thunderstorms

[drewg]

We're having lots of summer afternoon thunderstorms. I have surge suppressors on everything, but I'm still paranoid about my electronics. Guess what I unplug first?

My $2000 fridge? Nope..
My $1500 Plasma? Nope..
My $500 receiver? Nope..
My $1500 server? Nope..

I always run to unplug my HD300 at the first sound of thunder... I probably should put it on a UPS too, just in case of brown-outs.

Drew

[PiX64]

Originally Posted by drewg

We're having lots of summer afternoon thunderstorms. I have surge suppressors on everything, but I'm still paranoid about my electronics. Guess what I unplug first?

My $2000 fridge? Nope..
My $1500 Plasma? Nope..
My $500 receiver? Nope..
My $1500 server? Nope..

I always run to unplug my HD300 at the first sound of thunder... I probably should put it on a UPS too, just in case of brown-outs.

Drew

HA thats awesome!

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by drewg

We're having lots of summer afternoon thunderstorms. I have surge suppressors on everything, but I'm still paranoid about my electronics. Guess what I unplug first?

My $2000 fridge? Nope..
My $1500 Plasma? Nope..
My $500 receiver? Nope..
My $1500 server? Nope..

I always run to unplug my HD300 at the first sound of thunder... I probably should put it on a UPS too, just in case of brown-outs.

Drew

I had my HD200s on UPS's since I first got them. Now that I'm back to PC clients even more so. The only things I have on straight power are the fridge and LED TV since those were purchased locally and would be an easy sell on an insurance claim. Trying to claim 50+ drives and 10PCs with data costing more than my allotted amount for personal possessions is only going to get me a partial amount if a lightning strike would take it out because of no UPS's. I have 4 UPS's in basement one for each PC there and 3 upstairs for the other 6 PCs/client boxes (HD extenders originally).

[pjpjpjpj]

My favorite part is when the power goes out and they all start beeping.

My wife really loves it, too... especially when I'm at work and she has to call me to ask what to do about it while they are all blaring in the background.

[wayner]

Yes - I don't know why APC doesn't make it easy to disable the beeping on their UPS'. Just put a darn switch on the thing to silence the beeps.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by wayner

Yes - I don't know why APC doesn't make it easy to disable the beeping on their UPS'. Just put a darn switch on the thing to silence the beeps.

You can with the powerchute software. That's one of the first things I do when I hook one up. Got one for my projector too, rather not spend $300 on a bulb because of a random blackout.

[wayner]

I know but I generally haven't used the Powerchute software. I should get around to installing this software on my laptop and then take my laptop around the house to all of my UPS' and disable the alarm. It is a bit of a pain and there should be an audible alarm on/off switch. I also wish they wouldn't put such a bright green LED on their power switch which means you have to cover it with electrical tape for the bedroom UPS.

[Skybolt]

I use UPSs on all of my electronics, it's worth the investment. They don't have to power for long, just 5 min or so to see if the power is comming back soon or not - especially for brownouts, man they kill everything quickly.

[Opus4]

I've got UPSs for each PC & some other electronics, surge suppressors for others, then a whole house generator that kicks in within 10-15 seconds if power goes out.

The generator doesn't do anything for lightning strikes, but it sure is nice when power is out, which seems to happen several times a year.

- Andy

[drewg]

Originally Posted by Opus4

I've got UPSs for each PC & some other electronics, surge suppressors for others, then a whole house generator that kicks in within 10-15 seconds if power goes out.

The generator doesn't do anything for lightning strikes, but it sure is nice when power is out, which seems to happen several times a year.

- Andy

I've been thinking about one of those. Is it one of those generators that plugs into the natural gas line? How much maintenance is needed?

Drew

[bastafidli]

Originally Posted by Opus4

I've got UPSs for each PC & some other electronics, surge suppressors for others, then a whole house generator that kicks in within 10-15 seconds if power goes out.

The generator doesn't do anything for lightning strikes, but it sure is nice when power is out, which seems to happen several times a year.

- Andy

I suggest whole house surge protector

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=100127248&storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&ci_sku=100127248&ci_kw={keyword}&kwd={keyword}&cm_mmc=shopping-_-googleads-_-pla-_-100127248&ci_gpa=pla#.UBmg2yPLf44

I got it installed after we got hit by lightining and since then we are fine. I know we are fine because we got hit by lightning second time and it went it via dog fence wire and completely burned down another surge protector that wire is connected to.

[wayner]

Be careful if you have an OTA outdoor antenna as that is a path for lightning. About 25 years ago my parents house was struck by lightning that hit the antenna. This destroyed the TV, VCR and Stereo Receiver as these were all connected to the antenna as the lightning travlled ove rthe old 300 ohm antenna leads to the equipment. The TV had a 300 ohm to 75 ohm converter box on it and this box blew apart and the circuit board was totally singed.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by drewg

I've been thinking about one of those. Is it one of those generators that plugs into the natural gas line? How much maintenance is needed?

Yes, it connects to the natural gas line. If you don't have gas service, you can connect to a large propane tank instead. It has an engine, so service consists of yearly maintenance for that; more often if you need to use the thing a lot.

- Andy

[MattHelm]

Originally Posted by wayner

Be careful if you have an OTA outdoor antenna as that is a path for lightning. About 25 years ago my parents house was struck by lightning that hit the antenna. This destroyed the TV, VCR and Stereo Receiver as these were all connected to the antenna as the lightning travlled ove rthe old 300 ohm antenna leads to the equipment. The TV had a 300 ohm to 75 ohm converter box on it and this box blew apart and the circuit board was totally singed.

True, but if done correctly, it can protect the house, not cause problems. Knew a guy that would set out and watch the lightning hit his tower, but damage nothing. When setup like this, it will basically protect a cone the diameter of the towers height.

Lightning never damaged my dad's, even when he had it up 50'.

Of course when it hit the phone line, it kill almost every computer in the house!

[hemicuda]

I have a surge breaker in the distribution panel, plug-in modules on everything with a circuit board, and a 2200VA UPS on the server/network hardware. We had a strike close by that blew a fridge in a house down the road. It managed to only hit 1 leg in our panel and thankfully it did since the other leg with the den TV didn't have a plug-in . Blew every plug-in arrestor in the house. One failed so bad it tripped the breaker again when I reset it. It vaporized a couple of components on my mini-split A/C's power supply.

The first 2 years in the house we were considering a Genset for blackouts, but those happen rarely now.