How is the best secure way to protect your computer from lightening

jtiernan

I have heard of two people that the computer's mobo got fried from surge comin in from via the dialup modem but who had the computer up in the attic! Does any1 know why this (the attic) and what is the best protection that can be purchased?

mickoneill30

The best way is to plug out the cables during a storm. Not very practical though. Have a look in somewhere like PC World. They sell surge protectors that protect your PC from spikes through the mains supply or phone lines. Some of them guarantee your equipment up to a certain cost so if you do get a surge they'll pay for the cost of replacement (I'm sure there are terms and conditions though). Having the PC in the attic makes no difference unless the lightning comes through a skylight and hits your PC and if that happens no amount of surge protection will help

Zapho

Doesn't really matter where it is in the house, if its connected directly to the phone line and lightening strikes it, you can say goodbye PC. It happened to me once, but luckily it just fried the modem, and the rest of the PC was ok. Any good surge protector also included a phoneline protector too, so just go into PC world or something and ask for one that protects mains and phoneline surges and you should be fine.

qwertz

What lightning are you referring to, direct or indirect?

If you refer to direct ligntning then the PC will be your smallest problem because you will have to buy a new roof.

For indirect lightning simply get one of these surge protectors. Don't get the very cheap ones, spend a reasonable amount!

gamer

plug out modem cable when going on hols,or when theres thunder /lightning.you can get earthing rod for roof, goes to eartht rod in ground,or plate in ground ,connected by thin copper wire.

ScumLord

Put it under a tree or on top of your car.

Anti

mickoneill30 wrote:

The best way is to plug out the cables during a storm. Not very practical though. Have a look in somewhere like PC World. They sell surge protectors that protect your PC from spikes through the mains supply or phone lines. Some of them guarantee your equipment up to a certain cost so if you do get a surge they'll pay for the cost of replacement (I'm sure there are terms and conditions though). Having the PC in the attic makes no difference unless the lightning comes through a skylight and hits your PC and if that happens no amount of surge protection will help

Pcworld do infact sell these, they are made by Belkin have 4 plugs and rj11 and rj45 ports. they cost 19.99 and guarantee you for upto €80,000 worth of equipment connected to them.

Ruu_Old

A surge protector won't save you (it will help during small power surges, but will degrade overtime), best thing to do is plug all the cables from the mains and the phone line from your modem. A surge protector is not a bad idea all the same but won't help you from lightning.

hobie

get a power surge protector that also includes a telephone line protection element, by all means ......

but, .....

in the event of a lightning storm turn every thing off .... unplug everything and take the gal in your life out for the day/evening ..... it's the only real protection

I know ...... we had a desperate lightning storm last september ..... it blew my Pc into another world depite being turned off (but still plugged in) .... oh, and it cost me a grand to replace

Anti

hobie wrote:

get a power surge protector that also includes a telephone line protection element, by all means ......

but, .....

in the event of a lightning storm turn every thing off .... unplug everything and take the gal in your life out for the day/evening ..... it's the only real protection

I know ...... we had a desperate lightning storm last september ..... it blew my Pc into another world depite being turned off (but still plugged in) .... oh, and it cost me a grand to replace

the saying once bitten twice shy comes to mind

qwertz

Sorry, should have been clearer. That's what I meant, one of the expensive ones. You can also get one installed in your ESB box (by a certified electrician only!).

Ruu wrote:

A surge protector won't save you (it will help during small power surges, but will degrade overtime), best thing to do is plug all the cables from the mains and the phone line from your modem. A surge protector is not a bad idea all the same but won't help you from lightning.

Ruu_Old

qwertz wrote:

Sorry, should have been clearer. That's what I meant, one of the expensive ones. You can also get one installed in your ESB box (by a certified electrician only!).

There should indeed be some sort of surge protection on the phone boxes (on the telephone poles that have the wire to your house connected) afaik. I don't think there was one at ours but we were getting the phone wire buried at the time. An uncle of mine who is a sparky told me that it should be protected.

lucernarian

Ruu wrote:

A surge protector won't save you (it will help during small power surges, but will degrade overtime), best thing to do is plug all the cables from the mains and the phone line from your modem. A surge protector is not a bad idea all the same but won't help you from lightning.

Amen to that. My modem was protected by a 15 month old modem surge protector but I needn't have bothered... A telephone pole about 150 metres away got a direct hit and the surge through the line simply shorted out the wires/PCB tracks within the device. Luckily the motherboard remained intact.

They can protect against as many amps or joules as they like, but if the voltage is above about 5kV then they are simply shorted out. I took apart the device and I could make out the path the electricity took through the device from scorch marks.

Eircom's 10 line white junction boxes found on poles have surge protection, as do the slightly older TÉ equivalents. The single line junction boxes that have an eircom or TÉ stamp on them also have surge protection AFAIK.

If the junction box is hit by lightning however, the lines will remain dead until a new box is fitted. And eircom do not have a great reputation for punctuation.

Plugging out stuff, even surge protected stuff, is the only sure way.

SeanW

I concur with the above posts: get a good surge surpressor but just to be safe plug out your stuff when you aren't using it.