surge or lightining arrestor

Dear,

I have a control cabinet that send wireless signals to a remote system. this cabinet is powered from a solar panel. It is located in Dubai. do you think it needs lightning arrestors or surge protection for the wireless modem.
this cabinet is connected to solinst data logger which are already protected from surge.

http://www.solinst.com/Text/textprod/9100text.html

thanks!

charbel

Charbel, Whether or not you need lightning protection depends on the frequency of thunderstorms and lightning in that area. Also the cost of the equipment is a factor.

For expensive equipment, some lightning rods with large cables connecting to a good ground system may be cheaper than replacing the equipment after a large lightning strike. Strikes can produce a million volts and thousands of amps of current searching for the path of least resistance to the earth.

The best lightning protection system (overhead grids on poles are used in military ammunition manufacturing and storage) is one where the lighting current is intercepted before it hits the facility. If you use rods, route the cables away from your cabinet.

According to Wikipedia, lightning and thunderstorms don't sound too common.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Dubai