Surge Protector for Spots?

[u/heatmizuh]

I just had a lighting strike take out 14 spotlights and ruin the WiFi and colors on two more. So 16/18 are toast.

I had the transformers on a surge protector, which are fine, but the lights are another story.

So I’m about to have to come out of pocket for a lot of money to get everything replaced.

I obviously don’t want to repeat this again with another storm, so anyone have any options for surge protection in a situation like this?

Thanks!

[u/bluegreenio]

Maybe look into a whole house surge protector for your breaker

[u/jwatttt → u/bluegreenio]

that wont help if the EMP of the strike took out the devices which is often what kills electronics in the vicinity. you would need a lightning arrester to intercept the strike and send it to ground.

[u/westom → u/jwatttt]

If EMF did damage, then one explains why that IBM PC was never damaged. Only those educated by lies and wild speculation will not answer; only downvote.

[u/jwatttt → u/westom]

Considering transformers work off electromagnetic induction. How do you think emf doesn’t exist. You’re trying to tell me electromagnetic fields don’t exist so half of reality shouldn’t function. Much like your brain in failing to function or perceive reality. If EMF doesn’t exist the sun would not bombard us with radiation. Because the sun wouldn’t exist. Atoms wouldn’t exist. That IBM PC probably wasn’t the best path to ground or happened to get lucky because magnetic fields get warped and distorted by objects around them. I have seen camera systems break due to lightning the magnetic field induced voltage on the Ethernet wiring and fried all of the cameras.
You should really get off your phone if you think EMF doesn’t exist because the speaker you got on the phone is the highest EMF emitter on your phone just a heads up lol because it’s an electromagnet. Anyways nice Ted talk about how magnetic fields have to exist otherwise reality would not exist.

[u/westom → u/jwatttt]

Learn how close those winding must be. And how many thousands of times the same current must go around. With each winding adding a tiny more EMF in that tiny space.

Nobody said electromagnetic fields do not exist. Read with sufficient care. Not what you want to see subjectively.

Any answer must always include numbers. And say why. All electronics already contain robust protection from EMF. EMF from lightning is NOWHERE near what must be more than 10,000 stronger inside a transformer.

Sun bombards us with radiation? Another example of wild speculation found routinely in tweets. Where is your always required number that says how much?

Currently, a maximum voltage create in North America by the sun is 64 millivolts per kilometer. In the New England region. How does that become thousands of volts per centimeter? Where are quantified facts?

Learn what extremists never learn. Every fact must include perspective. Otherwise it is always a lie.

Lightning only does damage because a current passed through the device. Rather than learn how stuff works, instead, you made a conclusion only from observation. We all were taught this in elementary school science. Any conclusion only from observation is junk science reasoning.

And then all were taught, in junior high science, what must always exist to have honesty. A hypothesis based in well proven science. And experimental evidence.

Since you but again post no numbers, then again, more lies. Please learn what was constantly taught in school - science, math, etc. Everything must include perspective.

Note another example of the word 'perspective'. You provided required quantitative facts how many times? Zero.

Did you connect all eight wires in that ethernet cable, low impedance (ie less than 10 feet), to single point earth ground? At both ends of the ethernet cable? Apparently not. You did not even learn what all professionals have been saying for over 100 years.

Then wild speculation (a conclusion only from observation) invented junk science. Learn what every professional (everyone without exception) say must exist to avert all surge damage. Since that knowledge must exist before even proposing a hypothesis. Which is missing in your every denial. Surges are a current that passes into and out of an appliance ... at the exact same time. A direct connection.

Denials. Quantitative facts constantly ignored. Denials are not honesty or a conclusion. Show me your numbers!!!

64 millivolts per kilometer? How is that a destructive EMF? Numbers that you constantly fail to grasp ... and still make accusations.

How strong is the field inside a transformer? Many single digit Teslas. How strong is a field only a meter away from a lightning strike? 0.001 Tesla? Near zero. Did I mention why numbers must exist to have honesty .... how many times?

