Grounding and lightning.

Hello,

Hopefully this will be my last question to "research" and determine if I
want to ground my hardware.

What happens if lightning strikes near the ground wire ?!?

(I have seen lightning strike closeby a couple of times so it's a realistic
scenerio).

Could this be a reason for people to unplug their systems ?!?

What if systems are not grounded ?!? Is the risk for equipment damage lower
when lightning strikes ?

If systems are grounded is their lightning strike danger for human
fatalities ?!?
For example: I touch PC chasis or something and boom lightning strikes...
could that kill me ?! =D
Or perhaps it will even come at me through the air from pc to me ?!

I guess the power room contains stuff to prevent such situations but are
they generally enough ?!?

I guess all this stuff needs to be checked by specialist which I might call
soon

He gonna have a tough customer with me ! =D

Bye,
Skybuck.

Skybuck Flying wrote:

Hello,

Hopefully this will be my last question to "research" and determine if I
want to ground my hardware.

Ground your ****ing hardware already, and shut up about it!

Like i said, use an extra shovel-full of dirt.

Skybuck Flying wrote:
Hello,

Hopefully this will be my last question to "research" and determine if I
want to ground my hardware.

What happens if lightning strikes near the ground wire ?!?

(I have seen lightning strike closeby a couple of times so it's a realistic
scenerio).

Could this be a reason for people to unplug their systems ?!?

What if systems are not grounded ?!? Is the risk for equipment damage lower
when lightning strikes ?

If systems are grounded is their lightning strike danger for human
fatalities ?!?
For example: I touch PC chasis or something and boom lightning strikes...
could that kill me ?! =D
Or perhaps it will even come at me through the air from pc to me ?!

I guess the power room contains stuff to prevent such situations but are
they generally enough ?!?

I guess all this stuff needs to be checked by specialist which I might call
soon

He gonna have a tough customer with me ! =D

Bye,
Skybuck.


Lightning goes where it wants to go.
No amount of grounding thru wire you can bend is gonna help.
DO NOT TOUCH anything when there's a lightning strike.
And ground equipment according to the manufacturer's instructions.
And yes, you worry too much.

Hmm...

I come across this message:

"Lightning and "Surge Protectors"

http://community.discovery.com/eve/f...579#2791922579

Message content:

"
I recently had to replace my computer due to a nearby lightning strike. The
computer was off but still plugged in. The surge protector was unaffected,
but now the computer will not boot up. The hard drive is turning, the LED's
are lit, but nothing from the comuter to the monitor. Even hitting the off
button has no effect. I'm guessing that stray currents got into the
motherboard and cooked something. Any ideas if the computer is toast or can
it be fixed?
"

Bye,
Skybuck.

Another interesting story:

"

When I worked several months in Bavaria, I lived in a small flat in a remote
village.
The power lines run from house to house on the roof. It happens very often
that this line is hit and destroys devices. The Villagers unplug everything
and leave the lights (bulbs, not CFLs) on to minimize the damage. But it
happens often that something wasn't unplugged and became destroyed.

Since I am an electronics engineer, the old lady who owned the house asked
why she never had any broken devices. Her neighbours often complained about
broken stuff, but she never had any problems. First, I couldn't explain it
until...:
One day I went down into the cellar to wash my laundry, I noticed a
transparent plastic cap in the sink. The old lady insists on operating the
machine since she never trusts anybody to do it correct. After she started
the washing machine I showed her this plastic cap. Se told me that it
belongs to the emergency light next to the fuse box. She had someone
installed it because she was afraid of a broken bulb and might fall down the
stairs. It was a small neon bulb as used in switches as indicator. She told
me that the cap of the light sometimes lands in the sink.
When I installed the transparent plastic lid, I noticed that glass of the
bulb was very darkened.
And this was the explanation. When a lightning hits the power line, the bulb
acts as a spark gap and limits the power surge in her house. The sudden heat
of the bulb blasts of that plastic cover. This emergency light acted as a
simple surge protector which helped protecting her devices! It was installed
between phase and ground (not neutral) and tripped the residual-current
device whenever it ignited during a power surge.
This thing was nothing but an "accidental" home-made surge protector!
"

Bye,
Skybuck.

Another interesting story, death included :

"
Neither talking on a land line phone nor taking a shower increases the
chances of lightning directly hitting your house BUT, as yuandrew said, both
of these activities do increase your chance of injury or death should a
direct hit happen. In fact, 1 to 2 people a year are killed by lightning, in
the U.S. while talking on a wired phone inside a building. The number
injured is much higher. Wireless phones and cell phones are safe.
"

Bye,
Skybuck.

