Sumertime Lightning and 4DTV

[oldsatdude]

They say you have a better chance of getting hit by lightning than winning the lottery. So far I haven't won the lottery, but we did get hit by lightning for the first time on the c-band dish and the 4DTV today.
After coming in the door just ahead of an approaching thunderstorm, we had to turn off the A/C and the TV as the lightning strikes were so close and the power was surging. My 4DTV was off, but as the power surged the front panel kept coming on in Chinese, then going to warm up over and over.
So..... as I waited out the storm, we had several "close" lightning hits and I said "I hope everything is OK". Later, when it was safe, I turned on the TV and the local channels were good. Next.......the 4DTV lit up but no pix.......nothing, not even a menu. Man, a true lightning hit. Took out the LNB. As I unbolted the LNB, I could smell the burnt electronics, then back to the TV, still no pix. Then I remembered the IF splitter in the attic so I ventured up there and found the back plate of the splitter blown off. I bypassed it with a coax splice and came down to find the pix was back and working fine.
WOW! In all the years. You just never know! WHEN! It's your turn to take a hit! Lightning, that is!

While I was outside working on the dish, I heard a generator running at the house behind me. The one with the pizza dish on it. Later on I noticed the power truck "on scene" on the next street over. Somebody got a little closer to that lightning strike than I did!

 

[tvropro]

Your lucky that it wasn't worse. Mother Nature can rear its ugly head quite a bit in storms. I wonder if the house with the pizza dish had well done pizza for dinner. :

 

[lonewolf454]

I lost a LNB on my (then) 2 year old mesh dish to lightning. Sometimes you learn the hard way. With all the crazy weather we have nowadays, I have everything electronic on a surge protector and or UPS. If we are home and storm comes up, we unplug alarm clocks, cordless phone, microwave, etc. Most of this crap is SMT micro sized components and they will not take surges at all, unplug or protect is only option. Be thankful the splitter didn't start a fire!

 

[sergei]

Besides having UPS and surge protectors for my equipment I've added a spike arrestor to each LNB/LNBF and to each receiver for added protection, between 100-130+ straight line winds earlier this month and intense thunderstorms it just seems mother nature is in a really bad mood.

 

[oldsatdude]

Sergei, you mentioned the high winds, and I have had a good blow here too. Three Hurricanes in 2004 and 2005 blew for hours on end but not a bit of damage as we put the dish on T-4 and rode out the storms. The old 4DTV would move the dish back to G-1 over night and a lot of people forgot about that and never checked to see where the dish was positioned. If you have a chance to check your dish prior to a high wind storm, set it to the highest satellite over your head and pull the plug to prevent surges and automatic changes. The high wind passes over the dish and is less surface to blow against. Even X-4 is a good one.

When Mother Nature is really pissed, she can ruin your day when you turn on the TV and nothing is there. Especially when you are paid up!

Surge protectors are not a guarantee as I have removed many "cooked by lightning" units and realized that when you get a direct hit, the stuff is no match for the super high voltage of lightning. Even the stuff unplugged from the wall can still be hit. Less likely though.

 

[osu1991]

I have been tech support all afternoon for my family members,after the storms we had the past few days. A tree on the golf course in the division where my dad lives took a strike. Between it and the surges his surround receiver has something fried now, as all the hdmi inputs go black with the HDCP kicking in. The only input that still passes hdmi is his media player, the satellite and blu ray go blank. I had to pull all the cables out and rewire directly to the TV. Luckily the surround chip still works, so he can still use it for sound till he decides on a new one. Water has been blowing sideways in these storms the last two days and I think water got in the one phone outlet I didn't install at my sisters house. The shorted phone line was causing all sorts of problems everything connected to a landline.

 

[oldsatdude]

Wow, you had a day to remember alright. Sounds like your dad needs to contact the homeowners insurance company.
I think the new TV's and electronics are more sensitive to the lightning strikes as the hit may not be anywhere near you but somehow still affects the equipment. I have also noticed the surge companies have not built anything that you would connect the HDMI cable to before plugging in to the TV set. Like the coax from the LNB would go to the surge protector and then to the receiver. The channel 3 out of the receiver would go to the surge protector and then to the TV. They don't have that set up for the HDMI cables. YET!

 

[Corrado]

It burst the capacitors on my central AC compressor and ruined the digital electric KWH meter here also back in 2007.

 

[truckracer]

i have replaced dead capacitors on central ac units after lightening storms. common problem with lightening strikes and power problems.

 

[nicknjen]

I lost my DSR-410 and my AZ box just a couple of weeks ago to lightning. It took out the TV, my HK receiver, Blueray player, and the LNB on the fixed dish for the DSR-410 and the LNB on the Birdview for the AZ box. The LNB power supply is junk in the AZ Box and the DSR-410 is totaly fried. So now I have to save up for a new AZ box and find another DSR-410 or 922 cheap! I have everything on a surge protector and a battery backup but I am pretty sure it came in on one of the dishes.

 

[Anony55]

...I have everything on a surge protector and a battery backup but I am pretty sure it came in on one of the dishes.

Panamax makes a surge protector that will protect 2 LNBs as well as power & phone. They even make an optional "+8" that you can clip onto the end of the main surge protector. The +8 will protect the 8 wires going to a BUD (3 for servo, 5 for motor).

No protection is 100%. A few years back, I lost the Ku side of my 922 that was hooked up to this setup, but it saved everything else. This setup isn't cheap, but neither is a lightning strike.

Cheers

 

[sergei]

I lost my DSR-410 and my AZ box just a couple of weeks ago to lightning. It took out the TV, my HK receiver, Blueray player, and the LNB on the fixed dish for the DSR-410 and the LNB on the Birdview for the AZ box. The LNB power supply is junk in the AZ Box and the DSR-410 is totaly fried. So now I have to save up for a new AZ box and find another DSR-410 or 922 cheap! I have everything on a surge protector and a battery backup but I am pretty sure it came in on one of the dishes.

More than likely the surge came in on your dish cables and of course a lot just depends on how you've ground your system to get the maximum protection.

 

[oldsatdude]

I lost my DSR-410 and my AZ box just a couple of weeks ago to lightning. It took out the TV, my HK receiver, Blueray player, and the LNB on the fixed dish for the DSR-410 and the LNB on the Birdview for the AZ box. The LNB power supply is junk in the AZ Box and the DSR-410 is totaly fried. So now I have to save up for a new AZ box and find another DSR-410 or 922 cheap! I have everything on a surge protector and a battery backup but I am pretty sure it came in on one of the dishes.

WOW, that was indeed a big hit. Sounds like the A/C power and the dish were a part of the loop of lightning. I think mother nature is pissed off and we are in the way! Even grounding can be a problem as we have expierenced a difference of potential when driving seperate ground rods at the dish and connecting cables. The ideal ground is the one at the meter but the dish is never close by and copper wire is very expensive.

You may want to look at craigs list as people are giving away the equipment and the dish just to get rid of it.
Good luck!