Lightning blew my Sky+ HD box :(

netwhizkid

As per the title, just after watching Jedward on X-Factor, (maybe god was punishing me):( There was a power surge which saw the room light up purple and the power go off for half a second. It blew my Sky+ HD box and the LNB in the dish as I tried my old Sky+ box and it got no signal and my high def box picked up nothing when I tried it at my sisters house also.

How can I get Sky to replace it as I will have to cancel the €47/ month if I have to shell out for a new box as having to pay €400 for a new High def box will be a killer. I only got the box in June and got it for €99. (€49 for box + €50 install). The funny thing was I had the pc and laptop, the xbox and DVD all plugged in but it only took down the Sky+ HD box.

I reckon that the damage is not great as it gets the Sky Welcome channel but then resets and loses all signal but gets the time and stuff and enough signal to validate the card allowing to play back recorded stuff.

Have I got any recourse with the ESB? The quality of my power line is pretty crap and outages happen a few times a year, and I remember as a child lightning blew a brand new smashing Phillips 21" Tv which cost around £300 in the early nineties to atoms.

John mac

your house insurance will cover it.

it covered my pc a few years ago.

lugha

netwhizkid wrote: »

The funny thing was I had the pc and laptop, the xbox and DVD all plugged in but it only took down the Sky+ HD box.

I would be guessing that the lightning hit your dish and got your sky box via the cable.
(Memo to me: See if it is possible to put surge protection on a coaxial)

slave1

your house insurance will cover it

Excess will not make it worthwhile most likely.....

enfant terrible

netwhizkid wrote: »

As per the title, just after watching Jedward on X-Factor, (maybe god was punishing me):( There was a power surge which saw the room light up purple and the power go off for half a second. It blew my Sky+ HD box and the LNB in the dish as I tried my old Sky+ box and it got no signal and my high def box picked up nothing when I tried it at my sisters house also.

How can I get Sky to replace it as I will have to cancel the €47/ month if I have to shell out for a new box as having to pay €400 for a new High def box will be a killer. I only got the box in June and got it for €99. (€49 for box + €50 install). The funny thing was I had the pc and laptop, the xbox and DVD all plugged in but it only took down the Sky+ HD box.

I reckon that the damage is not great as it gets the Sky Welcome channel but then resets and loses all signal but gets the time and stuff and enough signal to validate the card allowing to play back recorded stuff.

Have I got any recourse with the ESB? The quality of my power line is pretty crap and outages happen a few times a year, and I remember as a child lightning blew a brand new smashing Phillips 21" Tv which cost around £300 in the early nineties to atoms.

Just ring sky and say your hd box is not working anymore don't say anything about the lightning.

I think they charge 65 euro for a call out fee but they should fix everything for that price and get you going again.

netwhizkid

enfant terrible wrote: »

Just ring sky and say your hd box is not working anymore don't say anything about the lightning.

I think they charge 65 euro for a call out fee but they should fix everything for that price and get you going again.

I rang sky and they are not doing anything for me as I got it through a "Sky Agent" so I must ring them tomorrow and see, I haven't mentioned the Lightning and won't because if I do I will be screwed I'd say! It also blew the LNB and my dish is 9 years old and beginning to deteriorate with corrosion, I wonder what are my chances of getting this replaced in the same callout?

snaps

netwhizkid wrote: »

I rang sky and they are not doing anything for me as I got it through a "Sky Agent" so I must ring them tomorrow and see, I haven't mentioned the Lightning and won't because if I do I will be screwed I'd say! It also blew the LNB and my dish is 9 years old and beginning to deteriorate with corrosion, I wonder what are my chances of getting this replaced in the same callout?

That doesnt sound right, are you paying your subs to the sky agent as well????!!!!

You should get a new dish if its faulty.

waster81

where you located? If the sky agent aint any help try ebay or adverts, have seen them for €150. That might be a cheaper option.

netwhizkid

snaps wrote: »

That doesnt sound right, are you paying your subs to the sky agent as well????!!!!

You should get a new dish if its faulty.

No, I pay €47/month to Sky direct for the 6 mix Sky pack and High-def. I am located in County Kerry and got ordinary Sky in originally through "Kerry Satellite Systems" who are subcontractors for Muskerry Satellite Systems in Ballincollig.

