[olug] One Point Twenty-One Jigawatts

Wed May 14 12:11:25 UTC 2003

With that, you are right.  Nothing will stop lightening on a direct hit except unplugging your systems.  I have neither the time nor patience to do that everytime there is a thunderstorm in Nebraska.  I attack the risk in the best way I can and hope that I don't have to take the surge suppression/UPS companies up on their guarantees.

Craig Wolf
Linux Web Server Support
Backup Supervisor
Desktop/Network Specialist
402-894-6283

>>> vincentr at cox.net 5/14/2003 >>>
I agree with what everyone said (very good advice), but no one addressed Joe's question.  There is no protection from Lightning that
may strike your home, or near enough to enter your house.

Surge protectors and UPS will protect you from surges, spikes and brown-outs, but would do no nothing against lightning.  Lightning
is just too powerful and will arc across any blown fuse.
I was in a house struck by lightning once and saw it arc from one power outlet to another across the room.  If it'll arc 30+ feet,
that 1cm fuse won't be a problem and forget about "paths of least resistance" too!

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jon H. Larsen" <relayer at omahadirect.net>
To: "Omaha Linux User Group" <olug at olug.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2003 11:36 AM
Subject: Re: [olug] One Point Twenty-One Jigawatts

> Maybe this could be a OLUG meeting subject?  I don't mind discussing it at
> the next meeting...(did I just volunteer?)
>
> One thing to remember about Surge Supression is that the supressor you
> buy is only as good as the power runs in your house.  A prerequisite
> for a Surge Supresser is a properly gounded three-prong outlet.  For about
> $5 to $7 bucks, you can pick up an outlet tester at Menards.  This is a
> standard item in my toolkit.  Very useful for Lan Parties.
>
> Plug it into the outlet you plan to put your UPS/Supressor on - there is
> usually three lights on the end, with instructions on how to read the
> lights printed on the side.  If the outlet tests anything beyond normal,
> don't use it, you may be sorry (most likely No Ground, or Hot Neutral).
> Also, Two-prong outlets are not considered safe.  These are non-grounded
> plugs, don't trust an adapter.  Also, if you have a house with a mix of
> two-prong and three-prong, chances are the three-prong outlets were
> installed to avoid the use of a three-prong to two-prong adapter.  Best
> bet, always test your outlets.
>
> Putting Surge Supression on an AC power line is only part of the picture.
> Telephone, Cat-5, and RG-6 (coax cable) all need protection, as any one of
> them plugs directly into your PC.  These are often overlooked items. The
> APC BackUPS Office has Phone/Cat5 protection.  Having Surge Supression on
> your cable/satellite coax lines is essential if you have a Home theatre
> system, which often has more investment values than some PC setups.
>
> I do not remember if the Whole-House surge supression covers Telephone,
> CAT5, Coax runs.  Spending a little money in these areas will save you
> later.  Does anyone have whole-house suppression from OPPD?  What fee do
> you pay per month for the service?  Installation?
>
> A good habit to get into is to check your surge supressors after each
> electrical storm.  You never know if any of them have been hit.  Check the
> LED status.  A medium to high-end supressors, you will usually have a
> "Protection" status LED - if this is not on, replace the supressor, as it
> has done it's duty.
>
> Surge Supressors with higher Joules ratings are always better.
>
> Underground wiring will help with some surge situations.  I moved last
> December to a subdivision that has underground wiring -
> we lost power around 4 AM on Sunday May 4th.  I saw
> the light from a few OPPD trucks inspecting the above-ground lines in my
> area (120th and Military) - power was back on about 30 minutes later.
> I know it was May 4th because I had to re-program my VCR to record the
> F1 race at 6:30 AM.
>
> I have several APC UPS units at home.  My main unit, APC SmartUPS 900, is
> a bit older, but still works great.  I followed the directions from the NUT
> site to build my own APC cable using a couple DB-9 plugs and a Cat-5
> cable.  Using PowerChute, I can have my PC shut down automatically after a
> given amount of time.  I have a small APC BackUPS 300 for my cable modem
> and router.  The smaller current draw allows the 300 to stay up longer.
>
> NUT is the Network UPS Tools.  I believe you can have one host monitor the
> UPS through the signal cable, and notify other hosts on the same UPS to
> shut down.  Very handy for multi-host environments on one UPS.
>
> Check it out:
> http://www.exploits.org/nut/ 
>
> If you want the extreme in surge supression, check out PolyPhaser corp.
> http://www.polyphaser.com 
>
> Check out their Engineering Notes area (LAN, Phone, equipment rack,
> roof-top grounding):
> http://www.polyphaser.com/ppc_pen_home.asp 
>
> Jon L.
>
> On Tue, 13 May 2003, Joe Catanzaro wrote:
>
> > Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 09:39:13 -0500
> > From: Joe Catanzaro <joecatanzaro at cox.net>
> > Reply-To: Omaha Linux User Group <olug at olug.org>
> > To: olug at olug.org 
> > Subject: [olug] One Point Twenty-One Jigawatts
> >
> > I didn't grow up in a place that has lots of lightning like the Mid-west,
> > so I have several questions regarding best practices for lightning and
> > computers. Just like many of you, I have about 6 computers running 24/7 and
> > would like to prevent the loss of data and fried hardware as much as
> > possible. And bear with me here, I'm not very smart when it comes to
> > lightning strikes.
> >
> > When a storm rolls in, do you turn off the computer? Rely on a cheap surge
> > protector? Rely on an expensive surge protector? Unplug everything?
> >
> > How does the lightning get to my computer? Does it strike the power pole in
> > the back ally and then travel through the circuits in my house? Or does it
> > hit my house directly?
> >
> > Are lightning strikes common and is it worth getting that OPPD "whole house
> > surge protection?"
> >
> > I grew up in Hawaii and the last thing we were concerned with was a bolt of
> > lightning.
> >
> >
> >
> > Joe Catanzaro
> > joecatanzaro at cox.net 
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > OLUG mailing list
> > OLUG at olug.org 
> > http://lists.olug.org/mailman/listinfo/olug 
> >
>
> -- 
>  [ Jon H. Larsen  - email: relayer at omahadirect dot net         ]
>  [ ICQ#: 10412618 - http://www.animesunday.org/jonl               ]
>  [ PGP Pubkey - http://www.animesunday.org/jonl/relayerpubkey.txt ]
>  [ OpenOffice.org - Freedom at Work - http://www.openoffice.org   ]
>
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