Brisbane Lightning Storm

[Tandum]

Did anyone else get hit in the storm this morning?

We got struck around 11am and I've only just worked up a list of the obviously blown gear. 2 computers, 4 big monitors, 4 x powerline network adapters, wireless modem router, 8 port switch, 2 x 50 inch plus tv's, 2 x av receivers, an xbox, a ps3, the garage door opener and of all things the ducted vacum system.

Luckily, I just had to reset the motherboard in the dome, everything else in there looks ok.

:help:

[marki]

Bugger, hope you have a good insurance.

Mark

[Astro_Bot]

Sorry to hear that. You're not that far from me, but I slept through it. Didn't even know it was going on!

[DavidTrap]

Yikes!!!!

Sorry to hear you've lost all that. How did your dome stand up - the wind was certainly brisk on the Northside.

DT

[allan gould]

I was going to take a photo of the storm over the observatory but I was too busy shutting windows and getting things battened down. Then had to get the dogs inside and at one stage the rain was horizontal with a cracker of a wind. Checked out the observatory after it had blown itself out and nothing amiss and no rain entered.
Robin, so sorry to hear about all your equipment in the house. Just hope the insurance will cover it all.
Allan

[Tandum]

No problems with the dome but the misses looked up RACQ insurance and there seems to be a lightning strike clause limiting their liability to $10K. We are unsure if that is for computer equipment claims only or total claims. The 2 tv's and amps will come close to $6K on their own. Not sure if the sub woofers are still working yet, only just got a modem and a couple of computers going. I had a couple of old 19" monitors in the junk, every other monitor and tv in the place has popped. :rolleyes:

There was a loud crack and flash of light from inside the house when it hit. We have just noticed the battery clock in the kitchen has also stopped working at 11:10, coincidence? :)

[Shark Bait]

That is rotten luck. It must have been one mighty surge. I hope the insurance company looks after you.

More storms are on the way tonight and tomorrow. Time to disconnect the power and hold on tight.

[Astro_Bot]

When I moved up from Sydney a couple of years ago, and knowing a bit about the storms here, I invested heavily in UPS's and surge protection. Almost everything (I think everything (edit: electronic that is) except my clock radio) is protected.

The DSE surge boards have a pretty good lifetime guarantee for protected equipment.

[brian nordstrom]

:sadeyes: Sorry to hear of this Robin , I got hit ( computer , TV , microwave and phones all got fried ) a few years ago when I first moved to Darwin , we get awsomely powerful electrical storms up here as well , I now , by habbit unplug everything in the house when one is brewing close by .;) .
Major POWER!!! or what ?
Good luck with the insurance .
Brian.

[FlashDrive]

Sorry to hear about your plight Robin :( .... terrible ...especially unforgiving for electronics ..,..' EMF 'is not good for this sort of gear.

Awhile back ..I to lost a Modem/Router to an electrical storm ...wasn't home at the time.

As I type this....I can hear ' thunder ' off in the distance ... and if it looks anything like coming my way .... everything will be switched ' off ' and unplugged from the power socket.

Chin up Mate ....let's hope contents insurance will come to the rescue ..!!

Flash ..!!

[Tandum]

Cheers guys, we still need to run the washer/dryer to make sure they can still do a full cycle and we need to wait for off peak power to kickin to see if that brand new hot water system has been hit. But it looks like it's just electronics have have been zapped. Oh yeah, all the telephones are knackered..

I have already found Samsung 60" LED TV's for under $1400, WooHooo :)

[brian nordstrom]

;) Great price , see things are looking up already .
Brian .

[Shark Bait]

Here we go again. Time to shut down until the next storm passes.

[RickS]

Sorry to hear about all the damage, Robin! Hope your insurer comes to the party. It's worth pushing them hard. A friend of mine got an ex gratia payment for some lightning damaged gear by just being a huge PITA after being told he wasn't covered.

At our previous house we had a strike on a palm tree 2 metres from the eaves. It took out an AV receiver (and hollowed out the tree trunk) but everything else was OK. Fortunately, our insurance policy at the time did provide coverage. The next year they changed the wording and we wouldn't have been successful with the same claim.

Cheers,
Rick.

[jjjnettie]

:( that's rotten bad luck Robin.

[Forgey]

Sorry to hear that Robin, hope your insurance helps your out

[troypiggo]

Ouch, sounds like you copped it pretty bad :( We had all of the noise, wind, rain, lightning, thunder, even hail! But fortunately none of the lightning damage, and there aren't many tall trees to cause issues near us.

