Topic: Station 722 down permanently

[Maumelle Weather]

Hi Folks,

Sorry for the delayed post. On Friday, June 5, at around 7:10 pm CDT, I experienced a huge electrical power surge. It took out the lightning detector completely. I was in my storage shed at the time about to mow grass when this happened. It melted the Apple power supply I was using and made it start smoldering. This made the controller spark and start smoldering. If I had not been in there, I would have lost the storage building to fire and possible my house also, considering there is 30+ gallons of gas in the building. Nor were these the only things fried. I also lost the Apple Airport Express I was using as the wireless connection for the detector, a timer which was connected to a pedestal fan to keep the Express from over heating, the circulating pump for the pool, a 6 year old 42" Plasma TV, both my iPhone and iPad (which is the reason there aren't any pics), in addition to several other things.

I have spoken with several of my neighbors and they are reporting similar issues with their electronic devices. How we all managed to not have a fire is a blessing.

I am fortunate that the computers and the Davis console were not affected from what I can tell. All of those were plugged into UPS's, of which I have new ones ordered.

Needless to say, I am not a happy camper currently. I will wait for System Blue to arrive and try again.

John

[Cutty Sark Sailor]

John, you've sure had your share of bad luck the last couple of years... contact EGON... he may have a system or two left.  You're one of the pioneers here, in Americas, and I'm sure we'll help anyway we can as individuals... PM or Email me, through WxForum or Sferics.us, and you have my personal,  and we'll get it rolling if possible.
 Mike

[Jáchym]

Hi Folks,

Sorry for the delayed post. On Friday, June 5, at around 7:10 pm CDT, I experienced a huge electrical power surge. It took out the lightning detector completely. I was in my storage shed at the time about to mow grass when this happened. It melted the Apple power supply I was using and made it start smoldering. This made the controller spark and start smoldering. If I had not been in there, I would have lost the storage building to fire and possible my house also, considering there is 30+ gallons of gas in the building. Nor were these the only things fried. I also lost the Apple Airport Express I was using as the wireless connection for the detector, a timer which was connected to a pedestal fan to keep the Express from over heating, the circulating pump for the pool, a 6 year old 42" Plasma TV, both my iPhone and iPad (which is the reason there aren't any pics), in addition to several other things.

I have spoken with several of my neighbors and they are reporting similar issues with their electronic devices. How we all managed to not have a fire is a blessing.

I am fortunate that the computers and the Davis console were not affected from what I can tell. All of those were plugged into UPS's, of which I have new ones ordered.

Needless to say, I am not a happy camper currently. I will wait for System Blue to arrive and try again.

John

Oh, Im really sorry to hear that and on one hand these surely are huge losses, on the other hand, as you mentioned it could have been much worse...

Im just wondering though, can you not claim this from some insurance company? Or at least the company that supplies you electricity? Obviously it was not just you affected and it was their fault.

[va3mw]

John

So sorry to hear about that.

If you like, I can try to see if I can get it functional again.  I am pretty good at debugging to the component level.  I've been doing it for a few decades especially if you are just going to trash it.

Mike

[Jáchym]

Just off-topic, John I was looking at your website, it is really really nice, the only thing, some of the pages dont seem to work and through either the not found error or some other errors. In particular, I tried for example the links or weather calculators under the historical tab.

[Aardvark]

My electrician installed a whole house surge protector which should take care of everything not connected to my UPS with surge protection.  I suggest it. there is one  thing to remember, the surge protectors for the house act as a sponge and over time  all the little things will cause them to fail. However the one I have comes with a replacement warranty and that will help with the appliances, Tv and so forth.

Our computers all have our own UPS, Cyberpower is what i use now. I have mine and the wife has hers.    Next time get one of those protectors for your house and your electronics.

[Jáchym]

Yes, but can you not claim the damages from the electricity supply company? Or are you meant to have one of these protectors?

[miraculon]

Hi Folks,

Sorry for the delayed post. On Friday, June 5, at around 7:10 pm CDT, I experienced a huge electrical power surge. It took out the lightning detector completely. I was in my storage shed at the time about to mow grass when this happened. It melted the Apple power supply I was using and made it start smoldering. This made the controller spark and start smoldering. If I had not been in there, I would have lost the storage building to fire and possible my house also, considering there is 30+ gallons of gas in the building. Nor were these the only things fried. I also lost the Apple Airport Express I was using as the wireless connection for the detector, a timer which was connected to a pedestal fan to keep the Express from over heating, the circulating pump for the pool, a 6 year old 42" Plasma TV, both my iPhone and iPad (which is the reason there aren't any pics), in addition to several other things.

I have spoken with several of my neighbors and they are reporting similar issues with their electronic devices. How we all managed to not have a fire is a blessing.

I am fortunate that the computers and the Davis console were not affected from what I can tell. All of those were plugged into UPS's, of which I have new ones ordered.

Needless to say, I am not a happy camper currently. I will wait for System Blue to arrive and try again.

John

John, see my response on sferics.us.

Greg H.

[Aardvark]

Yes, but can you not claim the damages from the electricity supply company? Or are you meant to have one of these protectors?

The company I have  will pay 35K in damages should their unit fail for the house.  Each of the UPS do have a warranty on their own.  Now the EMF from a lightining strike,  I think we are on our own.

[schwab]

Your fellow station colleagues in Rochester MN and Peoria IL are sorry to learn about this...We hope there's a solution to get you back up and running soon.

[Maumelle Weather]

Hi Folks,

Thanks for the words of encouragement.

To Jachym:  Based on what the neighbors had told me, this isn't the first this has happened, but its been several years since the last incident. The prior owner did not have anything like a household surge protector installed. I may look into one. Also in dealing with the electrical company, based on what the neighbors have said, I would stand a better chance of selling some ocean front property in Arizona than getting any financial assistance from them. Also on the web pages, I still working on implementing the pages. My apologies for the 404 pages.

In regards to the homeowners insurance, we have a $1,000 deductible and buying the new equipment out of pocket totals to just under that amount, which is why we didn't file a claim.

To va3mw(Mike):  I have looked at the controller and it is a total loss. Approx. 30%-40% is gone, and most of the traces are black. The backside of both the controller board and discovery board look like I spray painted them with gloss black paint, and I'm still working on getting the smell of burnt plastic, PCB, etc out of the building.  Plus, I had already thrown the board out into the trash, and that was picked up today.

To Aarkvark:  Thanks for the suggestion on the whole house protector, I am going to check on that.

To miraculon(Mike):  Thanks for the offer of looking at the board, but I saw no way it was repairable. The board reminded me of some motherboards I had seen that had been taken out by lightning or when the power supply shorted out. Wasn't pretty.

I am going to sit back and patiently wait for System Blue. Don't mind being a beta tester for the system if Tobi, Egon and Richo need one.
 
John

[Cutty Sark Sailor]

John, contact your state ' public service commissioner' or similar.... they should be able to advise you.  In many states, you CAN go back on utility company!  Regardless of what your neighbors say...