almost four stories off the ground?

 

[Stargazer]

Sounds like that surge protection would cost more than the hardware connected to it in some cases.

 

[hobojoe]

some one just told me in another thread, the surge protectors need to be changed every year or so. i asked about whole house surge protectors and was told they don't use them in Calif.

 

[bhelms]

I have an OTA antenna in the attic but I didn't ground it because it is inside. I wonder if I should and where to ground it since the attic is almost four stories off the ground?

Practical grounds on any installed sat. or OTA antenna equipment won't protect from a direct strike but they can provide some protection from static build-up and/or induced emf from a nearby strike. Tho' an antenna mounted in an attic won't likely receive a direct strike, you can protect from both of those lesser phenomena with a grounded system.

Ideally you should ground the "frame" parts of the antenna itself and run the coax through a grounding block. I would run a 10 ga. ground wire from the antenna frame, through the ground block, then to my electrical panel. If you can't easily do that, you could at least ground to a nearby electrical box. If you don't have one in the attic, maybe you can install a box on a power cable running through the attic and tap the ground that way. If you have a cold water pipe running through the attic (possible in warmer climates) then you could also ground to that. None of these methods meet code, but they provide some protection and IMHO some ground is better than no ground...