My little 2.5 year old was pretty scared. He's never seen anything like it and he was clinging to me like one of those clip-on koalas. Took him to the window to show him it's nothing to worry about, just a bit of light and sound, and just then a bloody huge fork of lighting covered the sky right where we were looking and a huge clap of thunder same time. It was close. He clung on even tighter and started shaking. That kinda backfired on me :(

[ozstronomer]

Robin, sorry to hear about your storm problems, it certainly came in hard. Next suburb over was blacked out for a while.

Hope the Insurance comes to the party and you can get up and running again quickly

Cheers Geoff

[Baddad]

Hi Robin,
Its never any good to hear of damage like that. I know what its like, having eperienced it myself some years ago.

The battery powered clock may have been damaged by the strong electro-magnetic surge of the strike. Little solid-state components will often fail if they are not inside a metal cabinet.

Also check all the electronic boards (in the dome particularly). What you are looking for is if any of the small electrolytic capacitors have expanded. The end swells from heating of the electrolyte, causing expansion. Its very slight but will later become worse and eventually leads to failure of the board.

I had it happen to me. After a lightning strike. The computer motherboard had most of the capacitors slightly swollen. It still ran for a year, then failed.

Upon investigation I found its common after lightning damage to other appliances but the computer appears okay for a while, eventually stopping.

[pmrid]

G'day Robin,
sympathies all 'round. I'll bet you're not alone in this - not that this would be much consolation.
We were slammed by the follow-up storm last night and it was the wildest lightning show I can recall - ever and 80mm of rain in a couple of hours. Scay stuff - particularly for the dog which is now cowering under my desk shivering like a leaf at every distant rumble of thunder.
Let me know if I can hep in any way.
Peter

[Tandum]

RACQ have the claim now, about $10K worth by the looks, and an assessor will ring this week to arrange a visit. They told me to replace essential items now so I'll go get some telephones and a garage door lifter I think. The neighbours lost computers in the strike so it's not just us.

It's still the power of three's pete. Hot Water, Dishwasher and now this :rolleyes:

I got the media center sort of going and found a working input to one TV so we can watch Fringe later today :)

[Astro_Bot]

Good advice about delayed failure.

For electrolytic capacitors, that capacitor swelling often happens with age as well, so not necessarily due to a surge/lightning strike. Swelling doesn't seem to affect performance - at least I've not yet seen it - but they can then burst or leak at which point the capacitor fails. There may be little evidence of leakage (you might have to look hard for it) but a burst capacitor can go with a pop and some smoke - quite spectacular if you see it ... well spectacular as far as solid-state electronics goes! One of my old motherboards (Compaq) even has two burst electrolytic capacitors but still works alright. I just have to put up with a slight burning smell whenever I power it up. :)

[RobF]

Sorry to hear Robin.
Certainly a wake up call for the rest of us. I pulled the computer right out last night, but must get in the habit of going further around the house!

[Tandum]

Sounds like a plan Rob, but if your not home your stuffed. Even the battery wall clocks froze after the strike here :rolleyes:

All this gear was connected through various brands of surge protector type power boards. All those boards got blown as well :P

But, I found I can get these Upsonic Power Surge Boards (http://www.upsonic.com.au/surge-protection.php) for about $30 from my wholesaler which is a pretty good price. If anyone in Brisbane wants one while I'm ordering, PM me. I'll get them next week after the loss assesment people have been here. You'll have to pick up from Carindale if you want one.

Oh, and even this one working household computer isn't right. It can't get a connection through a secure RDP gateway to go but a virtual machine running within it can. So even though they appear to be working, there are still problems on the inside.

[LewisM]

On the SUnny Coast it was not too bad. Beautiful display of lightning.

Sunday was the corker though - 4 in a row! The third missed us JUST (was about 1 km away). Managed to get some photos of wave clouds, lenticulars, troughs and towering CB's in the setting sunlight. Was a beautiful, humbling sight.

Sorry for your issues. Know them al too well, having been hit by a VERY freak mini-tornado about 15 years ago. Our back shed ended up about 2 KM away (it was dynabolted down!), and lost a LOT of hobby items, and my VERY oldrefractor given to me by my grandfather (my first scope). A dog landed in the neighbours pool - VERY much alive and well - and his tag showed he had whistled through the air for a good 500 metres or so!