All Routers/Switches Fried

[azazel1024]

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions.

@King, yes I did check the dishes installed (they are actually at eye level right next to the deck so easy to inspect) and did not see any signs of a lightening strike. My house is only 4 years old and I have HDMI wires and ethernet wires running in the walls. Every TV has an ethernet port and 2 or 3 HDMI cables within the wall behind it. I continue to discover new damage. For e.g. today I found out that my PS3 is no longer transmitting video on the HDMI port (the PS3's power comes from my amp which was switched off, but an ethernet wire was directly attached to the PS3 from the switch). Apparently the PS3's HDMI out is gone and it seems that HDMI wire that connected the PS3 to the TV is also gone (only that HDMI wire, the other 2 are OK). Interestingly, the PS3 is emitting video on the 480P AV wire.

From a wiring perspective, my dish and cable wiring travel together for the most part and I have a little "network closet" in the basement where all my ethernet wires (~20) come together and are bundled with the coax cables. So very possible that whatever surge came through jumped between wires.

At this time, i can safely say that anything that was connected to a wall jack (via a power point or ethernet line or phone line) has suffered damage and is not operational. And thats a sizeable damage for me....lots of $$$ to spend to get back to where i was at a little over a week ago !

Thanks all !!

Most likely what happened was a lightning strike on either a powerline, or close enough to your house to bleed in. An indirect lightning strike can result in transferance through wires running underground (cable, data, phone, power, etc) in to your home, or a close lightning strike can actually cause cause induced voltages (IE EMP) in your wiring if close enough (without a direct strike).

Keep in mind, it generates a huge and intense electrical field, not just the bolt itself.

So anyway, you got a power surge somehow. Possibly the surge protectors, or some of them actually did their job (hence, why the PS3 turns on, the TVs turn on and some other devices). What happened was the surge managed to fry at least one piece of electronics that was connected through network wiring through out, and the electrical surge managed to then travel over the network wiring frying bits of gear, sometimes whole devices, other times just the ethernet or video ports as it went.

Basically frying what it can.

I've seen lightning strikes fry just one component in a computer. I've seen them fry entire households. I've seen them fry an entire computer, and then all of the network ports/network cards in every other connected computer and networking gear were fried, but all of the other networked gear was okay (just the port/card was gone) and so on.

Very unfortunate that you experienced this and I am sorry insurance isn't covering it for you.

From many, many moons ago I take the general approach to ALWAYS unplug my server, including the network cables, before I leave on vacation anywhere (other than overnight) as I don't trust weather forecasts. I'll often check forecasts and if it looks like a good chance of thunderstorms I'll also unplug my desktop from power and from my network, as well as my access points, TV and Xbox One. I'll leave the DVR plugged in and router plugged in, the former because it is Verizon's problem if lightning fries it, the later because my wife could cut my nuts off if her shows don't get recorded (which also necessitates the MoCA bridge and core switch remain powered and connected with the router).

I figure it mostly gives me data protection except maybe in the most extreme lightning strike situations (in which case, it might be possible for the strike to wipe the drives, but VERY unlikely) and would also likely save most of my electronics.

I'd be pissed if I had to replace a couple of hundred in switches and router, but better that than several thousand in electronics.

Appliances...meh. I'd be pissed, but most of mine are old and/or I want to replace them.

Turning off and just unplugging from power isn't safety, fully physically disconnecting them from anything is the way to go (network, coax, power, phone).

I of course run around and unplug EVERYTHING in the event of legit thunderstorm when I am home and I'll disconnect most of the important stuff from the network too (just in case), though I don't disconnect all network cables from the switches, routers, APs, etc. I leave it at just disconnecting power from all networked gear, disconnecting the desktop and server from the network and coax from the DVR and power to all of that stuff.

 

[Waldorf_Serge]

My experience is that a coaxial surge protector can diminish signal strength and if the signal is headed into a digital modem/router, then a couple of daisy-chained switches or hubs, and finally 50+ feet through interior walls, by the time it gets to a computer's ethernet card, don't be surprised if the telecom monitor in the OS (Win7, etc) can't see the internet down that crooked tunnel.
Note if the local power company has a history of transient voltage drops, it masy also be selling you transient voltage waivers, which will not be improved through the surge protectors, especially a coax protector. If the outdoor connectors are aerial see if they are already protected before they are split for consumers -- if not ground your external boxes. Several newer connectors are buried and not aerial, which would leave the major threat to be ground water carrying a lightning impact (rare though possible). Like the man says protect against cable surges outside by grounding the external boxes and connectors.

 

[azazel1024]

Grounding does little. You need LIGHTNING ARRESTERS. That provides protection. Grounding does little for lightning protection.

