[Mari]

Originally Posted by Brokenfriend

s.

[B] Any lightning theoretically will follow the copper into the ground. I do this to often. To much information. Sorry BF

Steve,

That makes perfect sense.
Can one ground a computer? I only have a surge protector.

When we first started using computers back in the early 90 s / old AOL days, people told me to get off until the storm passed.

Mari

[Brokenfriend]

Originally Posted by Mari

Steve,

That makes perfect sense.
Can one ground a computer? I only have a surge protector.

When we first started using computers back in the early 90 s / old AOL days, people told me to get off until the storm passed.

Mari

Hey Mari My computer isn't grounded,but the electric system of the house is grounded. If there is a terrible thunderstorm,a surge protector,and unclipping the telephone wire from the wall behind the computer should be sufficient. My satellite TV receiver box is grounded,because the satellite Dish could be struck by lightening. So anything with a outside antenna needs to be grounded.

I'm not a electrician,or an expert by any means. These are some things that I have learned over the years.

The electric system of this house is basically protected by the ground rods that I have driven into the ground. If there isn't a ground rod protecting your electric system,I'd get it grounded. It takes a standard 8 foot ground rod to protect the electric system. Lightening wants to go into the ground,so the ground rod protecting the electric system is a good idea. A ground wire from the rod in the ground can be attached to a metal screw in the back of the computer cabinet case. It's not needed if the electric system in the house is already properly grounded,but you can.

The electric outlet in the houses standard plugs can be checked to see if they are grounded with a ten dollar electric outlet polarity socket checking device from Lowes. I believe that the electric power supply in the computer is grounded by the electric power outlet if it is grounded through the electric systems ground.

It's complicated because people will tell you different things. I've had one of my antennas struck by lightening,but the lightening didn't come down into the radio room,and the antenna was heavily grounded,and the lightening went right into the ground. It could have because you never ever know exactly what lightening will do.

What I get concerned about is the tall transmitter,and reciever antennas on top of this house could get struck by lightening,and the lightening can come down in the room where I have my radio transmitters,and receivers. One of those antennas are over 20 feet tall on top of about 20 feet of mast,attached to the chimney on a second floor,and there are wires called guide wires to keep the antenna in place during high winds.

I have two scanner antennas on top of the roof,and one is attached to the back of the house with about 30 feet of mast. I have two other dipole antennas that are horizontal.

I'm not an expert,or an electrician. I just know the basics. I hope that this helps. I hope that I didn't make it to complicated. If anyone out there is a electrician,please feel free to add anything that could be helpful. BF

[Mari]

Originally Posted by Brokenfriend

Hey Mari My computer isn't grounded,but the electric system of the house is grounded. If there is a terrible thunderstorm,a surge protector,and unclipping the telephone wire from the wall behind the computer should be sufficient. My satellite TV receiver box is grounded,because the satellite Dish could be struck by lightening. So anything with a outside antenna needs to be grounded.

I'm not a electrician,or an expert by any means. These are some things that I have learned over the years.

The electric system of this house is basically protected by the ground rods that I have driven into the ground. If there isn't a ground rod protecting your electric system,I'd get it grounded. It takes a standard 8 foot ground rod to protect the electric system. Lightening wants to go into the ground,so the ground rod protecting the electric system is a good idea. A ground wire from the rod in the ground can be attached to a metal screw in the back of the computer cabinet case. It's not needed if the electric system in the house is already properly grounded,but you can.

The electric outlet in the houses standard plugs can be checked to see if they are grounded with a ten dollar electric outlet polarity socket checking device from Lowes. I believe that the electric power supply in the computer is grounded by the electric power outlet if it is grounded through the electric systems ground.

It's complicated because people will tell you different things. I've had one of my antennas struck by lightening,but the lightening didn't come down into the radio room,and the antenna was heavily grounded,and the lightening went right into the ground. It could have because you never ever know exactly what lightening will do.

What I get concerned about is the tall transmitter,and reciever antennas on top of this house could get struck by lightening,and the lightening can come down in the room where I have my radio transmitters,and receivers. One of those antennas are over 20 feet tall on top of about 20 feet of mast,attached to the chimney on a second floor,and there are wires called guide wires to keep the antenna in place during high winds.

I have two scanner antennas on top of the roof,and one is attached to the back of the house with about 30 feet of mast. I have two other dipole antennas that are horizontal.

