Protecting Electronics Against Power Surges + Lightning Strikes

[piasabird]

I have a power pole in the back of my yard and it is one with a transformer on it. That thing is like a lightning magnet. I have had lightning strike that pole a couple of times. Once it took out a small 5 port switch and it took me a while to figure out what the problem was. Another time it blew out one of my mains on the house. I guess I was kind of lucky. I havent had any trouble since I started using DSL.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Once upon a time, my dad's Commodore 64 was taken out by a lightning strike. It was ~$300 in 1986 money to fix it, and he was making maybe ~$25k/yr at the time. Painful.

So some things changed around the house, including a new rule - "unplug everything during thunderstorms" - and a new family funtime togetherness activity: sitting in the garage in folding chairs, watching the thunderstorm. I still do that, but with beer now. It's more fun than most video games. Especially if there are trees.

I've noticed other people with similar fears/responses, but at the same time they sometimes have odd blind spots. My housemate insists on unplugging her piano during thunderstorms, but not the TV, computer, or other electronics. I have a former coworker who insisted on unplugging the microwave, insisting it was dangerous, but would use a computer.

And then there are the golfers who play through.

 

[Charlie22911]

Power surges are easier to protect against but a power strip will not stop a lightning strike, it has passed through nearly the entire thickness of Earth's atmosphere; a little power strip won't stop that if its path to ground is through your equipment. A lightning arrestor is what you really need for that.

 

[Modular]

Dredging this up - doesn't the equipment also needs to be properly connected to the same power strip?

My understanding is that you can't have multiple power strips "protecting" components that are tied together by other means. An example of this would be a modem and router on their own power strip that are connected via ehernet cable to a PC in another room on it's own power strip. If a surge happens it's going to travel through the ethernet cable and take out both pieces of equipment, right? Or a cable box that's connected to a TV through HDMI. If the coaxial cable line, cable box and TV aren't all protected through the same surge protector, then they aren't protected properly - can anyone verify?

 

[Charlie22911]

Dredging this up - doesn't the equipment also needs to be properly connected to the same power strip?

My understanding is that you can't have multiple power strips "protecting" components that are tied together by other means. An example of this would be a modem and router on their own power strip that are connected via ehernet cable to a PC in another room on it's own power strip. If a surge happens it's going to travel through the ethernet cable and take out both pieces of equipment, right? Or a cable box that's connected to a TV through HDMI. If the coaxial cable line, cable box and TV aren't all protected through the same surge protector, then they aren't protected properly - can anyone verify?

This is an interesting question; intuition tells me that as long as they share the same common ground then it should be okay. But in all fairness my intuition has been way off lately, so I'd love to know the answer to this myself; I can't seem to find the right search terms to get what I'm looking for on Google.

 

[JackMDS]

Maybe this can Help.

https://www.amazon.com/Tupavco-Ethe...31339&sr=8-3&keywords=ethernet+cable+arrestor