Proper lightning protection is indeed possible, but usually outside the expenditure that the average homeowner is willing to invest.

Polyphasor protection is used on commercial gear, to include radio and tv transmission sites, towers that attract lighrning all the time, direct hits, and safely dissipating the lightning strikes while protecting antennas, transmission lines and transmitting gear.


When Polyphasor belonged to its originator, "Dr. Lightning" - he built the company up by offering the "no questions asked" full replacement of any gear that was damaged or destroyed by lightning that was protected by his proprietary systems. The only provision was that the polyphasor system had to be installed in strict accordance with their engineering instructions.

To my knowledge, he never had to make good on that guarantee. A good thing, too, for Polyphasor was used to protect that gimongously high powered 100,000 Watt television transmitter site down in Florida.

A typical transmission tower, ground-mounted or on top of a tall building, represents a serious lightning rod and lightning attractor, yet the properly installed setup can take the hits 24/7/365 without the transmitter even going off the air.

Since it is possible to protect all that from strikes, it is certainly possible to protect your home. All horror stories from the unprotected/improperly protected aside, that is.

In the home, at least for US power installations, it is essential that the main power box be grounded directly bonded to the 8 foot or longer grounding rod installation, also essential for that grounding to be inspected periodically for any signs of deterioration. All other grounds, including telephone, should be bonded to that same single point or all protection bets are off.

Ironically, it is typically not the amount of power from the initial strike that damages electronic equipments, it is the backwards flow of DC current that happens AFTER the initial strike completes and the magnetic field that it generated around all of the associated wiring falls, generating a current in the opposite direction on all those conductors. Of course, that whole event might only last a few hundred milliSeconds, but the sheer amount of voltage that back pulse can rise to is what damages things like semiconductor junctions in your gear.

All of the recording gear, including any pcs, connected to power via a good quality UPS system with surge protection, connected to good power line with good ground can go a long way in preventing lightning or power surge damages to your gear, whether that gear is powered on or off at the time. Yes, semiconductor junctions inside gear that isn't turned on can still be destroyed by lightning strike if not protected properly.


--Mac

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