A year later I then got in Sky+ direct from Sky and got this in the same time they dropped the Sky+ fee in June 2007.

This summer I got in Sky High Def from Muskerry Satellite Systems as Sky had given me a 6 week wait time when there was a big take-up during the €99 offer for box & install.

Sky wouldn't guarantee me a pace box also as of Muskerry would, Sky were notorious for dumping the old Thomson crappy box on customers also so I went with Muskerry.

I have dealt with Muskerry before and they were grand so I will give them a ring during the week and as according to Sky they have the service contract I am sure they will probably sort it out.

Wizard007

Whether it's Sky Direct or a Sky agent, you are guaranteed for twelve months and the box should be replaced for free as it "has a problem" within that time and no service call charge. I'm sure they will sort you out ok. Ask them about replacing the dish and lnb, the lnb should have been changed anyway when you got the upgrade as the agent is supplied with a quad for every HD upgrade.

Darth Maul

lugha wrote: »

I would be guessing that the lightning hit your dish and got your sky box via the cable.
(Memo to me: See if it is possible to put surge protection on a coaxial)

NOT POSSIBLE unlikely as the dish and the cable are not connected, the LNB is in a plastic housing the is fixed to the dish with a plastic connection, so no connection there at all.

Most likely is was a power surge through the power lines or as is 99% of the cases the telephone line, usually this also wipes out the LNB also, but have seen it only affecting the used connections on the LNB, so try changing the connections around on the LNB.

I now advise all my non multiroom customers to unplug the phone line.

Just tell SKY that you want to cancel and see where that gets you.

netwhizkid

It was disconnected from the phone line and when the lightning struck the power went out for practically a millisecond and it was like someone turned off and on the lights really quick. The surge came in through the power supply.

enfant terrible

netwhizkid wrote: »

I rang sky and they are not doing anything for me as I got it through a "Sky Agent" so I must ring them tomorrow and see, I haven't mentioned the Lightning and won't because if I do I will be screwed I'd say! It also blew the LNB and my dish is 9 years old and beginning to deteriorate with corrosion, I wonder what are my chances of getting this replaced in the same callout?

If the Sky Agent won't fix everything for free just ring back sky and say your box is not working and they should fix everything for the call out fee charge, around 60 euro I think

Wizard007

Wizard007 wrote: »

Whether it's Sky Direct or a Sky agent, you are guaranteed for twelve months and the box should be replaced for free as it "has a problem" within that time and no service call charge. I'm sure they will sort you out ok. Ask them about replacing the dish and lnb, the lnb should have been changed anyway when you got the upgrade as the agent is supplied with a quad for every HD upgrade.

Lightning damage wouldn't be grounds for warranty service.

I'd also suspect it may have been through the phone line. Did the whole house's power go off when the surge hit? If it were through the power line I'd assume there would be other appliances damaged.

Wizard007

Karsini wrote: »

Lightning damage wouldn't be grounds for warranty service.

No $hit Sherlock :rolleyes:

Read back over the thread

netwhizkid

Karsini wrote: »

Lightning damage wouldn't be grounds for warranty service.

I'd also suspect it may have been through the phone line. Did the whole house's power go off when the surge hit? If it were through the power line I'd assume there would be other appliances damaged.

The whole house and half the parish had the power fail for literally half a second which probably saw a surge go through. The Sky box is disconnected from the phoneline so that had nothing to do with it.

Incidentally I managed to salvage the box today, I reset the power supply and the 22Khz command to off and back to on and the Box is working fine now. The LNB is fecked though and I took Dual output LNB I got with the Lidl Satellite Kit a while back and bodged it onto the dish arm with some black tape as it dosen't fit the LNB cradle. My signal is still towards 80% and I am glad at least the box wasn't blown as I had a lot of stuff recorded and unwatched.

I will just order a new Sky Quad LNB now instead of just going to the bother as when I tried Muskerry today there was no reply. After that I figured I might swap out the LNB and get Sky to pair up my old Sky+ box with the viewing card to tide me over and I got a lovely surprise when I came down off the ladder to check signal and my Sky+ HD box was working!

John mac

Glad to hear it.

Wizard007

Nice one netwhizkid