UPS sufficient protection from lightning strike?

[nojohnny101]

What is everyone's opinion about lightning strikes and protecting against them.

You can see from my sig below I have my main FreeNAS box and my Backup FreeNAS box both behind their own APC BR1000G.

My question is to what extent do these UPSs protect from surges due to lightning strikes (direct or close)? If they don't, what do people on here do? Do you have external commercial "surge protectors" installed by the utility company (can't remember if I read on here or another place about someone going that route instead of UPSs)?

Would like your thoughts about protecting from this possible but rare situation. I started thinking about this after we had a very powerful storm roll directly overhead and we lost power for 4 seconds but it seems the UPS handled it.

 

[Mirfster]

If this is the model you have, then it does also contain surge protection:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0038ZTZ3W/?tag=ozlp-20

I have a whole house surge protector (along with other stuff at the outlets), that is wired into my panel. Can't recall the exact model right now, but it is similar to this.

 

[wblock]

Many just have MOVs, and the dirty secret about MOVs is that they degrade over time as they absorb the energy of small spikes.

If it's a serious problem, consider a whole-house system. Ask the seller if it has GDTs. And make sure everything goes through it, including the incoming cable or Ethernet. In the old days, a lot of people had their systems zapped through dialup modems.

There might be a high-quality surge suppressor that could be plugged in upstream of the UPS. I don't know. The Isobar units used to have a good reputation, but I don't know what was in them, or even if they are still around.

 

[tvsjr]

So, here's the reality of lightning protection... places like tower sites and major industry spend a LOT of money trying to protect against lightning. Purpose-built facilities, major ground busses with everything attached as it enters/leaves the building, arrays of ground rods (or chemically enhanced grounds), and more. Google Motorola R56 for some good examples.

If you take a direct strike, or a strike on a line feeding the house (power, cable, phone, etc.), you're not going to protect against that. Doesn't matter how many fancy surge suppressors you buy.

 

[Jay629]

I guess if your circuit has something exposed outside and it was stroked, everything will just blow til all the energy is used up to cook the protections..
If something on the pole of the city grid or so, just ground everything, and make sure that the power supply or the device that has surge suppression has a proper grounding..
Higher joule rating + beefier copper grounding cable may help..

should be good enough :)

as mentioned by tvsjr in the previous post
if that still isn't good enough, don't know if anything else economical enough to obtain
just make another physically separated copy of the date LOL

 

[Bidule0hm]

So, here's the reality of lightning protection... places like tower sites and major industry spend a LOT of money trying to protect against lightning. Purpose-built facilities, major ground busses with everything attached as it enters/leaves the building, arrays of ground rods (or chemically enhanced grounds), and more. Google Motorola R56 for some good examples.

If you take a direct strike, or a strike on a line feeding the house (power, cable, phone, etc.), you're not going to protect against that. Doesn't matter how many fancy surge suppressors you buy.

Hmm... faraday cage + galvanic isolation (optic fiber, ...) of anything that goes in or out, problem solved, you're welcome :)

 

[Spearfoot]

What is everyone's opinion about lightning strikes and protecting against them.

Pray... and follow @Bidule0hm's advice.

 

[nojohnny101]

If you take a direct strike, or a strike on a line feeding the house (power, cable, phone, etc.), you're not going to protect against that. Doesn't matter how many fancy surge suppressors you buy.

thanks, this is really what I was asking.

following that, best advice of all?

Pray... and follow @Bidule0hm's advice.

that's funny. while I'm at it I think I'll just go with a fully sub-terrain bunker built within a faraday cage. :p

thanks guys/gals.

 

[tvsjr]

Hmm... faraday cage + galvanic isolation (optic fiber, ...) of anything that goes in or out, problem solved, you're welcome :)

Figure out how to transfer electricity over fiber and you'll be rich :D

 

[Bidule0hm]

Figure out how to transfer electricity over fiber and you'll be rich :D

Well, you just need a big lamp and a big solar panel, problem solved, you're welcome :)

 

[nojohnny101]

Well, you just need a big lamp and a big solar panel, problem solved, you're welcome :)

:D

 

[Stux]

Well, you just need a big lamp and a big solar panel, problem solved, you're welcome :)

Isn't that basically what an optical isolator is?

 

[Bidule0hm]

You mean an optocoupler? No, they're using a LED and a phototransistor; however there was very old optocouplers who used a mini solar panel but that's deprecated now.

 

[sremick]

All surge suppressors are are insurance/armor... not an absolute guarantee. Think about what lightning is: up to 1 billion volts traveling through miles of open air. Magic circuitry inside of some box in your house is only going to do so much depending on how close the strike is.

If there's a lightning storm, unplug.