# Sept.22/2010 lighting t-storm power out/blown out :(



## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

God damn. The lightening was close to me as the light flashes was hot and intense last night outside. I think I got partly hit on my side. Power was out 0200-0630 but I had to leave at 0600. I just got home and checked the casualties.

-Microwave blown
-3 x power strips blown (I'm cool with that as that is what that strips job is to do) ( * means attached to power bar)
-Cell phone charger blown *
-2 x 42W CFL bulbs blown
-3 x 13W CFL bulbs in hallway blown
-2 x 13W CFL in 10gal blown
-AC20 burnt out (smell electrical burn but tested 110v socket plug and it was live so the motor ran dry till it burnt out) and the unit I paid for.  *
-AC20 burnt out (electrical smell, 110v live, so the motor must have ran dry till it burnt out, got for free) *
-Wireless router possible fried *
-more testing to come.... >_<;;

Still checking more as a wireless router I got for free that was on about 50% of the time on/off now does not transmit anymore

We got when the power went out it and came on again it was a on-off rapid about 8-10times in approx. 1/2 intervals before the power went off completely for ~3hrs.

Right now my biomax media I suspect is just damp but it has been since 0200-1616 right now with no air or water movement over it as the AC20's self drained out and did not self prime. So it's been 14hrs now since I discovered the AC20's burnt out.

My question is how much bacteria is still alive? I took my biomax out of the AC20's and put them in the tanks. The 10gal is planted (bare bottom planting but has a sponge filter). My 5.5gal is UGF non planted and the air pump still works (thankfully) so it only had 3hrs downtime before the air pump kicked back in.

Anything that was blown I tested the 110v sockets first with my GBA SP and AC charger as I can see the visual chargling light meaning that socket is live. I tested each electronic/small appliance/device item directly into the confirmed live wall socket and some things worked and some did not. That is how I determined the power bars got fried. Somehow in the kitchen right now one of the sockets the bottom one is live but the top one is fried. >_<;; Grrr...

Argggghhh....


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Anyone else got hit with damaged items? Just found out my laptop won't power on now and was connected to the mains with the battery taken out. Frak. AC adaptor won't even power on and it wont even boot with battery.  Found my scanner and AC adaptor blown as well. Argh...


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## planter (Jun 9, 2008)

Aww that really sucks. Sorry to hear about that. 


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## gucci17 (Oct 11, 2007)

oh no...sorry to hear about that neko...

how are the fish doing?


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

I'm hoping I don't run into a mini cycle due to approx 14hrs damp/drying AC20 chambers then they self drained into the tank and could not self prime again. The fish look ok so far. I did an immediate 20% water change just in case.


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## ynot (Jan 30, 2010)

Sounds like your fish will survive. Thank Goodness!


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

If your damage is substantial. You should claim them through your home insurance. Most home should cover lightning damages.

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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

OMG! Sorry to hear about your damage. Hope at least your fish are OK.

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On another note, FYI if you live in a house, it's possible to buy house-wide surge protectors that install between the line from the street and your electrical panel.

I won one in a contest and have it in there now, and I think it helped out yesterday -- the lights didn't even flicker during the worst of the storm (thought it might have to do with where the lightning was striking).

If you've got a lot of electronic stuff that could fry,

1. It offers protection to everything in the house at once and is therefore cheaper than buying surge protectors for every single thing

2. You can supplement it by using surge protector power bars that you already have (can't hurt!)


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Well the power strips are clearly evident they blew as you can smell the smoke and burn in them with one with clear socket flash burns tho oddly even tho now that I've got 5 power bars blown the lights on the powerbars are still lighting up when I plug them in and turn them on but clearly no power is going to the power bar sockets. Another casuality is my loved Maha C-9000 battery charger/analyzer is not powering up.  One of the best CBA's out there (Charger Battery Analyzer) for an affordable price for consumers to know the amount of cell charge/juice you're paying for that battery and charging options. 

I'm not sure if insurance will cover smaller items like the power bars and light bulbs. Those 42W's are EXPENSIVE EACH >.<;; Like frigging I think $17 a piece. Argh... my laptop has dual bay batteries and I know the AC is fried as I tested it on a confirmed working wall socket and it would not charge the laptop. I know the laptop now won't power on when using the main battery or aux. batteyr bay. My laptop can run with a battery in either bay which is what I liked about it as if I needed to hot swap the main or aux. battery it would be no porblems but now both bays are dead. I did some checking online and it seems it's not even worth repairing as it can be a matter of many things to every single capacitor needs to be changed and I'm not going to be thrilled soldering that many capacitors to find out if something is fubared. The rapid on/off of the lights/power that night was 8-10 times on/off in approx. 1/2 second intervals.

Does insurance cover the powerbar strips or will they refer you to the power strip company? I found out a tree in our are got cracked during that lightening storm. IIRC lightening can travel 10km on it's lighting strike branches. I just know it was uber bright in the backyard that night each time it flashed so it could have been over head the house or a km away. Brighter then usual from what I've seen. I'm not sure about the claims as I'll likely be the microwave, faxmachine, scanner, laptop, CBA for now as the lightbulbs and such I'm not sure on. Needsless to say while I enjoy the visual display of lightening a lot and give it an awesome amount of respect it sucks royally when you get electrical damage on devices. It just seems all my smaller electronics are the ones that took a hit as the TV thankfully did not blow and the VCR/PVR. 

How much are those whole house surge protectors costing from the street to your house?


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

AquaNeko said:


> How much are those whole house surge protectors costing from the street to your house?


I have an Eaton CHSP Ultra. As I said, I won it in a contest, so I didn't have to pay for it, but the list price is $170 US on both Amazon.com and eBay. (It wasn't on the Eaton Canada site, but it is sold in the US -- and the master electrician who replaced my house's 95-year-old wires said that it meets code here and was a good thing to have).


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