LIghtning zapped our routers

Along our country lane, both I and a neighbour had our routers zapped on Friday night by lightning close by.

Any tips on surge protection that won't affect broadband speed?

Thanks

I still unplug my phone line when lightening is nearby
(2 seconds from flash to rumble means it is less than half a mile away which is close enough to me).
In principle I would also unplug the tv aerial if roof mounted.

The recent storm was in the middle of the night so I was't bothered about internet but did stay awake for a bit to watch the show.

It's one way to be sure however I cannot deny it "affects" my broadband speed.

This mains lead is one of the very best and should be used all round the house wherever possible. it is the only one with RF Conditioner-Frequency-Interference built in at this price point

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tacima-Conditioner-Frequency...

Can you enlarge on the present state of your routers, please?

If they have failed on the Mains (Adaptor) side, then a Surge Protector MAY or may NOT have protected them.

Depending upon the form of the damage, if the Mains (Adaptor) side is still working (LEDs coming on), there is a slight chance that a Factory Reset just might get them operational again.


If the failure is on the Phone/DSL side, then it is unlikely that anything would have protected them, apart from total disconnection from the Phone circuit.

========================

Both of which raises the question, how did you get back on-line?

Did a Factory Reset work?

Did you replace the Router?

Did you replace a Mains Adaptor?

Etc.

If lightning is around, DON'T wait until the storm is on top of you as you might get a strike out of the blue (sorry, pun not intended) as you are unplugging things.

I doubt a surge-arresting socket will help unless the storm causes a power surge by striking overhead supply lines. But, as they are so inexpensive, it's a good precaution.

It's more likely to get hit if you have a drop-wire connection rather than an underground telephone wire.

The chances of a direct strike are remote, but there will be considerable radio frequency high-energy pulses which are more likely to cause problems.

If there is a direct hit, the Router will be the least of your problems. Also, don't use the telephone if its directly connected to the line as you could get zapped too. DECT phones are ok as they connect wirelessly.

The router is likely powered by a switch mode transformer, any old cheap as chips surge protector will work on that and offer protection from general strikes nearby and other surges, although any surge the power supply cannot cope with and you'll need more than a surge protector. A direct strike to the mains supply or the house for example, and no surge protector (not even that one) will help. In that case you would need all electrical devices unplugged, which is why the general advice during a lightning storm that is nearby is to unplug electrical goods (All electrical goods).

That also won't help in the case of a strike on the telephone cable into the house. The master socket includes surge protection for voltage across the pair coming in from outside, however in a strike on the line the surge comes down both wires and will find it's own way to earth (typically through any mains connected devices attached to the phone line, but it's not unheard of for it to earth through a person on the phone).

I used to have a surge protector on my ADSL line, it worked well, was reasonably cheap, from maplin, but it does not claim to be rated for VDSL (BT FTTC broadband, and the like) and doesn't fit on the shiny new faceplate for FTTC. It is also worth noting that I did not have a marginal line, and it did effect the SNR a little (but not enough to cause problems).

In reply to a post by NICK_ADSL_UK:

This mains lead is one of the very best and should be used all round the house wherever possible. it is the only one with RF Conditioner-Frequency-Interference built in at this price point

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tacima-Conditioner-Frequency...

Does this one offer the same? http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00009RIP8/ref=oh...

More sockets, cheaper. ''Electro Magnetic Interference/Radio Frequency Interference filtering for clean power''

In reply to a post by Wo0x:

In reply to a post by NICK_ADSL_UK:

This mains lead is one of the very best and should be used all round the house wherever possible. it is the only one with RF Conditioner-Frequency-Interference built in at this price point

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tacima-Conditioner-Frequency...

Does this one offer the same? http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00009RIP8/ref=oh...

More sockets, cheaper. ''Electro Magnetic Interference/Radio Frequency Interference filtering for clean power''

it states 6000 which is higher but i wouldn't read to much into the figures as there is no way you would be able to tell. The RF part is much easier to say that it works i find as everything in the house just seams much quieter be it from the tv no picture glitching no hum from the hi fi etc

i would give it a try and if not to your liking you can return it

this is the newer version from belkin although i prefer the Tacima
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Belkin-Surgemaster-Cable-Pho...

Edited by NICK_ADSL_UK (Tue 22-Jul-14 00:47:27)

Keep in mind that such devices only protect against the typical spikes etc of interference; but are akin to sea walls relative to real on-shore gales coinciding with high tides; and that actual lightning strikes on lines, whether phone, mains etc are similar to tsunamis.

Induced voltages during electrical storms (as opposed to direct strikes) can be well beyond the capabilities of surge protectors.

The only real lightning protection these devices can offer is the insurance, which has a good number of clauses to it.

