afraid of lightening now

ganutenator

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ganutenator
Join Date
May 2002
Location
kansas
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1,440
lightning (i realized my spelling mistake, clicked edit. but it won't let me edit the subject spelling) strike at one of the car washes.

anyone else? anyone successful at protecting equipment?

lost two 212 25hp drives (only the modbus port it seems), an m340 (only the modbus port it seems), only the banner receiver pe's, not the emitters, the pay station outputs, the att router, the router behind that (not the phoenix switch - are they that awesome, or did the two upstream routers fall on the sword in time), the spot free system, the ethernet card on the hmi pc, the back up power supply, et al.

in hind sight, should have run the ethernet through the ups (but even then, they only rate that protection at a lower rating than ACTUAL LIGHTNING!)

thoughts, concerns, cigarettes?
 
Last edited:
There are no guarantees when it comes to lightening damage, but beefing up the grounding system offers the best protection, in my experience. The best that you can do is to effectively dissipate the energy.
 
if only i could have protected the devices on the modbus communication network i would have save a ton of money. anyone know or heard of a modbus surge protector?
 
ganutenator said:
if only i could have protected the devices on the modbus communication network i would have save a ton of money. anyone know or heard of a modbus surge protector?
Click to expand...

I recently added a signal isolator for this exact reason. The CPU at one site has been replaced twice due to lightning damage to the serial port. It is controlling two well pumps via RS-485 with Modbus protocol and one of them is 800' away so that buried line probably picked up the discharge from the storm.

I don't know if it will work or not, but a $120 isolator is cheaper and easier to swap than a CPU module.

https://www.commfront.com/products/...solator-repeater-converter?variant=9208600963
 
OkiePC said:
I recently added a signal isolator for this exact reason. The CPU at one site has been replaced twice due to lightning damage to the serial port. It is controlling two well pumps via RS-485 with Modbus protocol and one of them is 800' away so that buried line probably picked up the discharge from the storm.

I don't know if it will work or not, but a $120 isolator is cheaper and easier to swap than a CPU module.

https://www.commfront.com/products/...solator-repeater-converter?variant=9208600963
Click to expand...

thanks for the advice. will try.
 
I will mention a company named Delta Lightning Arrestors (www.deltala.com) as an option. My solar PV system came with their arrestors on the DC side, and when I looked into them in more detail I purchased a whole-house "surge capacitor" and a lightning arrestor for the AC side. It was all less than $100 on Amazon, which very will could have been a waste of money... not that I have lost anything from an electrical surge; just maybe a false sense of security.
 
Mispeld said:
I will mention a company named Delta Lightning Arrestors (www.deltala.com) as an option. My solar PV system came with their arrestors on the DC side, and when I looked into them in more detail I purchased a whole-house "surge capacitor" and a lightning arrestor for the AC side. It was all less than $100 on Amazon, which very will could have been a waste of money... not that I have lost anything from an electrical surge; just maybe a false sense of security.
Click to expand...

i take birth control for the same exact reason. can never be too cautious.
 
Isolation, Isolation, Isolation. As much as possible to separate critical devices from the mains.

Isolation transformers, surge suppressors, intermediate power supplies can all help.

Your building should also have a whole-facility lightning grounding system; usually at least POINTED conductive rods surrounding the roof spaced at most 40 feet apart, all bonded together, with multiple bonds to actual ground rods.

Of course, if equipment has been damaged from a lightning strike, well, that is what insurance is for. Turn the claim over to your insurance company.
 
rdrast said:
Isolation, Isolation, Isolation. As much as possible to separate critical devices from the mains.

Isolation transformers, surge suppressors, intermediate power supplies can all help.

Your building should also have a whole-facility lightning grounding system; usually at least POINTED conductive rods surrounding the roof spaced at most 40 feet apart, all bonded together, with multiple bonds to actual ground rods.

Of course, if equipment has been damaged from a lightning strike, well, that is what insurance is for. Turn the claim over to your insurance company.
Click to expand...

actually had the insurance talk w/ the customer. he explained to me how a 10k increase in premiums would be a bad move. i went homer simpson duh. i'm stupid in such matter.

if i could only protect the modbus ports i would be golden. can't seem to find much information on this.
 
apparently lightning likes his parent's house. they tried everything, and still had to carry an on fire tv out the living room. he told me so many stories i started to blame the victim. what did your dad do to **** off god? i know he jewish, but what else?
 
I used products from this brand before: https://www.dehn.co.uk/en-gb/lightning-protection-guide

I think their isolators cover pretty much all type of protocol there is and the actual protector sits on a base like a relay, so it's fairly simple to replace if you get hit.

I had a few problems with lightning strikes before... the worst one took out 16 absolute encoders... We had 6 in stock and were promptly replaced only to be burnt the next day.

After that me and a colleague did a survey on the lightning protection installed the year prior and found interesting stuff... like lightning rods clamped to paint. After those were fixed and a few more grounding points added we didn't get hit again.
 
ganutenator said:
actually had the insurance talk w/ the customer. he explained to me how a 10k increase in premiums would be a bad move. i went homer simpson duh. i'm stupid in such matter.

if i could only protect the modbus ports i would be golden. can't seem to find much information on this.
Click to expand...

You can protect your comm ports and power circuits against spikes with surge suppressors and isolators. I see that some posters have already provided links for such surge protection. That said, a direct hit from a lightning strike is a different issue altogether.

Back in the early 1980s, I was doing a project in the Atlanta, Georgia area and we had 3 metal motor control center buildings installed on-site with PLC/IO cabinets in each one of them. After taking direct strikes during a lightning storm, most of the PLC equipment was damaged, in spite of the fact that not a single wire had yet been landed in any of the cabinets.
 

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