Do you turn the AxeFx off when it's thunderstorming out?

I worked at a metallurgical site one summer, on the electrical crew. There was a copper smelter on-site, which used an oil furnace, natural gas furnace and an electric furnace, to melt the ore, so there was some big voltage gear on-site. I remember one time, they were testing some high voltage insulators, using 80,000 volts! Aside from being almost struck by lightning one time (more on that in a minute), it's the closest I've come to seeing a 'lightning' bolt. The arc, jumped at least a foot or more and it had to be about 6 inches in diameter, give or take. Even with ear plugs, the sound was loud!

Almost being struck...long story short. Driving with a friend one day, heading over to his house. The skies were getting really dark...big storm rolling in. All of a sudden, I looked at my friend and said, 'uh-oh! He looked at me and said, 'what?' I said 'do you smell that?' He said, 'yes, what is it?' I said, 'ozone!' He said, 'what the hell is that and what does it men?' I looked at him and said, 'well, it means we're about to get hit by lightning or it's going to be really, really close, so hold on!'. Turned to pull into his driveway and there was an instantaneous flash of light and sound, that was absolutely deafening! The lightning struck the ground near the base of the neighbours tree, not more than 30 feet away!

Here's another one for you...not sure what it is with me an lightning! I was using a digital camera to shoot a video of a storm rolling in. Later when I played it back, frame-by-frame, saw this in the last frame. It happened so fast, I didn't see it when I was shooting the video. Notice, that the ring of the pool, is behind the 'bolt'! It's not actually lightning, it's called a leader. They shoot up from the ground around an area that is charged, then the bolt of lightning will pick one to complete the circuit. Thankfully, for the pool and me, it didn't pick that one!

View attachment 87044

Wow! What a great share. Thanks. Glad you didn't get "hit" directly. :)
 
It was a while ago, but if I recall, it was within 30 seconds or so.

The smell of ozone is one definite indicator. It smells like it does when you first turn on your furnace in the fall or the smell of an arc welder. Also, as @mr_fender said, the hair on your neck and arms will stand on end. If you are on the ground and smell ozone or feel tingly, get to the lowest point you can…ideally a ditch and lay flat. We were in a car, so I felt relatively safe, although I recently saw a picture of s direct hit on a truck and it melted the dash in two. Looked like Darth Vader took a swipe at it.

View attachment 87062

If he had that dash plugged into a surge protector and then into the wall he'd have been alright. ;)

I think the thing that gets me is that this assumption that if you have been ok leaving your stuff
on and NEVER being concerned about the damage that supernatural level of voltage can do then
you are making the right choice.

If you err on the side of caution and are seemingly "wrong" 99 times because you unplugged from
the wall and "didn't need to" are you just being superstitious and paranoid---even if he one time out
of 100 you are "right" and spare your electronics? Is that "success" if you were only 1 out of 100 times?

The flip side is NEVER being concerned and then avoiding damage 99 times, while only suffering a
direct hit one time. By their assumptions and choices that person was only "wrong" 1 time out of 100.

Which is the more successful and least painful outcome, though?? :)
 
A lot of knowledge I'm learning by reading the OP's thread. But how did we go from discussing your typical residential power glitches such as surges dips spikes to being directly struck by lightning lol
This is the Fractal forum. Anything beyond the second page is free divergence from the initial topic. Been that way for a decade now.
 
I have mine on an UPS. Go to Staples and drop the best $100 investment you’ll ever make.
Ok I'll check into that. Isn't a UPS a battery backup system? This still must be plugged into the 110 though right? I saw some basic specs online was just wondering how they work in the above scenario.
 
Oh YES, I do.

And I highly recommend always doing so.
Certainly, first, by nature of the game and particularly because of a personal bad and painful experience.

Of course I have a staged over-voltage-security in all electric and signal circuits in several stages and places in my house.
Therefore I guessed myself quite certain on the safe side.
I had to learn I was wrong. And I learned the hard way.

Several years ago a lightning strike nearby killed nearly a dozen devices of my equipment, not least a 10k Euro mixing desk.

The lightning entered not over the main power line but over telelephone line, crossed (and killed) the highly commercial (and therefore expensive) router, crossed all over-voltage-security, went forward over the ethernet lines and killed nearly everything connected to ethernet, including mixing desk, computers, tv, recorders and so on.

Was NOT an amusing experience ...
 
Oh YES, I do.

And I highly recommend always doing so.
Certainly, first, by nature of the game and particularly because of a personal bad and painful experience.

Of course I have a staged over-voltage-security in all electric and signal circuits in several stages and places in my house.
Therefore I guessed myself quite certain on the safe side.
I had to learn I was wrong. And I learned the hard way.

Several years ago a lightning strike nearby killed nearly a dozen devices of my equipment, not least a 10k Euro mixing desk.

The lightning entered not over the main power line but over telelephone line, crossed (and killed) the highly commercial (and therefore expensive) router, crossed all over-voltage-security, went forward over the ethernet lines and killed nearly everything connected to ethernet, including mixing desk, computers, tv, recorders and so on.

Was NOT an amusing experience ...
Holy frikkin crap!!! At least no one got hurt though!! End of day that's all that matters!! Still heartbreaking though any time nature or fire claims our gear:/
 
We had a T-storm roll through last night while we were rehearsing. I powered all of my gear
off and unplugged it from the wall. No one else did. They assumed I was silly. It lasted all of 15 minutes.

I'll do it again if need be. :)
 
Guess what the weather over my house looks like again this afternoon ?
 

Attachments

  • 10312467-40FB-4902-9F46-6844D778F419.png
    10312467-40FB-4902-9F46-6844D778F419.png
    2.2 MB · Views: 1
I am less concerned about a lightning surge on my home line and more concerned with brown outs and sudden loss of power. If I have a lightning surge on my home’s power grid I have bigger problems than my Fractal gear.
This, I have surge protectors and safety equipment to prevent damage from the power flickering, or suddenly shutting on or off. A nearby lightning strike would be a much bigger deal.

A few years back a bolt stuck some of the forest directly behind my house, it was raining hard and wet so fire wasn't a worry, but the power flickered and satellite TV (and internet, cause that's all there is in the country) went out. The TV showed heavy interference about 10 seconds before the hit, which I thought was interesting.
 
We had a T-storm roll through last night while we were rehearsing. I powered all of my gear
off and unplugged it from the wall. No one else did. They assumed I was silly. It lasted all of 15 minutes.

I'll do it again if need be. :)
No you’re the only one with the uncommon sense
 
Oh YES, I do.

And I highly recommend always doing so.
Certainly, first, by nature of the game and particularly because of a personal bad and painful experience.

Of course I have a staged over-voltage-security in all electric and signal circuits in several stages and places in my house.
Therefore I guessed myself quite certain on the safe side.
I had to learn I was wrong. And I learned the hard way.

Several years ago a lightning strike nearby killed nearly a dozen devices of my equipment, not least a 10k Euro mixing desk.

The lightning entered not over the main power line but over telelephone line, crossed (and killed) the highly commercial (and therefore expensive) router, crossed all over-voltage-security, went forward over the ethernet lines and killed nearly everything connected to ethernet, including mixing desk, computers, tv, recorders and so on.

Was NOT an amusing experience ...
This scares me a bit, I've got everything in the house running Ethernet over power, which means there's a connection without a surge protector to all major computers. Then I've got my computer and my axefx connected via USB, axe and amp with TS, etc... I've got to rethink this now, thanks for the eye opener.
 
Back
Top Bottom