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Lightning

There was a storm that I thought had passed.....I was down in the man cave just pulling a record from the turntable and pop! a lightning strike about 100 feet from the house and the lights went out. It knocked out the right channel of my 3 month old Ortofon Cadenza Red, volume control of my Raysonic SLP 120 integrated(stuck at max) Also damaged is my internet modem, wifi and alarm system- two days after I was downsized out of a job.

Unfortunately, the Raysonic was not plugged into my Furman PC since I was playing with power cords and was using an outlet strip due to the thickness of the cord. It looks like a surge went from the outlet thru the Raysonic, interconnect and into the turntable thru the Whest phono into the cartridge?

What suggestions does everyone have about protection against such events? Sure I can unplug things but what if I am not at home and a storm rolls up?
stl114_nj
schubert
7,386 posts
 
I was struck by lighting twice, lucky I was grounded both times. Second time I was laying commo wire in the army and had a retinal image burned in my brain of the lightning rod being no more than a meter from the ground about a hundred meters away and making a perfect 90degree turn to the commo wire I held in my hand.
First and only time in my life that I made a perfect total backflip!
abucktwoeighty's avatar
abucktwoeighty
1,079 posts
 
Schubert, do you remember the flight in the air? I accidentally touched 220V in a receiver I was working on while in the Navy. I was thrown through the air about 10 feet. It was like a brief space in time was missing, the time it took to get where I landed. Don't remember the flight, just wondered how I got there. No pain at all, just bewilderment.
schubert
7,386 posts
 
Abuck, not really, it was just like you said, the other two wireman told me.
I can still see the bolt though, it was like a snapshot taken with a Lieca at one 10,000 of a second.
I had a boyhood buddy who was killed working on Navy Radar underway.
heyraz
177 posts
 
Schubert,
You're lucky you didn't break your back, not from the flight or landing, but from the muscle contraction.
Having witnessed a nearby strike for myself, it's amazing that anyone could survive the amount of energy unleashed.
There's a very interesting discussion about lightning on the "tech talk" section of the Audiogon Discussion forum.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?htech&1376746239&&&/Entreq-ground-conditioners-what-s-the-th
schubert
7,386 posts
 
Heyrazz, I never would have if the wire in question was not grounded to a 6 ft iron stake pounded in the ground with water poured over it which was SOP for Army field telephone switchboards.
I was once looking out of a barn window during a moderate T-storm when a bolt hit a 1200 lb Holstein not 100 ft from me,she was on her back with all 4 legs straight up as straight can be within 2 seconds. Amazing sight !
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