My poor telescope got zapped!

[Garyh]

Well after our poor little foxie got savaged on xmas day by a big dog and a big vet bill...(shes going very well gladly......) We had a storm come through yesterday arvo with plenty of electrical activity and one huge "pop" which put the power instantly off. Power was back on within a few minutes but on checking everything in the house we discovered one of our ceiling fans didn`t work as well as the VCR.
Really didn`t think there would be a problem with the observatory as the power is always turned off and is isulated from the mains..
Well I was wrong there... Looks like some sort of static charge has come through the scope/pier and stuffed everything connected to it..
If there was more damage we could probally do a insurance job but then the premiums go up etc. My shoestring adaptors are also stuffed and don`t know if the usb ports are working on the PC. but at least that still seems to work..
Looks like no imaging for a while and it was a beautiful night last night as well!
At least the Argo Navis seems to have come through ok and I didn`t leave the 20D connected to the scope like I sometimes do or that would have got zapped as well.
Gary

[h0ughy (David)]

mate that's devastating news....

[Garyh]

Thanks Dave, me and the wife prayed that it blew up our LG HD tv and DVD player. But the lightning strike was closer to the observatory. Bummer.

[dugnsuz (Doug)]

That sucks Gary - hope you can get your rig up and running soon.
All the best
Doug

[Garyh]

Thanks Doug! I suppose it could have been much worse..
I can imagine would would happen if there was a direct strike!

[leon]

Gary that is so bad, terrible news, I hope you can get it up and running soon.
I must keep a check on my own observatory as that is always powered up and ready to go, camera, lappy, you name it

Leon

[Garyh]

Much appreciated Leon!
I always turn the power off when not in use but when the lightening is close I suspect just the magnetic field and static discharge in the vicinity is enough to kill lots of electronics...
cheers Gary

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

that sucks absolute !@#!. I remember being back in darwin about 5 or 6 years ago, and the next door neighbors house got a direct hit with them in it, lucky they didn't get hurt, but absolutely everything in the house that could be affected was. Our house didn't go unscathed , because it was raining the electricity had a free run over. The TV servived, the vcr/dvd got melted, the telephone was funny, the electricity must of run around the outside of the house, and got into the phone line that was running along the brickwork, every 5 - 10 cm the cable was a black mess like mini explosions, it went right out to the phone cable pit melted the whole streets telephone system/phones.... Lucky that didn't happen to you because it could easily have gone right though your ob's melting things left right and center.!

(other thing you could do is say a few extra things where fried! but yeah hehehe

[Ric]

That's a real bummer Gary, hope it's all sorted soon.

I've read quite a few posts on different forums about people having their observatories zapped, It's really quite a scary thought given the cost of equipment and the damage potential.

[Kevnool (Kev)]

Sorry to hear Gary.
I hope the insurance assessor takes a look at it.
Cheers Kev.

[renormalised (Carl)]

What a bummer!!!. There's only so much you can do to isolate your equipment from things like this. I hope you can replace the stuff that got fried.

[danielsun]

That's shocking news Gary. (pardon the pun) I hope you get get it back on track without it costing too much.
I have often been told that you should unplug every thing during an electrical storm but never really heard of it actually happening till now.
Even though we don't get many electrical storm here in Melb I will definitely be unplugging every thing from now on.


Cheers Daniel

[Ian Robinson]

Insurance claim .

Power surge , providing the sparky and the technician puts that was the cause on their written reports .

Bit of luck you'll get a new VCR and a new telescope and new computer gear cf of the insurance company.

Um this is one of the reasons why you paid for insurance is it not , so I'd not hesitate to put in my claim immediately , otherwize , why bother being insured at all.

It's also possible to cover pets under the household policy , we don't have any pets so don't have the need for it as an add on, was your dog covered ?

BTW surge arresting powerboards are not protection from lightning strikes , they are simply overwhelmed by the surge that results , turning power off at the switch is not either as there is still connection for the current to arc across the gap.
Only sure protection is to pull the plug out of the wall.

This is the reason why my permanent observing shed will NOT be connected to the mains , but will be DC powered from batteries , maybe I'll invest in a small portable generator if I need more current.

[Ian Robinson]

Originally Posted by danielsun

That's shocking news Gary. (pardon the pun) I hope you get get it back on track without it costing too much.
I have often been told that you should unplug every thing during an electrical storm but never really heard of it actually happening till now.
Even though we don't get many electrical storm here in Melb I will definitely be unplugging every thing from now on.


Cheers Daniel

It's happened to us, 3 times over the years (the lappy I am using and the desktop were settlements), and the people in the house behind us lost every single item of electrical and electronics one night when their TV antenna took a direct hit (I was looking out the window and saw it hit !!! flukey !!! , they had to replace all their white goods, the hotwater service, microwave , some TVs and VCRs and computers and HiFi , cost the insurance company thousands.

I now unplug the computers from the wall when I hear thunder nearby. Not that I wouldn't like a new desktop or lappy , just I want to protect my HDDs.

[AstralTraveller (David)]

Gary,

So sorry to hear the bad news. At least no one was hurt. I hope insurance covers it all and you're imaging again real soon.

