Ermm, what just happened here...?

TNGL

TNGL

TNGL

Soldato
Joined
2 Jul 2010
Posts
3,098
Well, I was happily using my computer for a bit of web browsing whilst it was thundering outside, and then bam... screen goes off but says it's still on, computer stays on but restarts. I also noticed my server went off as well, as far as I'm aware, nothing else in the house went off. I let the computer boot back up just to make sure the motherboard wasn't fried, and it appears to be okay. For now I've turned it off and I'm just browsing on my laptop until this thunder goes away.

I'm not a physics guy, so how would the thundering/lightening cause other electrical appliances to turn off, but not others?
 
Well I'm not a physics guy either... But my only explanation could be that certain pieces of electrical equipment have some sort of rubber insulation that shields them from electricity. Perhaps the rubber gripper pads under your PC protected the components? But don't take my word for it :p
 
my guess would be different surge protectors in the various electrical items doing different things under the load given by the lightning strike.

a PC is delicate and needs a tightly regulated power supply, so the PSU saw the giant surge of power and turned off the PC to avoid damage.

for something like an electric heater the power regulation doesnt need to be anywhere near as good. as long as its not a prolonged power change (we're talking minutes or hours, not seconds or milliseconds) then it will be just fine, so it would take the power surge in its stride.

i expect there was a lot of stuff helping to remove the power surge of a lightning strike before it got to the ring main and plug sockets though
 
well your light buld will not care if it looses power for 1 seconds and you will likley not notice, the same for your cooker, microwave, tv etc etc etc....
 
mr friend recently had lightning either hit his house, his cable line right outside his out,or a similar aerial outside his house. PC's and surge protected, however his router, which wasnt surge protected died, and killed his network card in his PC. TV which wasnt surge protected didn't die etc, or get damage to the signal input which was also not surge protected.
Different items have different tolerances, different safety measures in place and also the electricity is going to take the quickest route, so isnt going to go to everything in your house as the same time, it will just try to earth itself as quickly as possible as it doesnt like being seen by the likes of us mere mortals.
 
I have a Belkin surge protector which plugs into my router. We've had the power go out during a storm in the past. But never anything go wrong with any PC's in the house. Or any of the TV's that are hooked up to one.

Every things underground these days, so there's much more of a risk to your electrical items from lighting strikes.
 
I'm not a electronics guy... But my brother has had an encounter recently where he had lightning hit the next door neighbours house and it fried his TV/Work Laptop.

The way my dad explained it was just the extra current going through the system, obviously it's all usually regulated so you set a good enough amount for items to power up/charge, obviously when lightning hits the electric goes through the lines and had to come out somewhere! For stuff like this, it's deffo worth having a surge protector, even if it is an extra £10 or whatever!
 
joemc said:
I'm not a electronics guy... But my brother has had an encounter recently where he had lightning hit the next door neighbours house and it fried his TV/Work Laptop.

The way my dad explained it was just the extra current going through the system, obviously it's all usually regulated so you set a good enough amount for items to power up/charge, obviously when lightning hits the electric goes through the lines and had to come out somewhere! For stuff like this, it's deffo worth having a surge protector, even if it is an extra £10 or whatever!
Click to expand...

This.

When we normally have bad storms, i generally cut power to all my appliances within my room, so my work is safe and pc is safe from surge (even with a protector)

I remove all my plugs from the mains and use my phone for browsing etc.

We had thunder yesterday, everything was fine, it was about 1.5 miles from me and it wasn't overly continuous; on and off for about 30 minutes. I cannot recall any lightening strikes as i would say im a weather "enthusiast" which to an extent i just love everything to do with weather (saving up for a trip to the US to go Tornado chasing ;))

Im always skeptical about leaving my pc on during heavy rain, especially when rendering overnight when im asleep as if we did have a freak lightening strike nearby, power would go out, always does in my town as the transformer is just north of us, and that usually gets hit a few times a year i'd say.

Eitherway. Make sure you are surge protected, and of course, make sure your covered in your insurance policy :)
 
There was a strike near me a few years ago, it triggered battery powered equipment (a bottle opener that played a tune!), rebooted PCs etc...

As DefiantAsh says, disconnect the power, surge protectors aren't going to protect against a powerline strike.
Also aerials, phonelines and cable connections need to be disconnected, even if you have a surge protector for them since surge protectors simply don't protect against strikes.

I've just looked at a top range belkin device:
http://www.belkin.com/uk/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=135041
3240 Joules max power dissipation, pathetic! Doesn't stand a chance against a strike.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom