Lightning strike - HELP!

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trinidex

SatelliteGuys Pro
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Jul 16, 2004
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Hey guys,

Sad news for me :(

My setup:

Offset dish (aimed at W5)
2 x LNBs (H & V)
2 x lightning arrestors installed at the dish
Multiswitch
2 x DSR410

I just suffered a lightning strike and I lost ALL of the above kit, yep, ALL of the above.

LNBs - DEAD
Multiswitch - DEAD
DSR410s - DEAD

I'm working on replacing the above, but I'm looking for advice on how to protect from this in the future - the arrestors don't seem to have done squidly squat!

Thanks in advance!
 
honestly not much you can do. I seem to have the worst luck with power surges, what most people refer to as lightning strikes.

cause if your equipment was actually struck by lightning it would be in either a million tinny burnt pieces or a melted pile of rubble. nothing will protect against millions of volts with millons of amps behind it. lol

I use APC UPS's and half the time I loose a piece of equipment, the other half the time I loose the UPS. but im sure the damage would be worse without the UPS so I keep using them.

this year alone Ive lost 1x hdd, 1x lcd, and 2x UPS. but Ive got $1000's of dollars of equipment behind those UPS's so I figure Im probably still ahead at $120 a UPS then if more of the equipment was lost.
 
I guess I must be lucky (or is it luck?). I've been doing C-band since about 1990 and have never lost anything for any reason while friends ended up with lightning damaged receivers. One thing that I've done different than others is put a secondary surge suppressor on the incoming power line and grounded the antenna at the antenna. I haven't lost any ham stuff or any other home entertainment equipment or computers either (probably for the same reason).
 
[QUOTE=I 'm working on replacing the above, but I'm looking for advice on how to protect from this in the future - the arrestors don't seem to have done squidly squat!

Just how is your system grounded because it sure sounds like it maybe your problem. I've got five dishes now and haven't had any issues with all the storms and power issues we have here in Iowa. For one thing I would never ground at the dish unless you can hook it back to the electrical panel in the house. Here's a picture of the way I'm grounding and then I ground everything to a single spot in the panel. All the cables going to the dish go into the SurgeSat-Guards and my receivers are hooked into APC UPS's. Also all my cables going to the dishes are enclosed in gray plastic pipe for added protection.

If you want a SurgeSat-Guard there are some on EBay # 330393606212,360235011586 for around $20.00.
 

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updatelee said:
honestly not much you can do. I seem to have the worst luck with power surges, what most people refer to as lightning strikes.

cause if your equipment was actually struck by lightning it would be in either a million tinny burnt pieces or a melted pile of rubble. nothing will protect against millions of volts with millons of amps behind it. lol

I use APC UPS's and half the time I loose a piece of equipment, the other half the time I loose the UPS. but im sure the damage would be worse without the UPS so I keep using them.

this year alone Ive lost 1x hdd, 1x lcd, and 2x UPS. but Ive got $1000's of dollars of equipment behind those UPS's so I figure Im probably still ahead at $120 a UPS then if more of the equipment was lost.
Click to expand...

I agree with Lee on this. I've been an electrician for 30 years, grounded a lot of installations, and seen a lot of training films on lightning strike results as well as high voltage training. If your are unlucky enough to take a direct hit, lightning can rip the gutters off your house. Effective grounding protects you against near misses, and voltage transients, but not a direct hit.
You might try having a higher elevated lightning rod, well-grounded , a little away from your installation, but that' s no guarantee, either. Sadly, we are somewhat at the mercy of mother nature.
:(
 
I took a hit a bit over a month ago and lost some equipment too. I have ground rods at the dish (about 75' from the house) tied into the electrical ground at the house with #4 Cu cable, along with another ground rod where the cables enter the house. Receiver blew up from the surge coming in through the skew lines. Also lost a Ku LNB, LNBF, and diseqc switch. Positioner sensor toasted as well.
L-com makes a nice surge suppressor that might work for the skew and positioner lines so I might add one to the box at the entry point (house ground end). I also run APC UPS units for the entertainment system because we often get power outages and surges.

Hope your insurance is good!

-C.
 
Sorry to hear of this Trinidex. I feel your pain, this happened to me 3 years ago. Mine followed the actuator wiring in for the dish mover. Now everything gets disconnected when a storm is forecast and I'm not home.

In my case, homeowners insurance covered it. They required a TV repair shop to inspect everything. He arrived and checked the TVs and receivers etc. I then needed to document prices for replacement items for submission for the claim. Still my deductible took a bite out of what I lost.

Hope it's covered for you.
 
Thanks for all the feedback guys.

Quite right Lee, wasn't a direct hit, else I'd have nothing to plug in!!!

There are "arc" markings on my kit, where energy passed from one unit to another looking for a way to ground.

Seems my 410s are not dead, just deaf and blind!

I hooked up new LNBs etc today and tried them for the sake of it, the front panel lights up as normal, switching channel results in a flicker of the Dish and DD lights on the front.

The lights come up green!, when I change channel they go red then back to green. When I disconnect the LNB, they go red!

Something must be going on inside, but no Video, no Audio, not even through the RF (Ch3/Ch4) port!
 
They used to sell a quick disconnect years ago that made it simple to unplug the dish during storms. Maybe some are still out there somewhere.
 
I lost three IP security cameras that were mounted under a metal awning on my house after an electrical storm. Didn't hurt my pc that records the cameras but took out all three at the same time. I am glad my other 13 IP cams didn't get hit-that woul have cost me some serious $$$$$$
 
I did some probing on the board...

There is a quad op-amp that drives the video output, I was hoping it was fried, but the input is screwed too.

There is a single STB chip that takes MPG2/DCII and spits out audio and video - seems this is fried.

Can I transplant the chip that stores the UID?! - Guessing not as it needs the battery backup, ho hum.
 
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