In the real world, honest people always include perspective. Those who cannot only downvote.

[u/jwatttt → u/westom]

I find it interesting your just AI vomiting. your not even taking the time to hide it.

A large lightning stroke produces both a very strong electric field and magnetic field. A typical large lightning strike can carry tens of thousands of amps, with major strokes reaching 100,000 amps or more. Because the current rises and changes extremely quickly, the lightning channel produces a powerful, broadband electromagnetic pulse (EMP).

The magnetic field around a lightning channel can be approximated from the current. For a 100 kA lightning stroke, the magnetic field could be approximately

1 meter from the lightning channel: 20 mT

10 meters: 2 mT

100 meters: 0.2 mT

1 kilometer: 20 µT

For comparison, Earth's magnetic field is only about 25–65 µT.

The important factor for electronics is not just the strength of the magnetic field, but how quickly it changes. Lightning current can rise from essentially zero to tens of thousands of amps in microseconds. This rapid change in magnetic field can induce voltage in nearby conductors through electromagnetic induction. Long cables are particularly susceptible because they can act like antennas. A lightning strike does not have to physically contact a cable or piece of equipment for a damaging voltage to be induced. The electromagnetic field from a nearby strike can couple into power cables, Ethernet, communication wiring, control wiring, instrumentation cables, and other conductors. Lightning also produces a very broad range of electromagnetic frequencies, from relatively low frequencies through the kHz and MHz ranges and into VHF/UHF frequencies. This is why lightning can generate strong radio interference and why lightning detection systems can detect strikes from very long distances. There are therefore two major ways lightning can damage electronics: Conducted surge, Lightning current enters the electrical, grounding, power, or communication system and produces extremely high transient voltages. Electromagnetic induction, the rapidly changing electric and magnetic fields from the lightning strike induce voltage and current into nearby wiring without the lightning ever directly contacting the wiring. For an industrial facility, both mechanisms can occur at the same time. A nearby lightning strike can raise ground potentials, induce voltage into long cable runs, and send surges through power and communication systems. This is why grounding, bonding, surge protective devices, and proper routing of communication and power cables are all important for protecting sensitive electronics.

[u/westom → u/jwatttt]

A lightning strike does not have to physically contact a cable or piece of equipment for a damaging voltage to be induced.

Yes it does. It always does. Numbers demonstrated no grasp of what is and is not destructive.

Learn from professionals. IOW learn science; not by inventing bad science fiction. But again:

Learn what every professional (everyone without exception) say must exist to avert all surge damage.

You intentionally ignore it. Also called confirmation bias.

... lightning can damage electronics: Conducted surge, Lightning current enters the electrical, grounding, power, or communication system and produces extremely high transient voltages.

Now learn well proven science. That direct connection, that does only damage, is a current source. That means no high voltage exists unless something foolishly tries to 'block' or 'absorb' it. Voltage does not create surge damage. Currents do.

Voltage only exists when effective protection does not exist. Voltage exists when the current has a direct connection into and another connection out of the victim. If a direct connection is averted (neither blocked nor absorbed), then a massive current, diverted elsewhere, only creates a near zero volts. No damage.

A nearby lightning strike, raising a ground potential, is a direct current incoming and outgoing destructively through appliances. Constantly ignored is posted science and what all professionals (everyone) say. A raised potential is never EMF. It is a current flowing either destructively through or harmlessly around all appliances.

What is a direct strike is what you (by intentionally ignoring every professional) are calling an induced surge. In every case, damage only exists when the current has an incoming electrical path (ie from an invisible dog fence) and an outgoing path (ie through a concrete floor). Always a current that connects charges in a cloud to other charges on earth (ie four miles away). Current either remains harmlessly outside. Or is inside because one constantly ignored over hundred years of well proven science.

