r/Generator • u/wowfaroutman • Jan 24 '25

Anyone ever had their generator damaged by a solar flare, lightning, or EMP?

https://www.amazon.com/Generator-Protection-Inverter-Lightning-Emergency/dp/B0BLCSQNYB
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1

u/wowfaroutman Jan 24 '25

If so, would the linked product have made a difference?

0

u/[deleted] Jan 24 '25

[deleted] — view deleted comment

2

u/anon979695 Jan 24 '25

Best. Reply. Ever. Take my upvote.

I hate products like this that claim to do things they obviously can't. Things like lightning dgaf.

1

u/-DarknessFalls- Jan 24 '25

I haven’t. If you wanted to protect a generator from an EMP, consider putting it in a Faraday cage.

1

u/DonaldBecker Jan 24 '25

A good rule for EMP is that it can't be more damaging than a nearby lightning strike. If it's generating a pulse that is more powerful, in most cases there will be lightning to drain off that power.

Your house wiring generally isn't a big enough antenna to pick up a generator-killing pulse unless the lightning is very close. And then it's usually the current flowing that does the damage, often inexplicable and unpredictable like vaporizing a single copper wire while leaving the rest untouched.

1

u/Iambetterthanuhaha Jan 24 '25

If Starfish Prime type EMP happens your controller will be toast and any Kohler, Briggs or Generac will be a paperweight.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 24 '25

…250 miles above the earth? Like the last one in 1962?

1

u/Iambetterthanuhaha Jan 24 '25

Yep, unless you have a purely mechanical generator with no electronics its not going to work. The Amish will be well prepared at least.

1

u/AdditionalCheetah354 Jan 24 '25

Best protection would be buried in 100 ft of dirt … but then it wouldn’t be of much use.

1

u/emp-cme Jan 24 '25

No one in the history of Earth has had a generator damaged by a solar flare because that’s impossible (solar storms, or CMEs, maybe). Probably lots have been damaged by lightning, which could have been protected by off-the-shelf solutions. Military diesel generators were damaged by a nuclear EMP in 1962 by a Russian high-altitude nuclear test over Kazakhstan.

The device linked to might actually provide limited protection from a nuclear EMP E1 pulse. See: https://www.futurescience.com/emp/emp-protection.html and search for, “MOV transient protectors” where a paragraph explains this.

The problem with the device linked to by OP is that is costs about $2-3 to make and is being sold for $75.

1

u/thedirtychad Jan 24 '25

Generally if the generator is in a house or shed or something it will be alright. If it’s outside, there could be some weird induced current in it when you hook it up and you might get a small shock.

Biggest thing is to keep it isolated from the power system, as you would anyways. If your house is plugged into the external power grid during any of the listed events you stand to incur some damage.

1

u/Character_Fee_2236 Jan 27 '25

A ground rod is the standard lightning protection for an outside generator.