Lightning damage & ADSL

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=158656
has info on modems / adsl being blown away and methods to circumvent; all seems to little effect.

In the time elapsed since that thread has anyone identified a simple way to protect our telecoms from lightning?

Other than pulling out those plugs?

 

I can tell ya mate, where I come from in Australia, were lucky NOT to get at LEAST 50 blackouts a year in the little community i live in, sometimes more. Our power is EXTREMELY dirty and is the cause for most HW failures round here. I'd suggest a good UPS (saves me everytime :-D) and it gives you a battery back up to save your stuff and shut down your system properly. Obviously you'd need to get one with telephone ports in it too.

 

Yes get a fibre optic connection.

Dom, the UK has its moments
Had a client loose a £1200 router/switch to last week's lightning, and Drizzles, yes they had a bunch of UPS in place.

 

Your telco's switching computer is connected to overhead wires all over town. Therefore they shutdown phone service whenever a lightning storm approaches. They must if using reasoning that so many believe - popular urban myths.

If in North America, then the telco has installed a 'whole house' protector for free. Locate the NID box (where their wires meet yours). A ground wire goes from that surge protector to earth ground. Why? That is the same protection they use in their COs to protect their switching computers and operators.

No protector stops or absorbs what three miles of sky cannot stop. Any protector that must arrest surges (ie plug-in protectors) do not claim to provide protection. Why? From the National Institute of Science and Technology (US government research):
> You cannot really suppress a surge altogether, nor
> "arrest" it. What these protective devices do is
> neither suppress nor arrest a surge, but simply
> divert it to ground, where it can do no harm.

Fundamental to all surge protection is where the energy dissipates. Surges seek earth ground. If permitted inside the building, it will hunt for paths to earth destructively via household appliances. You must connect every wire in every cable to earth. Your telco does the same thing in their facilities. That means the NID connects short (ie 'less than 10 feet') to a single point earth ground. That means all other incoming utilities must connect to that earthing electrode before entering the building.

Telco cannot connect directly. So they install a protector to make that direct connection to earth. That is what effective protectors do. Connect surge energy to earth. The length of that earthing connection is critical. Short. No splices. No sharp bends. Separated from other non-ground wires. Not inside metallic conduit, etc. All are critical to sufficient earthing.

Cable TV needs no protector. Their cable connects directly to earth. And again, it must be the same electrode used by all other incoming wires.

AC electric is the most common source of DSL damage. Those wires are highest on the pole. A direct lightning strike down the street is a direct strike to your appliances. Incoming on AC electric. Through modem or computer. Outgoing to earth ground via the telco provided protector. DSL modem damaged because you permitted a surge inside the building.

More responsible companies sell effective 'whole house' protectors. Siemens, Keison, Intermatic, Square D, Leviton, and General Electric are but a few. A Cutler-Hammer 'whole house' protector sells for less than $50 in Lowes. Compare that to the Monster Cable protector for $150 that does not even claim protection (in numeric specs). The effective protector costs about $1 per protected appliance and actually earths typically destructive surges. An effective protector remains functional even after direct lightning strikes. But again, this is what telcos were doing even 100 years ago.

Only effective protectors have that dedicated earthing wire. But again, the protector is only as effective as its earth ground. A bare quarter inch earthing wire from the breaker box must be short (again 'less than 10 feet'), no sharp bends, etc. That means a ground wire going up over the foundation is too long, too many sharp bends, not separated from other wires, etc. That earthing wire must go through the foundation and down to the single point earth electrode.

Earthing must meet and exceed post 1990 National Electrical Code. No interior wiring need be upgraded. But that connection from incoming AC mains to earth ground (via the protector) must be short, no sharp bends, etc.

Best protection for DSL is also the best protection for everything else in the house. Each protection layer is defined by the one component required in every protection system: earth ground. This has defined the secondary protection layer. Homeowners should also inspect the primary protection layer:
http://www.tvtower.com/fpl.html

A protector is only as effective as its earth ground.