Lightning


There was a storm that I thought had passed.....I was down in the man cave just pulling a record from the turntable and pop! a lightning strike about 100 feet from the house and the lights went out. It knocked out the right channel of my 3 month old Ortofon Cadenza Red, volume control of my Raysonic SLP 120 integrated(stuck at max) Also damaged is my internet modem, wifi and alarm system- two days after I was downsized out of a job.

Unfortunately, the Raysonic was not plugged into my Furman PC since I was playing with power cords and was using an outlet strip due to the thickness of the cord. It looks like a surge went from the outlet thru the Raysonic, interconnect and into the turntable thru the Whest phono into the cartridge?

What suggestions does everyone have about protection against such events? Sure I can unplug things but what if I am not at home and a storm rolls up?
stl114_nj
Get whole house surge protection installed at the main supply to the house. Mine is Eaton, there are other brands. My electrician installed it for around 300 bucks (he did some dedicated lines too and I can't remember the exact breakdown). I live in lightning prone North Texas and so far so good. Many times your local power company will install and bill monthly, or you can pay once and have it done, but either way it's pretty reasonable and effective. You do need surge protectors on your equipment too, follow above advice.
Contact your insurance company. The same thing happened to me and lightning does what it wants to do regardless of any protection you think you may have. If you can prove you took a hit, even indirect, you'll be covered as long as you had it in your policy. BTW-You should have replacement value specified in the policy.
I now have a Monster Power center in front of all of my components, which is supposed to carry something like 10 G's of coverage, but you should contact your insurance company first.
Note-my company gave me some BS that the strike had to hit my property. If it came down next door and bounced over, it wouldn't be covered. I went out back and found a dead branch from my pear tree and told them that was where the strike occurred.
After you get new gear, put it behind a surge protector and make sure everything is properly grounded. For example, the mast of my roof antenna is earth grounded to an eight foot x 5/8" copper rod driven into the earth. That just diverts static down to earth, a full out strike is unpredictably destructive.
I forgot to mention before, but one of my amps that wasn't even plugged in got fried by the hit. My theory is that the huge moving charge induced a voltage in the amp's mains primary. The tech that looked at it said every single component in that amp was damaged.

As I said, lightning is a force of nature and will do as it pleases. I was home looking out the window when it hit. Everything got super bright as I heard an explosion. You know how you usually hear the boom come at you, getting louder and then fade away? I never heard it coming, just the boom and fade.

In my opinion, no surge protector will make a difference when it's a direct or near direct hit. Don't get me wrong, I believe in them and use them like crazy to isolate inter-component surges or capture the surge of a compressor turning on. But a good insurance policy with replacement value is your best protection.
I am also in Florida , the central part . I have gotten used to leaving everything unplugged until I want to use it . The tubed amp and CDP only take 30-45 minutes to warm up. But the SS phono stage takes @ 7 hours and that is a real PITA ! I will be starting a new thread looking for recs for a decent , warm sounding tubed phono stage to replace it .
It is the price that I pay for living in paradise ! I really hate the winters up north !
And I agree with the replacement value coverage suggestion.

Good Luck
Short of installing lightning arrestor system to keep lightning from hitting your house in the first place, nothing will protect your electronics from a direct lightning hit to your house or the service entrance; however, a few basic precautions will go a long way in minimizing damage from a nearby hit.

First is to make sure that all grounds are tied to one place at the service entrance and it's a good ground with at least two ground-rods pounded deep in the ground. Cable and satellite TV installers are notorious for sticking a ground rod in wherever it's convenient with no bonding whatsoever to the house's service-entrance ground. When there are two grounds, one at each end of the house with no direct common bonding, a lightning-strike occurring nearby can crate a high-voltage unequal-potential between the two separate grounds. Guess how the potential balances itself out? That's right. Through the lead-in coax and through your TV and anything else that is connected and grounded or tied to the neutral leg - which is everything that's plugged in! So check and fix your house ground first and foremost.

Now, like Swanny said, go out and buy or rent through your electric-service provider a whole-house surge-suppressor. Don't worry it would hurt the sound of your system and it's worth every penny.

Also remember that MOVs, which actually do the surge suppression in most strips and power conditions, wear out with age. Depending on the number and size of surges that are absorbed by it, figure on replacing the MOVs in the device every four- to eight-years. MOVs are quite cheap but require some soldering to install. You may be quite surprised open your power conditioner and see a blackened and burnt MOV or two, but it not uncommon, especially here in Florida.