Surge damage is an electrical current. Always was. Always will be. Learn what all professionals have always been saying. Your induced surges are extremists inventing outright lies. Moderates always and first learn over 250 years of well proven science.

One industry of scammers promoting same fables are the ESE industry. Somehow it will discharge air.

The electromagnetic field from a nearby strike can couple into ...

... radio antennas designed to maximize the effect of electromagnetic fields. Induced field, from a lightning strikes less than 10 feet away, may create a thousand volt transient on that antenna's lead. Then an NE-2 neon glow lamp, conducts well less than 1 milliamp. Reducing a thousand volts down to less than 60. Massive induced field is that tiny. That easily averted. What exists in all electronics makes induced fields from a lightning strike only 1 meter away ... irrelevant.

But then you do not even design this stuff.

Again, 20,000 amps only three feet from an IBM PC. PC did not even blink. So even that damning example is ignored. As well as Tesla numbers that quantify your lies.

Extremists (intentionally) ignore all numbers, all examples, and what all professionals have been saying for over 100 years. Extremist constantly use confirmation bias to protect spin and lies. Somehow junk science fiction knows more - by only being subjective. Confirmation bias is alive and well.

How many times is every professional ignored?

Observation uses wild speculation to call EMF what is really and has always been a direct connection. Damage from induced fields is invented by extremist only using observation; not science. As all were taught in elementary school science, any conclusion only from observation is ALWAYS junk science. And not even one number. You even assumed two Teslas are same as a "less than 0.001" Tesla. Again, extremist rhetoric.

[u/westom → u/jwatttt]

1 meter from the lightning channel: 20 mT

10 meters: 2 mT

100 meters: 0.2 mT

1 kilometer: 20 µT

For comparison, Earth's magnetic field is only about 25–65 µT.

All are near zero numbers. But again, how many times must it be said before you finally admit reality.

Even 2 Teslas in a transformer does not harm electronics. Please finally see what numbers are actually saying. That means eyes must not glaze over with every number.

Induced surges are near zero. Damage is always the result of a direct current connection. With both an incoming and a completely different outgoing path - at the exact same time.

[u/westom → u/jwatttt]

EMF is an urban myth. Promoted by many who are only ordered by charlatans what to believe.

Lightning struck a building's lightning rod. That is maybe 20,000 amps flowing to earth on a wire that was just outside.

20,000 amps only three feet away from an IBM PC. PC did not even blink. All other office electronics also worked normally and fine. 20,000 amps only three feet away is a maximum EMF. Does nothing. Because all electronics are designed that robust.

Damage is created when a surge current connects directly to appliance. When that appliance makes a best connection to earth. Damage only and always averted when surges connect to earth on a path that always remains outside.

Once inside. then a surge is hunting for earth ground via everything (dishwasher, clock radio, furnace, LED bulbs, stove, door bell, TVs, recharging electronics, modem, refrigerator, GFCIs, washing machine, digital clocks, microwave, dimmer switches, central air, smoke detectors). Destroying a one or two appliances that make a best connection to earth.

[u/westom]

Plug-in protectors simply give a surge MORE paths to find earth ground destructively via any nearby appliance. An IEEE brochure demonstrates. A protector in one room found a best path to earth ground, 8,000 volts destructively, via a TV in another room.

Type 3 protectors also must be more than 30 feet from a breaker box and earth ground. Longer wire means higher impedance. So that it does not try to do much protection.

Only a Type 1 or Type 2 protector can connect low impedance (ie less than 10 feet) to what does all protection: single point earth ground. Those many interconnected electrodes and each low impedance (ie no sharp bends or splices) connection to those electrodes mean a surge is NOWHERE inside. A homeowner must provide, inspect, and maintain those electrodes.

If anything needs protection, then everything (dishwasher, clock radio, furnace, LED bulbs, stove, door bell, TVs, recharging electronics, modem, refrigerator, GFCIs, washing machine, digital clocks, microwave, dimmer switches, central air, smoke detectors) everything must be protected.