i have heard that thunder doesnt affect broadband routers and modems is this true?

Hi, it says it in the title. i have a BT voyager2091. can this get fryed by lightning? or any broadband modem or router?
and if it doesnt can it pass through the router and fry the motherboard?

its in the middle of a thunder storm right now so hury up and reply.

thanks in advance
lodore

 

Re: i have heard that thunder doesnt affect broadband routers and modems is this true

Very wise advice ronjor

Four years ago a thunderstorm destroy my computer completely, so I did learn the hard way.

 

Re: i have heard that thunder doesnt affect broadband routers and modems is this true

Last week my modem was fried in a storm and everything was pluged into a CyberPower surge protector.

Lightning can fry anything, just ask the phone & power company

 

Re: i have heard that thunder doesnt affect broadband routers and modems is this true

Hello,
You could use a UPS with surge protector. I have bought one about a year ago. You would be amazed how many tiny, unnoticed surges and drops occur every day.
Mrk

 

any electrical device can be burned out or simply melted by lightning. When you are talking about electricity that can jump through the air up to and beyond fifty miles with millions of volts of power a device in your house doesn't have a chance in a direct strike. And a surge protector won't help in a direct strike either, it will burn out just like everything else

(An article from a scientific journal)

the voltage of lightning varies with certain altitudes and thickness of the bolt. These fluctuating values are caused by the fact that the cloud and earth act as capacitors. A capacitor is a device used to store charge. When the spacing between them increases, the voltage needed to produce lightning increases. Benjamin Franklin's experiment during a thunderstorm helped to reveal that lightning is electricity.

It seems from these values that the most definitive answer is from 10 to 120 million volts. With up to 200,000 amps.

 

Re: i have heard that thunder doesnt affect broadband routers and modems is this true

As everyone else mentioned, it's not the thunder that will kill you, it's the lightning.
It can definitely fry your broadband router and modem.
If it does happen, it will most likely come in on the power line.
Although it can come in through the phone line as well and even jump from telephone to the power line if the proximity of the service entrances are close together.
If you regularly get a lot of strikes very close to your house (like if your house is on top of a hill), then a lightning rod might be considered.
There are also Lightning Arrestors which are like lightning surge protectors for the whole house. It is attached at the main house electrical service entrance. It is attached to ground, but normally does nothing. Only when a massive surge hits does the device trip and the bulk of the surge is shunted to ground.
At $30, it might be considered to supplement your indoor surge protectors / UPS. Only an electrician should install a device like this.

There are also surge protectors for ethernet.

 

Re: i have heard that thunder doesnt affect broadband routers and modems is this true

I use a USB router. i do live at the top of a hill.

i have just got a surge protector that just has plugs. can anyone recommend one that protects my router and phoneline as well

 

Lightning can certainly fry a modem, router, or even a computer through the power line or broadband cable. I experienced that before. It is best to fix a surge protector on both the power line and the broadband cable.

Try the products from here www.cal-lab.com. I used them before and found it to be very reliable.

 

Just to underscore what BigC said, a bit, if you've got an arc of electricity that's strong enough to travel several MILES, a small electrical component that you hold between two fingers is NOT going to protect your equipment. The only sure way to really keep your system from getting fried is to unplug everything. Phone lines, power lines, cable lines, whatever, they all carry electricity, and they can all carry too much of it. Consider a normal house circuit can carry maybe 15 to 30 amps, and lightning can transfer 200,000. I don't care what socket you're talking about, add 200,000 amps and it will fry, and there's a realistic chance that it could arc right across the circuit board and keep on going.

 

Living in Oklahoma I am used to lightning. I have personally seen the results of a lightning strike on a power pole in the alley behind a friends house. The results were that it exploded every light bulb in the house, burned out every appliance that was plugged in and literally blew the wall plug sockets out onto the floor. So never think you are protected from lightning. It is unbelievable the power it can unleash.

 

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Mmmm. That's reassuring

Dead (scuse the pun) right though. I attended a conference recently on the effects of electricity in the workplace and one thing you can guarantee - it's not selective. Not something to be messed with nor taken lightly.

 

Surge protectors are a waste of money. They can be made ineffective by the first surge with no outward indication that they are no longer effective.

UPSs are good for brownouts and short blackouts. But if you're in a lightning prone area it is best to unplug everything INCLUDING the phone wire going to the modem. And NEVER use the phone port in a modem to plug in a phone.

 

I have seen a lot of modems fried, specifically cable modems. Most UPS/Surge suppressors have a RJ-11 jacks, but may not have a coax jack. A lot of people hook thier cable modem power up to a surpressor, but fail to install an inline coax supressor - the modem then takes a hit and can damage your hub / switch / mainboard, etc.

 

THUNDER doesn't affect ANYTHING but your ears.

Any surge protector can be burnt by lightning. Aside from the debate about the value of surge protectors, which people should buy for reasons OTHER than (NOT) protecting from lightning strikes, just unplug your computer(s) from the electrical system, and cable and or phone system and set the plugs away from the receptacles until the lightning passes, assuming you're around to do so.