"Skybuck Flying" wrote in message
b.home.nl...

Hello,

Hopefully this will be my last question to "research" and determine if I
want to ground my hardware.

What happens if lightning strikes near the ground wire ?!?

(I have seen lightning strike closeby a couple of times so it's a realistic
scenerio).

Could this be a reason for people to unplug their systems ?!?

What if systems are not grounded ?!? Is the risk for equipment damage lower
when lightning strikes ?

If systems are grounded is their lightning strike danger for human
fatalities ?!?
For example: I touch PC chasis or something and boom lightning strikes...
could that kill me ?! =D
Or perhaps it will even come at me through the air from pc to me ?!

I guess the power room contains stuff to prevent such situations but are
they generally enough ?!?

I guess all this stuff needs to be checked by specialist which I might call
soon

He gonna have a tough customer with me ! =D

Bye,
Skybuck.


I would recommend for you to get a long metal rod, go outside on a stormy
night away from trees and hold the rod up as high as you can, then just
stand there and wait. You'll do us all a favor.

Shaun

On May 15, 1:22*pm, "Skybuck Flying" wrote:
Hello,

Hopefully this will be my last question to "research" and determine if I
want to ground my hardware.

What happens if lightning strikes near the ground wire ?!?

(I have seen lightning strike closeby a couple of times so it's a realistic
scenerio).

Could this be a reason for people to unplug their systems ?!?

What if systems are not grounded ?!? Is the risk for equipment damage lower
when lightning strikes ?

If systems are grounded is their lightning strike danger for human
fatalities ?!?
For example: I touch PC chasis or something and boom lightning strikes...
could that kill me ?! =D
Or perhaps it will even come at me through the air from pc to me ?!

I guess the power room contains stuff to prevent such situations but are
they generally enough ?!?

I guess all this stuff needs to be checked by specialist which I might call
soon

He gonna have a tough customer with me ! =D

Bye,
* Skybuck.

I run my PC gear on a double conversion UPS. Hopefully the UPS will
blow up before the PC gear does. I think the only solution is to
condition the power and hope for the best. Note that a standard ups
with some surge suppression built in is not the same as a double
conversion UPS. The double conversion UPS take the line to DC,
suppresses the hell out of noise on the DC (which is far easier than
suppressing on AC), then creates a true sine wave. This is one way UPS
is handled in data centers. The other way is to use PCs that take
48VDC rather than AC, and run the PCs off of a 48V battery bus that is
being floated. There are probably other schemes as well.

Note a double conversion UPS is noisy. It has fans. They are really
not designed for consumer use, but rather enterprise installations.

http://www.apcdistributors.com/white...%20designs.pdf

wrote in message
...
On May 15, 1:22 pm, "Skybuck Flying" wrote:
Hello,

Hopefully this will be my last question to "research" and determine if I
want to ground my hardware.

What happens if lightning strikes near the ground wire ?!?

(I have seen lightning strike closeby a couple of times so it's a
realistic
scenerio).

Could this be a reason for people to unplug their systems ?!?

What if systems are not grounded ?!? Is the risk for equipment damage
lower
when lightning strikes ?

If systems are grounded is their lightning strike danger for human
fatalities ?!?
For example: I touch PC chasis or something and boom lightning strikes...
could that kill me ?! =D
Or perhaps it will even come at me through the air from pc to me ?!

I guess the power room contains stuff to prevent such situations but are
they generally enough ?!?

I guess all this stuff needs to be checked by specialist which I might
call
soon

He gonna have a tough customer with me ! =D

Bye,
Skybuck.

I run my PC gear on a double conversion UPS. Hopefully the UPS will
blow up before the PC gear does. I think the only solution is to
condition the power and hope for the best. Note that a standard ups
with some surge suppression built in is not the same as a double
conversion UPS. The double conversion UPS take the line to DC,
suppresses the hell out of noise on the DC (which is far easier than
suppressing on AC), then creates a true sine wave. This is one way UPS
is handled in data centers. The other way is to use PCs that take
48VDC rather than AC, and run the PCs off of a 48V battery bus that is
being floated. There are probably other schemes as well.

Note a double conversion UPS is noisy. It has fans. They are really
not designed for consumer use, but rather enterprise installations.

http://www.apcdistributors.com/white...%20designs.pdf

That setup is really the way to go, if you are worried about induced
currents from lightning, or even a hit on the ac line itself. At our
microwave installations, we had double conversion UPS with a backup
unit.(not hot). Never had one case of protected equipment damage in more
than 20 years. However, we had to repair the front ends of the UPS a few
times!~
Tom