The Steel Guitar Forum

Question? What's the best way to protect all our expensive equipment, (amps, effects, pickkups, computers, etc) from lightning and such? I have a power strip, which is not a conditioner, but it says nothing about lightning protection. I've read both pro/con re the power strips which are suppose to do the job but wanted to know what some of you experienced guys use. Since I live in Missouri we have many electrical storms and I just had a Freeloader hit but nothing else in the string of equip.........thanks in advance for your help and suggestions.......clark

Furman makes a rather expensive device that will absorb spikes and boost undervoltages.
Surge protectors less than a hundred bucks are one-shot deals: their protection is sacrificial.

It's lightning. Lightening is quite different! Not a big deal, but I made the same mistake a couple years ago, and my Sister corrected me!
lightening
[lahyt-n-ing]
Spell Syllables
Synonyms Examples Word Origin
noun, Medicine/Medical
1.
the descent of the uterus into the pelvic cavity, occurring toward the end of pregnancy, changing the contour of the abdomen and facilitating breathing by lessening pressure under the diaphragm.
Origin of lightening Expand
1520-15301520-30; lighten2+ -ing1
Can be confused Expand
lightening, lightning.
lighten1
[lahyt-n]
Spell Syllables
verb (used without object)
1.
to become lighter

The safest thing to do is to unplug your equipment (and even that's not 100% safe). Many surge protectors will protect against minor spikes of a few hundreds of volts, but anything close to a direct hit on the AC line can fry anything on the line, even if it's turned off or protected by a high-end suppressor.

The best advice is what Donny mentioned; always unplug when not in use. Also, there is nothing available which can guarantee no damage from a lightning hit; and as Donny has already stated anything close to a direct hit will be almost certainty that some electronics will be fried. I personally had lightning damage to several sensitive electronic stereo components years ago when we had a close proximity discharge in our immediate neighborhood. An immense ESD in your area can cause damage. I always felt as if it must have struck the ground outside the house somewhere, possibly nextdoor. You can spend major bucks trying to insure that you won't be faced with a problem from lightning damage, but the only thing it might buy is a slight amount of piece-of-mind or an insurance policy on the equipment plugged into the protector. Good luck!

A 90 year old ham operator answered this question on the air one day...

"The best way to protect your equipment is to unplug it from the wall and the antenna, pack it in the box, and put it under the bed."

Lots of truth in that, especially the unplugging part.

I will say this, the number one way to get a computer hit by lighting is to leave a dial up modem plugged in... voice of experience here. Lighting hit a pole over 2000 feet away... guess whose computer got hit... MINE!

"Lighting""??? I mean,, I know what you mean, butt,,,,,?

Nah! It's just that I used to make that same mistake.

I drove in a ten foot ground spike for the outlets in my computer room. Not sure if they will help, but I hope so, Had a strike to a Sassafras tree 15 feet from the house some years ago. Took out the tv, but did an interesting thing to my cable box. I suddenly got all the restricted, pay only, programs!

I followed you all the way Georg; it's a sad affliction being an engineer. It's kind of like having perfect pitch. Unfortunately, you know the failure modes of too many things. I did a lot of root cause analysis in my real job. I'm afraid to ride Ferris Wheels and walk on Hotel balconeys (and play things with 3rd string G#'s).

Bill

Tithe more.

Tithe more.