[Elecraft] Lightning Protection (was-Re: suggested PC???)

Wed Jan 6 17:07:56 EST 2016

 >> (b)  Install a whole house surge protector at the main breaker
 >> panel.  These are sometimes referred to as Secondary Surge
 >> Protectors. Usually should be installed by a qualified licensed
 >> electrician.

The buzz word for these is "TVSS" (Transient Voltage Surge Suppressor). 
  I recently had one installed at my house when the meter main was replaced.

(Even though we rarely get lightning in this part of California.)

Alan N1AL

On 01/06/2016 01:35 PM, Jim Brown wrote:
> YES!
>
> Another VERY important thing is to NEVER use "MOV surge protectors" on
> branch circuits. They're great at the service entrance, as Bob
> recommends, but they CAUSE equipment damage when used on branch circuit,
> because the MOVs dump the lightning spike onto the Green wire, which
> creates a high voltage spike on the Green wire. That voltage is
> different at every outlet and at every piece of gear, and the difference
> shows up as a common mode voltage between interconnected equipment.
> THAT'S what blows up stuff connected by wired Ethernet.  We discovered
> this the hard way about 25 years ago in the pro audio industry.
>
> The ONLY safe surge protectors on branch circuits (that is, next to
> equipment)  are SERIES MODE protectors. They work by storing the surge
> in a big inductor, then slowly discharging it. They're more expensive,
> but they won't blow up your gear. The only mfrs I know of are Brick
> Wall, Zero Surge, and SurgeX.
>
> Also critical -- bond ALL grounds together, including the shack ground,
> CATV ground, TELCO ground, etc., and back to the power ground.
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
>
>
> On Wed,1/6/2016 11:35 AM, Bob McGraw K4TAX wrote:
>> Two things I've found to be a big deterrent regarding lightning damage:
>>
>> (a) all driven grounds must be bonded back to the AC mains ground and
>> this must be done outside of the house.   I use some 1/2" flexible
>> copper water line as my bonding conductor.  It is trenched around the
>> outside of the foundation about 6" deep from the tower ground and coax
>> lightening protection system back to the AC Mains ground some 50 ft away.
>>
>> (b)  Install a whole house surge protector at the main breaker panel.
>> These are sometimes referred to as Secondary Surge Protectors. Usually
>> should be installed by a qualified licensed electrician.
>>
>> 73
>> Bob, K4TAX
>>
>>
>> On 1/6/2016 11:52 AM, Barry Baines wrote:
>>> Neil:
>>>
>>>
>>>> On Jan 6, 2016, at 8:25 AM, Neil Zampella <neilz at techie.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> FWIW ... I've got everything setup wired in the shack, but
>>>> everything (cable coax, ethernet, power) runs through an
>>>> uninterruptible power supply (ups).   Many of the higher end models
>>>> provide not only power surge protection and battery, but
>>>> lightning/surge protection for coax and ethernet.
>>>
>>> By ‘coax’ do you mean cable TV coax or are you suggesting RF coax for
>>> amateur radio transceivers?  Clearly, UPS surge protection is not
>>> designed for anything on the order that an amateur transmitter (even
>>> QRP) can produce.  Further, UPS devices presume 75 ohm coax systems,
>>> not 50 Ohm as used in amateur radio antennas and transmitters. They
>>> are designed to protect a TV antenna or a cable setup box/cable modem.
>>>
>>> My shack in Georgia was impacted by an indirect hit in 2014 which
>>> damaged computers, amplifiers, ethernet switches, and a myriad of
>>> gear that was ’networked’ in the shack as well as the house, even
>>> though I have Polyphasers on all of my RF cables going into the shack
>>> from the tower with an extensive ground system for lightning surges.
>>> What I didn’t have was adequate protection on my ethernet, coax from
>>> DirecTV, and telco lines in the shack where presumably the surge
>>> entered.  I didn’t want to go wireless on the LAN because I operate
>>> my station remote and wireless connections introduce a potential
>>> failure point that can’t be fixed unless I’m there to reset
>>> something.  Wireless is also slower than wired ethernet.
>>>
>>> My solution was to purchase Ethernet-to-Fiber converters to isolate
>>> my LAN network in the shack from the rest of the LAN in the house as