[Ric]

Just wondering with an Observatory, is there any type of protection in the way of shielding etc that we can employ against lightning strikes to protect your scope. I'm thinking of things like rubber matting on the floor or under the plate on the pier etc.

I was reading a meteorological report on my area produced by the BoM and it suggests that we are rated as higher than normal when it comes to lightning strikes

I intend to run my Obs on solar power so I'll be protected against electrical surges.

Cheers

[Ian Robinson]

Originally Posted by Ric

Just wondering with an Observatory, is there any type of protection in the way of shielding etc that we can employ against lightning strikes to protect your scope. I'm thinking of things like rubber matting on the floor or under the plate on the pier etc.

I was reading a meteorological report on my area produced by the BoM and it suggests that we are rated as higher than normal when it comes to lightning strikes

I intend to run my Obs on solar power so I'll be protected against electrical surges.

Cheers

A lightning rod that's well earthed planted nearby will only protect from direct lightning strikes.

More than likely problem came as massive transient surge down the power lines from a lightning strike somewhere in the neighbourhood (could have been hundreds of metres away).

[Garyh]

Originally Posted by Ian Robinson

Insurance claim .

Power surge , providing the sparky and the technician puts that was the cause on their written reports .

Bit of luck you'll get a new VCR and a new telescope and new computer gear cf of the insurance company.

Um this is one of the reasons why you paid for insurance is it not , so I'd not hesitate to put in my claim immediately , otherwize , why bother being insured at all.

It's also possible to cover pets under the household policy , we don't have any pets so don't have the need for it as an add on, was your dog covered ?

BTW surge arresting powerboards are not protection from lightning strikes , they are simply overwhelmed by the surge that results , turning power off at the switch is not either as there is still connection for the current to arc across the gap.
Only sure protection is to pull the plug out of the wall.

This is the reason why my permanent observing shed will NOT be connected to the mains , but will be DC powered from batteries , maybe I'll invest in a small portable generator if I need more current.

No pet insurance on our policy but that might be a good idea?

Well there was no surge through the mains, more like a electromagnetic induced spike from the nearby strike. Everything plugged in the mains in the obs was fine, well except the house. VCR up and running with a new fuse but the ceiling fan (IR remote unit was toasted) and have put in a new fan this arvo.

I remember a few years back at my other property there was a big storm and I was leaning against my aluminum caravan when lightning struck a tree a few hundred metres away and boy did I get a shock from the van! Made my arm tingle for some time afterwards. Killed the Caravan fridge but! Strange stuff is that lightning in what it kills and what it misses..

Ric,
I think you might be better off having a good earth stake maybe connected to the observatory roof (if metal) to take it to ground and have good foil insulation also grounded?.
Also have those earth leakage breakers and a surge board. I don`t think you can do much more than that? but they are all quiet useless with a direct strike..

Thanks guys for your thoughts...

[Ian Robinson]

Originally Posted by Garyh

No pet insurance on our policy but that might be a good idea?

Well there was no surge through the mains, more like a electromagnetic induced spike from the nearby strike. Everything plugged in the mains in the obs was fine, well except the house. VCR up and running with a new fuse but the ceiling fan (IR remote unit was toasted) and have put in a new fan this arvo.

I remember a few years back at my other property there was a big storm and I was leaning against my aluminum caravan when lightning struck a tree a few hundred metres away and boy did I get a shock from the van! Made my arm tingle for some time afterwards. Killed the Caravan fridge but! Strange stuff is that lightning in what it kills and what it misses..

Ric,
I think you might be better off having a good earth stake maybe connected to the observatory roof (if metal) to take it to ground and have good foil insulation also grounded?.
Also have those earth leakage breakers and a surge board. I don`t think you can do much more than that? but they are all quiet useless with a direct strike..

Thanks guys for your thoughts...

I had a similar experience once when fishing on Nobby's for jewy when a violent storm cell passed overhead - lightning zapping everywhere , so I laid the rod down while sheltering with a couple other fishos under the big wooden beakon tower , and sat next to rod with the line between my fingers , there was a lightning strike in the water in front of me only about 30m away , scared the crap out of me and I got a jolt of current up the line - felt like someone had hit me on the ends of the fingers with a hammer. Dropped the line quick smart.

Yes a nearby lightning strike can produce strong induced transients in metal and other conductors. Can also do nasty things to sensitive electronic circuits too.

Not sure what practical measures you can take to prevent induced transients in the field though. Been a while since I did that course (Elec3230) and not sure where Betz's lecture notes are.
I vaguely remember that snubbers and clamp circuits are beneficial in protecting against such transients. The problem is large induced transient inductive currents in stray loops in the circuits which is what damaged your stuff I think (not a lot you can do there - it's to do with the actual geometry and layout of the circuit).

[Garyh]

30m away would scare the c*** out of anyone! thats a close call!
I always check the radar loop at BOM and I notice the around Norah head and Lake Macquarie seem to have some severe storms.
Had a few nasty ones come through today actually and had to do some unplugging..