Lightning strike damage to USB charger.

Did exactly that. Thx.

MarkM

Every time MOVs shunt a transient they fail slightly, until they start conducting continuously and heat up. There's not harm putting a plug-in suppressor in one or two empty sockets to act as disposable transient shunts.

Big Clive

Oh yeah work day is done dark and stormy in hand...yeah

Michael Thompson

I installed similar unit in my panel. Only problem is that it takes up a double space but it’s worth it in Texas.

The Act of God clause is very handy.

mj

It's probably safer to make short, 3-prong plugs that just have the MOV's in them and plug them into the same circuits as critical equipment. That's all a whole-house unit does, it attaches directly to the mains panel with really big MOV's and other suppression circuitry. Just remember the explosion risk!

Dustin

I'm surprised they didn't put down PCB spark gaps! Then again, it's a cheap little unit. I am tempted to solder MOVs I've scavanged during many years, and connect them across live, and neutral, to earth ground, on every outlet in my lab. Is that something I can get away with in your opinion, or even worth doing?

MarkM

2 days ago, lightning hit my area, and blew up my UPS's protection. It did not damage my computer. When I opened it for repair, I realized how much effort and engineering has gone into the mains input stage. The huge MOVs were shrink wrapped for a reason. It contained the MOV exploding! Kudos to APC for a great UPC

MarkM

I fitted a lightning arrestor and whole-house surge protection inside the panel (consumer) in my US cottage. It has underground wiring for the last 50 ft but a transformer drop where the feed starts. There may be an arrestor there as well. I've not seen similar "standard" fittings (lightning or surge) for UK consumer units - but then the majority of the local lines are underground

Catastrophic failures like that with lots of smoke are exactly why I got both a UPS for my network hardware and a surge protector on everything of value in the house. We lost 1.5 TVs to lightning (the .5 being a partial failure that's a nuisance even now) and I don't fancy losing more.

I lost my Panasonic Satellite recorder to a thunderstorm. It took out both tuners but everything else still works.

Jeremy Travis

While living in a place that is prone to thunderstorms, especially in the summer, what is done, is that an overhand knot is put in the power cord of a surge strip, power strip or UPS, and things are run off of that. I have seen instances where a cord has been damaged up to the loop, but the rest of the device remains intact, and okay. Otherwise, you experience what Jim, above has, and even houses catching on fire due to it.

Rocco Rizzo

The one time I rented a party boat in the Adirondack mountains, the marina took a direct hit while we were on the lake. The power strip in the store was a blackened molten blob. And they lost every one of about 100 light bulbs hung throughout the camp. I'm still amazed at amount of melted plastic. It seemed the strike must have lasted for a second or more to do that. Since then I've always wondered how fast you can melt stuff with over 1.21 gigawatts.

Jim

I worked for Comet in the '90s, after a storm we would always see a stream of returns and repairs come in from Argyll where the power grid had little protection (probably due to the remote mountainous location of the pylons). Fax machines were the #1 casualty followed by TV and video kit. It made for very unhappy customers when you had to tell them lightening damage was not a warranty fault.

The Tinkering Shed

Sooty skid marks. Sweep wouldn't be impressed.

It will polish out 🤣

Private Private

It could have been either. Or even a ground hit possibly causing rogue induced voltages.

Big Clive

Quite often the LED lights to show that the protection is still active.

Big Clive

Yes. For only 2 pounds. But Frank has to collect the replacement from Poundland.

Big Clive

When you say a lightning strike would the power lines have been struck or a pole mounted transformer sending voltage to houses ?

When my dad was a child, lightning hit the TV antenna on the side of the house. He was thrown across the room and the sheet rock blew off the walls in places and blew out the tube TV.

Nice look at an interesting edge case. Many years ago, lightning struck my power lines (a ways away, so it didn't set my house afire). Some things damaged, but the major victim was my Amiga 3000 - it turned the CPU into a fine black powder and left a quarter-sized hole all the way through the mainboard. Oddly, once the mainboard and CPU were replaced, the rest of the machine was fine, including the RAM.

Charles

I have an Amazon 10 plug UK main outlet tower, only purchased recently. The "green surge" LED is illuminated, does this mean it has triggered (I don't remember seeing it before) If so, has the protection failed? Do I need a new one? This video has freaked me a little, good to know it didn't damage his phone!

but will you fix it and send it back :)