The other night we had a brief loud thunderstorm.Lightning the whole bit I have 3 dogs plus my daugter went on vacation and I have her two,
We lost power from 5pm to 2am.
When the power came on both my new mac mini and my hp media center were fried. I have surge protectors, the monitor is ok, the printer is ok, the laptop is ok even the wireless hub is ok. But the mouse and keyboard got fried also.
Thing is it wasn't electric, it was the cable box outside on the pole, got hit by lightning I lost my digital phone the digital cable box got fried and my computers either because of Road Runner, which is cable modem, or the cable I had plugged into the media center so I could watch tv and record programs. They had to replace most of the wire and all of the ends from my house to the box and they have to come back and change the box on the pole.

I bought the media center at Best Buy and bought the warranty and it covers power surge so I'm covered for that one.
OF course I have lots of backups 4 usb ext. drives all of them are ok.
But they told me there is no surge protector for the cable box. Best Buy said they have gotten a dozen computers in so far with the same problem, and today was a holiday.

Hi Mike,
that's awful.
We had an electrical storm a couple of years back, just came out of the blue.
I usually run around and unplug everything, but it struck before I had a chance.
Ours hit our Foxtel cable box , blew it up, our TV up ( which was running) & surround sound system ( which was switched off) but left in tact our video player which was actually running at the time. All this stuff was connected together.
Also took out my KN7000, but fortunately it didn't do any permanent damage it was fixable via some diagnostics test Technicsplayer explained to me, how to do.

Do surge protectors actually protect against lightning strikes?? For some reason I was under the impression that it was more so for currency fluctuations or if all of a sudden you lose power???

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by

Mike sorry to hear about this.....its always best to get the longest warranty when you buy these things ....its worth it if anything happens. If I hear thunder I disconnect all computers, TVs etc

good luck

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 07-04-2006).]

They make the surge protectors that also have plug ins for telephine/dsl and cable/broadband.
Terry

------------------
jam on,
Terry
http://www.artisans-world.com/

I have a surge protector like that in the recording studio. It covers everything. It was pretty expensive but then again so is the gear it protects. It comes with an insurance policy even
BUT..............I still pull plugs when we get one of our rare lightning storms here on the California coast, because the lightning always hits something
Bebop

I have to agree with Donny get the extended warranty.

Even on a nice day the power gpes out here 4 or 5 times a week usually early morning and only for a minute, jsut enough so that I don't bother with digital clocks or resetting them.
I was going to get a battery backup with a built in surge protector but like I said the kids at Best Buy told me pretty much nothing will help a lighning hit, anyone set me straight on that? I'm still gonna get one but if it doesn't make a big difference maybe I won't spend the big bucks.
I usually pull plugs myself but I never even gave the cable box a second thought.
Thanks

[This message has been edited by mikeathome1 (edited 07-05-2006).]

If you don't mind me asking how expensive are we talking about?

I seem to recall it was about 75.00. a couple few years back.
The name on it is Newport.
Bebop

Folks, there is a product called a lightning arrestor, made by Square D Company, the big electrical conglomerant. I'm sure other majors (Cuttler Hammer and others) also make them. This device attaches to the side of your electrical box (load center). Lightning strikes are divertewd to this attached device before the massive power surge enters the home wiring and starts destroying things.

Greybar electric and other electrical distributoirs have them, but you'd need to be a liscensed electrician or hire one to fool with this kind of installation.

They're really effective...added one to my house when I built it. Surge protectors available at retail outlets simply won't do the trick.


Russ