>>> well as provide isolation from individual components from one
>>> another. Thus, I ran dual 110 ft. fiber from the house to the
>>> hamshack (through existing buried conduit that also carries telco and
>>> DirecTV) that will keep surges from coming into the house through the
>>> ethernet connections from the shack.  I installed switches in the
>>> shack that have both LAN and Fiber so that I could isolate nearby
>>> components from the network in the shack.  I use ethernet-to-fiber
>>> converters with short fiber jumpers to individually isolate my high
>>> end equipment from the network (such as a  Flex-6700 and the
>>> computers in the shack).  These converters have no impact on the
>>> ability of the network to communicate (still 10/100/1000 MB depending
>>> upon the component that it protects).  I consider this an insurance
>>> policy—the cost of the fiber being significantly less than the cost
>>> of replacement of damaged equipment. Each converter has a 5V ‘wall
>>> wart’ which is plugged into a UPS primarily for surge protection but
>>> also keeps the network up in the event of power failure or momentary
>>> power fluctuation.
>>>
>>> I’m still in the process of installing protection for the DirecTV
>>> line coming to the shack as well as the telco lines in the shack.  I
>>> have a central ground panel where I will install the protective
>>> devices for telco and DirecTV by the existing RF surge protectors.
>>> One challenge is finding a lightning protection device for DirecTV as
>>> they feed power through the cable to power the LNB at the dish.  When
>>> I spoke with a DirecTV technician, he had no suggestions on what to
>>> use.  There are devices out there, just need to find them.  I also
>>> have a Speco Technology PTZ analog camera on the tower with 75 ohm
>>> video, 12 VDC power, and RS-485 control lines will also be protected
>>> at the same ground panel.  I’ve found suitable devices for the
>>> camera’s connections.
>>>
>>> AC power is also a concern.  A UPS is adequate for 120 VAC equipment
>>> such as computers and monitors but won’t protect 220 VAC devices such
>>> as high power amplifiers.  I’m still hoping to find a suitable surge
>>> protector designed for 220 VAC systems to plug between my amplifiers
>>> and the 220 VAC wall connection.
>>>
>>>  From an Elecraft perspective, I use fiber-to-ethernet interfaces
>>> between the Remote Rig devices and my network.  Thus, if a surge were
>>> to go from the K3’s RS-232 port to the RemoteRig RCC-1258MKII, the
>>> surge won’t be extended through the Remote Rig to the LAN.  My
>>> KPA-500 is attached to a RC-1216H (which provides a web interface for
>>> controlling the amplifier) which in turn has a ethernet-to-fiber
>>> interface which protects the network from a surge coming through the
>>> RC-1216H.  My KAT-500’s serial line is attached to a Lantronix
>>> Serial-to-Ethernet interface device which in turn is attached to an
>>> ethernet-to-fiber interface.  As my rotor controller RS-232 line is
>>> attached to the same Lantronix box, any surge coming from the rotor
>>> interface will also not go through the LAN network. Thus, there are
>>> no RS-232 line connections directly from my ham equipment to a
>>> computer, providing additional isolation for the computers.  I can’t
>>> say the same thing about USB connections, as some devices such as a
>>> Fun Cube Dongle won’t work if attached to a USB-to-Ethernet
>>> interface.  However, I do use a USB-to-Ethernet device for my
>>> Wavenode WN-2.
>>>
>>> 73,
>>>
>>> Barry Baines, WD4ASW
>>> Westborough, MA
>>> Folkston, GA
>>>
>>>
>>>> Neil Zampella
>>>> KN3ILZ
>>>>
>>>> On 1/5/2016 8:14 PM, Gary K9GS wrote:
>>>>> Hi Jerry,
>>>>>
>>>>> Don't use a wired network.  I had my shack computer on a wired
>>>>> network when I took a lightning hit a couple of years ago.
>>>>>
>>>>> Everything connected on the wired network was zapped (2 PCs,
>>>>> router, modem, K3 RS-232 port, WinKey (connected to one of the
>>>>> PCs), and the Cable TV amplifier located over 150 ft away out by
>>>>> the road.  When I rebuilt everything i went wireless with all of my
>>>>> PCs and have never regretted it.
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>>
>>
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>
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