[Boatanchors] AC Line Protection for Boatanchors

[Walt - WB2VSJ]

Hi Bill,

I see you are in Smithfield, NC.  I'm over here in Apex and yes, you and I
have had some doozies of t-storms come thru lately!

Both Rob and W4AWM have the great advice.  I'll third that with unplug,
unplug UNPLUG!   Can you rig up something so that the line plugs are easily
accessible vs down  behind a desk?  If you are worried about stress on some
of the older cords, buy the short extension cords, plug your BA into that
and then use that to plug/unplug.

Boat anchors don't have the latent failures nearly as bad as modern
appliances do due to a localized lightning strike..  I'll bet you a cold 807
that you'll start seeing your DVD player/Answering machine, etc start to act
up within a few months.

Growing up as a kid we always unplugged the TV and disconnected the 300Ohm
Twin lead" alligator" connector when we heard a storm coming.  The TV
antenna was out in the back yard on a small hill.

Cheers,

Walt -WB2VSJ

-----Original Message-----
From: boatanchors-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:boatanchors-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Rob Atkinson
Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2010 8:53 PM
To: Bill Stewart
Cc: boatanchors
Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] AC Line Protection for Boatanchors

Bill,

I unplug.  Yes it is inconvenient but what happened to you is even less
convenient.  Unplugging for me is somewhat seasonal.  I don't do it as much
in winter.  In summer everything is unplugged unless I'm at home all day or
operating and the wx looks okay, which around here this summer has been just
a few days unfortunately.

I also use surge protectors but they are not for lightning so much as a
power grid breakdown, and sudden return of service before I can get to
everything to shut it all off.

I use two types, a whole house s.p. that sits at the service entrance next
to the panel inside, and "point of service" units (i.e. you plug
them into an outlet and plug the load into them).   I don't remember
the make and model of the whole house unit, sorry about that, but the
vendors/manufacturers of the pos units are Price Wheeler (brand name
Brick Wall) for 120 v. and ICE for 240 v.   You can get to the ICE
product line  through www.arraysolutions.com.  Price Wheeler:
http://www.Brickwall.com.  These are high quality products, not the consumer
grade power strips sold at Best Buy etc.  They may be available used on eBay
though.  The high priced protectors I use on expensive and discontinued
solid state stuff; for the tube gear I simply unplug them.

73

Rob
K5UJ



On Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 7:14 PM, Bill Stewart <cwopr at embarqmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> We recently had a pretty 'hot' thunder storm come thru the area with a lot
of lightning. During the storm, we heard a loud pop in the area of the brkr
box and the ham shack. No brkrs were tripped or anything damaged...at least
haven't found anything in the house yet...but I do notice a slight tinge of
blue color along the bottom of the shack tv...emp??
>
>
>
> Today I went out to Studio B (out in the back yard) and noticed a brkr
tripped. I flipped it back on and heard a loud 'thunk' around the HQ-150. I
checked all the xmtrs and the rcvr thu a lamp and the dreaded low-input-
voltage glow occurred with the HQ-150. The fuse looks to be in tact, so I'm
hoping the ac switch has shorted and not the xformer. I also noticed the
Heath line voltage meter was dead....later found a blown-up resistor and
diode.
>
>
>
> What this is leading up to is this: do you guys use these surge protected
power strips on your boatanchors? I know the best way is to unplug, but
that's not too convenient. It would seem they would work pretty well. Since
they are designed mostly for solid state loads, I would think the reaction
time would be pretty quick. Any comments pro or con, brands, specs and any
experiences with their use on boatanchors would be appreciated.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> 73 de Bill K4JYS
>