Lightning does crazy things.

[thestaton]

We had a huge storm roll through the area, and a huge bolt of lightning hit some where in the vicinity of our house. It knocked out both AM-21's, HDMI Out port on my onkyo reciever, hdmi 1 in port on my vizio, and roughed up the coax pretty good. But I wanted to write this just so I could brag about D*'s great service. I called on sunday evening, and they had a professional / very knowledge tech at my house this morning.

D* is now drop shipping a few new AM-21s and I'm hoping my insurance can cover the receiver / tv.

I guess I need to redo the grounding, and see if I can't make it better.

[Mertzen]

2 things:

They are replacing the AM21s under the PP? I was pretty sure sine they are owned accessories they aren't covered.

Grounding won't help with lightning

[dave29]

PP covers basically everything. Receivers, remotes, cable, dish, AM21, multiswitches, etc.

[ThomasM]

I learned a few things about lightning over the years....

1. So-called "spike protectors" are worthless if the power line suffers a direct hit. Any electronics connected to it will be fried so UNPLUG the stuff you value during severe thunderstorms!

2. Grounding helps but what a lot of people don't think of is that their DirecTV equipment is connected to a PHONE LINE or INTERNET CONNECTION (cable/DSL). If lightning hits the phone line or cable line, their receiver will likely be fried as the jolt finds it way to ground.

I always UNPLUG my valuable electronic eqpt. during thunderstorms and I disconnect my phone line at the interface in the basement. Be safe!

[thestaton]

2 things:

They are replacing the AM21s under the PP? I was pretty sure sine they are owned accessories they aren't covered.

Grounding won't help with lightning

oh, it wasn't easy. no one that works for D* has a clue what a AM21 is... you just have to call and call, then when you finally get someone who knows what they are, just cross your fingers.

I don't think it's normally covered under the PP, but they are taking care of it regardless.

[David MacLeod]

oh, it wasn't easy. no one that works for D* has a clue what a AM21 is... you just have to call and call, then when you finally get someone who knows what they are, just cross your fingers.
.

you got that right, last time I ordered one (nov 08) I got told it was 199$. huh?? yes the HR21 is 199..no I want AM21...there is no such thing sir...I hung up and tried again later.

[Matt9876]

Have seen a lot of sever lightning damage this year,only the devices connected to Panamax power strips seemed to survive the hit.

The power strips were toast but most of the connected units still worked.

One house was cracked from the roof down to the foundation and everything not connected to a surge suppression strip exploded into pieces.

In one garage the wires were hanging down as if they had been cut.:eek2:

[Sartori]

I learned a few things about lightning over the years....

1. So-called "spike protectors" are worthless if the power line suffers a direct hit. Any electronics connected to it will be fried so UNPLUG the stuff you value during severe thunderstorms!

2. Grounding helps but what a lot of people don't think of is that their DirecTV equipment is connected to a PHONE LINE or INTERNET CONNECTION (cable/DSL). If lightning hits the phone line or cable line, their receiver will likely be fried as the jolt finds it way to ground.

I always UNPLUG my valuable electronic eqpt. during thunderstorms and I disconnect my phone line at the interface in the basement. Be safe!

Pretty hard to do if your at work.....

[barryb]

We lost our wells "save a pump" module last month due to a strike.

Happy as heck we put that unit in place!

[spartanstew]

I always UNPLUG my valuable electronic eqpt. during thunderstorms and I disconnect my phone line at the interface in the basement. Be safe!

I know that's probably the right thing to do, but at my house that would probably take me 30 minutes and I'd be doing it a few times per week.

[randyk47]

You do what you can do but I don't run around unplugging everything in the house. As Spartanstew commented, it would take me probably 30 minutes or more. In this part of Texas, though we're in a drought right now, these storms come up quickly and instantly so much of the time there isn't any warning. If you get hit then you get hit and all you can hope is the house doesn't catch fire. Except for the unplugging routine I don't put much trust, though I have them, for my surge protectors holding out in a direct hit.

[Chris Blount]

I agree with the other Texas guys. By the time I finish unplugging everything, the storm would be over.

I stopped doing that over 12 years ago and haven't lost anything major (knock on wood). Everything important is on a surge protected power strip/UPS and my home owners insurance will take care of the rest if something happens.

I honestly think that the chances of having lighning damage vs the time it takes to unplug everything before each storm simply isn't worth it. Even in places with frequent electrical storms, the odds are probably 100000:1 that something will happen to your stuff.

[texasbrit]

Add me to the Texas group. Sometimes we get several lightning storms in a few hours. No way could I go round and unplug equipment. If you get hit in one of these storms you really get hit, not much you can do about it. My DVRs are all on UPS and that of course does not provide protection against a strike but it does protect the disks against the multiple power interruptions we can get over a period of several seconds. Before I installed UPS, had two disk crashes during storms. Since then (two years ago), none.
Just FYI, in one of our storms earlier this year three houses within a mile were struck by lightning, one burned to the ground!

[WestDC]

I have all my Stuff ,TV ,setBoxes , A/V & amps,Cable modem, Local Internet,computers all connected to UPS -Surge protectors are only good for one save and you won't know when that happened until the next one when it fries your equipment.

[Sartori]

Say, one other thing, for all you guys that have buried lines and your own transformer by your meter pole......There is a fuse in there that blows if there is a direct strike on your line.....

[thestaton]

Just a tip to those of you using UPS, Battery Back ups. Everything I own that is of value is behind a UPS. But that didn't stop the coax from wrecking havoc.

Is there a way to regulate the coax when it comes into the house? Kind of like an external lightning protector?

[WestDC]

Just a tip to those of you using UPS, Battery Back ups. Everything I own that is of value is behind a UPS. But that didn't stop the coax from wrecking havoc.

Is there a way to regulate the coax when it comes into the house? Kind of like an external lightning protector?

Only proctection is Ground drain from the grounding block at the dish, If Power (voltage) runs through that it = Direct Hit which won't save anything.

The only other would be to pass your Coax through a UPS connection or Surge protechtion , but once and that's done. SO your either unlucky, or lucky :D

[thestaton]

Not only did the lightning take out both AM-21s, it also took out the rear USB port on the receivers as well.

Stuff is crazy.

[wildbill129]

There are also these. I had one on my antenna when it was on the roof in my old house. Can't tell you if they work or not, but since it was so cheap I gave it a try...

http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?prod=SE-1K