Caveat Fulgur

We're in the middle of the monsoon season here in Arizona. Thunderstorms are created quickly and leave just as quickly. Most of the time, they're no threat to us or our equipment. Most of the time. Two weeks ago, standing in our porch/sunroom that doubles as our digital darkroom, I was blinded by a bright, white flash of light and deafened by a loud BANG, gone in a millisecond. Strangely, I never felt a thing. After the obligatory WTF comments, I looked around to see if there was any damage, and all the equipment looked OK.

Wrong.

Checking out all our gear, I found the we had lost: 1 computer, 1 scanner (a new Epson Perfection 850V), 1 printer, our DSL modem, and 3 cordless phones. We spent the next couple of weeks replacing/repairing things (the scanner was under warranty, Epson replaced it for free). We also learned a lesson: When the thunder rumbles, turn everything in the digital darkroom off and unplug it, even from the phone lines, even if you think the storm is too far away to be a problem. Mother nature does have a sense of humor.

Agreed William.

Phone lines seem particularly susceptible to lightning/ionisation strikes.

My only losses in the past have been a couple of dial-up modems (yes, it was that long ago). And not even a flash or bang to show that the line fuses had been open-circuited. After the first modem got popped I endeavoured to unplug everything if there was a threat of an electrical storm, but the last time I was caught out away on a day trip and came home to another blown modem.

I've tried to resist being a fuddy-duddy that pulls all the plugs and patrols the house 3 times before bed with a checklist, but protecting your digital data these days is pretty vital.

My greatest concert is damage to the cell phone/camera/laptop I'm holding at the time

Funny - my greatest concern would be damage to me ! I'm irreplaceable - or at least not worth spending money repairing.

Sandy, everything I had was plugged into APC battery backups/surge protectors. The APC units survived, but some of the equipment plugged into them did not. To be fair, most of the gear was also connected to other cables - USB, DSL, phone lines, etc., so the damage could have come from anywhere.

Tony, funny you should mention that. When the strike hit, I was standing near most of that gear, and I would swear the lightning strike was just outside the window where I was standing. Flash/bang, and the lights went out. For a second, I thought I was back in Vietnam. But, I never felt a thing. That's as close as I ever want to get...

Sandy, everything I had was plugged into APC battery backups/surge protectors. The APC units survived, but some of the equipment plugged into them did not. To be fair, most of the gear was also connected to other cables - USB, DSL, phone lines, etc., so the damage could have come from anywhere.

I guess the APC guarantee should have a caveat that for their device to work during a lightning storm all interconnected cables need to be detached from devices not directly connected to the surge protector. But then what's the point of doing that when one can just unplug everything as you've indicated?

Thanks for posting this, William. I learned something about the surge protector industry.

I have one of those Power Sentry Maximum Surge Noise Protection strips. When I hear thunder, I just unplug my Epson printer's USB cable, and display & Ethernet cables from my MacMini. My AT&T DSL modem is covered by the company and has its own backup battery.