A lightning bolt will NOT be stopped by any of these, induced currents from near strikes and mains noise , but a strike on your mains or telephone wiring will simply be looking for a route to ground and a few mm gap or less from a surge protector blowing will be of little worth.

indeed Andrew don't buy one of these thinking that it will save your electrical equipment from lightning damage with insurance in mind because that's very unlikely to happen

the Tacima 6 Way Mains Conditioner and Radio Frequency Interference Filter is just that in reality and is excellent for that purpose and that purpose alone

Edited by NICK_ADSL_UK (Tue 22-Jul-14 10:32:34)

I've been very unlucky with lightning strikes over my phone line. When living at my parents' house (where they had telegraph poles in the street) we had two strikes over the years which affected equipment. Firstly, the dial-up modem in my PC got zapped (it didn't affect the rest of the PC) and then the SKY box modem was zapped (the receiver continued to work fine but had to be unplugged from the phone line as it affected voice calls).
8 weeks ago I came home after a storm (where our incoming phone wires are underground) to find our phone line was out. It was repaired in a couple of days (but cost us £160 as the previous owners had swapped the BT master socket for a poncy brass affair). It also temporarily knocked out the house alarm. When the phone line was up and running, I found we had no internet. Yes, it had killed the ADSL side of our router. Thankfully all phones lived to tell the tale (including our DECT base station which is connected via some form of phoneline surge protector which I bought after the lightning strikes on my parents' phone line).
A new (and better) wireless router is now in place so all up and running again. However, when I hear a storm now, I will be unplugging it from the phoneline if I am able to do so. I don't particularly worry about the TV... I don't know of anybody who has had their aerial hit (yet)!

In reply to a post by lenham343:

Any tips on surge protection that won't affect broadband speed?

Your telco CO, connected to buildings all over town, suffers about 100 surges per storm without damage. They never try to block a surge. Instead use another well proven technology that means direct lightning strikes without damage even to a protector. And without degrading signal bandwidth.

Protectors, adjacent to appliances, must somehow block or absorb that energy. How does a 2 cm part stop what three miles of sky could not? How does a protector rated at hundreds of joules absorb energy that is hundreds of thousands of joules? It doesn't. So they hype a mythical big buck warranty so that naive consumers will believe it does protection.

Lightning seeks earth ground. For example, a direct strike to AC wires far down a street is a direct strike to every household appliance. Are all damage? Of course not. To be damaged, an appliance must have both an incoming current path and an outgoing path to earth. A surge is electricity. Often the outgoing path is damaged (ie cable connection).

Code requires all telephone and cable to have proper protectxion. Best protection for cable is a hardwire connected low impedance (ie 'less than 10 feet') to earth ground. What was the best outgoing path via a modem? Cable. What may have been the incoming path? AC electric.

AC electric (the most common incoming path for surges) is not required to have surge protection. Maybe three wires enter. Only one connects to earth. So two other AC wires connect a surge directly to all appliances.

Unlike cable, both telephone and AC electric cannot be earthed directly by hardwire. So we do a next best thing. We make that earth connection via a protector. Since lightning may be 20,000 amps, then a 'whole house' protector should be at least 50,000 amps. Effective protection means a protector must not fail even on a direct strike. These well proven devices come from other and more responsible companies (that do not hype mythical warranties) such as General Electric, ABB, Polyphaser, Leviton, Syscom, Square D, Ditek, Intermatic, and Siemens to name but a few. An effective Cutler-Hammer solution sells in Lowes and Home Depot.

No protector does protection. Not one. Effective protectors make a low impedance (ie 'less than 10 foot') connection to single point earth ground. All four words have electrical significance. Energy is never stopped or absorbed by effective protectors. Effective protectors connect surges to what absorbs hundreds of thousands of joules. What is the most important component in any protection system? What actually does the protection? What must absorb that energy? Single point earth ground.

Protectors are simple dumb science. Earthing is an art. Only introduced is what was well understood even 100 years ago. How to make the solution better? Learn about the only component that must always exist in any protection system. That is not a protector. That is protection - earth ground.

A protector is only as effective as its earth ground. If properly installed, then even direct lightning strikes should not cause damage to any household appliance. Something that a completely different device with a same name (a plug-in protector) cannot do.

Edited by deleted (Tue 22-Jul-14 13:25:00)

Why, pray tell, would modern computing devices, particularly those that use a switch mode power supply, need mains conditioning and Radio Frequency filtration?

A surge protector would protect against anything the computer equipment couldn't already cope with, and would come with insurance (with standard caveats of course, please read the small print) against anything the surge protector failed to protect against.

Also that device you linked to includes a shielded cable to reduce the noise, and yet this is clearly before the filter that removes the noise. Another warning sign (besides being more expensive than a more functional equivalent from belkin, a company not exactly renowned for their cheap cables and electrical accessories) is that it uses psuedo-science, to justify it's use for audio visual purposes. Also a recommendation by What Hi-Fi is not exactly a ringing endorsement given audiophile equipment is never over-priced pseudo-scientific [censored].

I do have surge protection on my stuff but as has been mentioned more for the insurance.