Also a coaxial surge protection does nothing to diminish what gets to a computer. The instant it hits the cable modem, that is all that matters. It is ethernet after that to your computer. Now, it might dampen the signal sufficiently to kill your connection of your cable modem, or to your TV, but a GOOD coaxial surge protector does not diminish the signal meaningfully.

Also every time an ethernet cable hits a switch (wtf, hubs man? Hubs haven't been a thing in 15+ years with exceedingly rare exceptions, but hubs too) the signal is brand new. Not even regenerated, but brand new. None of that impacts what gets to the computer in the end.

It isn't really a matter of the external box being grounded, it darn well should be grounded IN your breaker box (unless your home's wiring is mayby 65-70 years old or older). What matters is grounding coax and phone at any service entry or run outside. Lightning arresters on anything that runs outside.

And in general, cross your fingers and some due dilligence on unplugging things (power and networking/coax) during bad storms. I've never had a thing burned out in 31 years. I have friends who have had 3-4 times things burn out in a storm from a close strike. One of them who has lightning arresters, grounding, surge protectors and so on. After going to that extent he DID minimize the damage the last time stuff got real, but some damage was still done (lightning struck the pole outside his house this time).

He gets lots of lightning here he is in North Carolina.

 

[westom]

Grounding does little. ... And in general, cross your fingers and some due dilligence on unplugging things (power and networking/coax) during bad storms. ....He gets lots of lightning here he is in North Carolina.

If earth ground (not safety grounds) are done properly, then unplugging is unnecessary. Even lightning arrestors are useless without a low impedance connection to earth. But many do not know what low impedance means. Do not know why earthing is so critical. Have compromied grounding systems. Suffer damage. Then claim nothing can provide reliable protection.

Impedance to earth explains why power strip protectors are ineffective.

Even 1930 homes without safety grounds can have same best protection using an earth ground that must exist even there.

Protection from surges - including those that are not lightning and that occur at any time without warning - is always about the earth ground. And devices that connect low impedance to that earth ground. Including 'whole house' protectors, lightning arrestors, TVSS, SPD, or whatever you want to call it. Protection is always about where hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly dissipate.

 

[azazel1024]

Yes, the lightning arrestors need to be grounded. However, general grounding will not save a thing with a lightning strike.

The general path impedance for Earth grounding is in the range of 20ohms. The general path resistance through the neutral path is going to be several orders of magnitude less. You'll get much more current through neutral than you will through the ground path even with excellent grounding. We are talking voltages on the order of hundreds of thousands of volts in some cases, depending on where the strike is. No amount of Earth grounding will protect there.

With a lightning arrestor, once the voltage reaches a certain level it'll almost instanteanously cut to ground, arresting the voltage spike and bleeding it through the ground path completely outside your home's electrical circuits (or the coax, phone, whatever path).

It's all about the easiest path to ground. Grounding helps some, but the easiest path to ground is ALWAYS through the neutral AND ground path, as they are tied together at the neutral bus bar in your main breaker and whether on or off, there is enough voltage to break down a tiny air gap, such as a power switch inside of an electric device, let alone if it is in "standby" so that the PSU of the device is being feed some amount of power.

Lightning arrestors are not whole sale protection, but they are the only real way prevent large surges, by limiting the duration and the peak voltage that can enter. Then you need the belt, which is proper surge protection, which can take the limited voltage spike and then stop that. Neither operating on their own is likely to stop the damage from a direct or near direct strike.

 

[Squeetard]

Your stuff was fried by induction from a near strike. Does not matter what side of a protector you put stuff on.

http://www.psihq.com/iread/strplai.htm

 

[azazel1024]

Your stuff was fried by induction from a near strike. Does not matter what side of a protector you put stuff on.

http://www.psihq.com/iread/strplai.htm

Shorter and sweeter, but yeah I mentioned that earlier. Though that isn't entirely true. The longer the run of wiring, the greater the inductance. A surge protector and lightning arrestor would still limit this by breaking up the path that voltage can be induced.

Disconnecting electronics is best.

 

[Squeetard]

The induction was in the air. It did not run up the power wire. It fried the tiny traces in the pcb an other low voltage items.

 

[azazel1024]

The fact still remains, the shorter the wire length perpendicular to the magnetic filed, the lower the induced current.

Grounded faraday cage for the win too.

The point is, if lightning really wants to mess up your day, it will.

Delicate electronics will get fried, short of grounded faraday cage if the lightning strike is close enough (or likely too).

Unplugging is the safest thing to do.

Lightning arrestors and surge protectors are the belt and suspenders of last resort, and only useful in less severe cases.

 

[Squeetard]

^I'll go with that. A buddy had a strike hit his eaves and it fried everything in his house. Including the appliances.