I'm not an expert,or an electrician. I just know the basics. I hope that this helps. I hope that I didn't make it to complicated. If anyone out there is a electrician,please feel free to add anything that could be helpful. BF

Thanks Steve.

I mostly understand. I will get back
To you .


M

[Brokenfriend]

Mari I was "in the zone",and wrote out to much information. I wanted to be thorough,but it was to condensed.

I hope that you are having a positive experience outside of the comfort zone. I hope that you can get some rest while out of town. BF

[waves]

Steve.

Yoou gaave good information, with explanations and context.

Adding my own comments, going on my very basic knowledge of physics. I'm not an electrician either.

Originally Posted by Brokenfriend

If there is a terrible thunderstorm, a surge protector [...] should be sufficient.

Right. Without grounding, the potential effect of a lightning hit a lightning hit is a large surge.

With grounding, most of the charge transfers directly into the earth. You might still see a small surge which the surge protector can handle.... in the vast majority of cases.

unclipping the telephone wire from the wall behind the computer

Yeah, I've seen telephone equipment fried that had no power connection. Phone lines can carry a damaging level of charge during a hit.

I don't know if phone systems are grounded these days? If not, all equipment with a land-line connection is vulnerable -- unplug phone wire.

you never ever know exactly what lightening will do

Right. It is made of plasma arcs of random shape and size: the power impact is unpredictable.

Exceptionally, a hit could produce a surge big enough to "overpower" the surge protector. Very improbable, but possible.

waves

[Mari]

Waves and Steve,

I am going to deal with this another time.
I have not slept since forever averaging -- between 3 and 4 hours per night for the past 4 nights.

My computer is not connected via phone cord as we have wifi.
i.e. computers in our house do NOT have have phone cords.
and the phones are not connected to the cords ---- except maybe the main phone is connected. (???)


I have to check on the wireless situation on the televisions. One might be wired and the other not -- will check with hubby tomorrow.


I guess a phone cord is coming into our place somewhere -- but not to where I work.

We pay 10 dollars extra a month for extra "surge" protection -- a kind of surge protection . . . . but maybe not. . .. I am not sure what it is.
Maybe we were scammed.
http://www.fplenergyservices.com/res...geshield.shtml


I thought that most houses in the US are grounded -- somewhat lightning protected.

M

[Mari]

Before I went out of town, i did unplug my two computers, printer, and phone (the wireless phone has to be connected to electricity to charge and to work . . .
. . . .when lights go out, the phone goes out as well and we have to go to cell phones.).

I'm not sure why I did the unplugging, but it made some sense on some level and it was not an onerous talk.

Take care, both of you.
I deeply appreciate you, Waves and Steve.

Mari

[Brokenfriend]

Mari That's was a good idea. Unplugging electronic devices while gone prevents fires,and damages that could be caused by direct lightning strikes at this time of year. It's good to unplug any cord that goes to the outside while gone out of town.

I don't understand the auto power surge from that company. Do they install it to the house outside? How could they provide this kind of service?

Power surge devices may be able to stop so many surges,and then they need to be replaced every several years,unless a major lightning strike killed the surge protectors ability to protect anymore. I don't know the exact science on this. Some are cheap,and some are very expensive. I replaced one with a Wal-Mart surge protector a year in a half ago.

One thing happened that I never expected. My hair blow drier turned itself on somehow when I was out of the room. I come back into the room,and it had turned itself on,and was blowing hot air against a wall. It may have had a faulty switch. I sure don't know. I'm just glade that I came back into the room,and turned it off. I threw it away. It could have started a fire. Now I unplug a new blow drier after I use it. I also unplug portable heaters when I leave the house in the Winter.

It's just difficult to know,and understand what lightning is going to do to electronic devices. Several years ago,lightning struck one of my outside antennas that had white fiberglass around it. It blew up like a fire cracker. I heard it. It blew that antenna up,and there where pieces of fiberglass in this yard,and a neighbors yard. It was shredded like hay,but the lightning from the antenna cord(coax) coming into my house didn't make it inside. The coax was destroyed also,but the lightning went into the ground rods that are driven in the ground.

I'm sorry. I keep getting technical about this stuff because I've had so much experience with it,and have thought about it allot in the planning of my project. I'm not a expert. I am still learning things daily. BF

[Brokenfriend]

I read it over about the SurgeShield. It's installed at the electric meter outside. This is the first time I've heard about it. BF

[Brokenfriend]

The SurgeShield looks legitimate. BF