BlueDusk Posted September 5, 2004 Posted September 5, 2004 Anyone got any thing damaged today in the hailstorm? Any interesting pics/stories? To make it releveant to DBA, my aerial lasted through the storm fine (left the TV on while it was over the electrical storm, digital was a bit jumpy). The 6pm news had shown some areas that looked like it'd snowed . My place wasn't affected that bad, a pic of my street at 10pm: http://img84.exs.cx/img84/2650/hailpan.jpg (stictching's stuffed, CBB to do a manual control point stitch) Winston, BOM: http://img84.exs.cx/img84/3716/hailradar.png
mungo brush Posted September 5, 2004 Posted September 5, 2004 Aren't you supposed to turn off the TV during an electrical storm? Or is that just an old wives tale?
Santa1503559644 Posted September 6, 2004 Posted September 6, 2004 Not old wives. Just common sense! (A few million volts dont mix well with most modern electronics!) Nice storm, though! The deep red centre on the BOM radar image make the point pretty well! (NB: Speaking of storms, I was saying to some mates a few weeks back that GWB would probably have his usual luck, and get a nice Florida hurricane or two... well, that bastard's got The Luck Of The Howard!!)
Timmy Downawell Posted September 6, 2004 Posted September 6, 2004 Nine news described it as a "surprise" hailstorm... did they not notice the big threatening black stormclouds hovering over the city all afternoon? Only got pea-sized hail here in Newtown.
mungo brush Posted September 6, 2004 Posted September 6, 2004 Not old wives. Just common sense! (A few million volts dont mix well with most modern electronics!) No question about that. But I was wondering that it your arial got struck by lightning, and these several million volts came down the cable into your stb etc, would it matter if the TV was on or off?
Adam-O Posted September 6, 2004 Posted September 6, 2004 Not old wives. Just common sense! (A few million volts dont mix well with most modern electronics!) No question about that. But I was wondering that it your arial got struck by lightning, and these several million volts came down the cable into your stb etc, would it matter if the TV was on or off? The best thing to do when there's a serious electrical storm nearby is remove your RF lead(s) and power plug(s) from the wall plates. Only then is your equipment truly isolated. Whether the equipment is currently switched on or off is pretty irrelevant if your antenna or power lines are directly struck by lightning. Many years ago my telephone line was directly (or close to) struck by lightning. Everything connected to the line (even indirectly) was killed. Telephones, modems, a tape deck that was indirectly connected, etc. Cheers, Adam
Santa1503559644 Posted September 6, 2004 Posted September 6, 2004 Voltages in the MV range will jump huge distances (well - just look at the lightning bolt itself!). Not only can it bypass switches, it can jump between completely isolated and independent components. Even the 35KV voltages used deep in CRTs can leap out somewhat(!), and lightning can be a couple of orders of magnitude higher, from memory. At the very least, I always remove the aerial connections if I get the chance when lightning is imminent. (And the power cords of the more important/valuable equipment. Though, the series of fuses, circuit-breakers, and finally UPS will probably do a fair job.)
DrP Posted September 6, 2004 Posted September 6, 2004 Channel 9 is in hell next to Satan. There are ALWAYS black clouds overhead, they wouldn't have thought anything special about it.
datvman Posted September 6, 2004 Posted September 6, 2004 our 34cm phillips tv was struck by lightning in grafton many years ago (antenna was on 22 foot pole, had good reception though). It was stuffed. it got sent to lismore to be fixed, but although it has a nice picture, it just wasn't the new tv it once was
laurie Posted September 6, 2004 Posted September 6, 2004 As an electronic tech in the north{Darwin} we always place an "Sacrificial Antennas"above the aerials we are protecting I never lost one in 20 odd years and the lighting we got up there is a sight to be seen esspecially during the build up to the big wet cheers laurie
Scorchie™ Posted September 6, 2004 Posted September 6, 2004 Yep pretty cool storm. Lightning went down the Foxtel cable and took out the Cable Modem, which in turn took out the network card in the PC. Or something similar. Modem was unplugged from power. Just goes to show, a UPS doesn't save everything
Digicruiser Posted September 6, 2004 Posted September 6, 2004 Ah well, there you go. Anything goes in Sydney, especially with hail dented bmw and volvo cars. Your insurance in Sin City must be sky high with all the damaging hail storms around...
BlueDusk Posted September 9, 2004 Author Posted September 9, 2004 Aren't you supposed to turn off the TV during an electrical storm?Or is that just an old wives tale? Well my view is that, if lightning strikes the aerial or a nearby mains etc it wouldn't really matter if the TV's on/off, anyways, it'd mean a new TV courtesy the insurance company and I can finally get rid of my 10 year old Panny. Not that my stuff's ever been hit. Winston,
datvman Posted September 9, 2004 Posted September 9, 2004 Not that my stuff's ever been hit. Winston, lucky bastard (see above). i have to be careful now, because the antenna extends above the roof, its the highest object within a couple of houses (which have tall trees near them), so it acts as sort of a lightning pod. But, a new digital only antenna would be nice
dvduser Posted September 9, 2004 Posted September 9, 2004 if thunder strikes the aerial or a nearby mains Thunder won't do anything - it's sound
BlueDusk Posted September 9, 2004 Author Posted September 9, 2004 if thunder strikes the aerial or a nearby mains Thunder won't do anything - it's sound Whoops, lol, thanks, fixed up now.
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