Dead SPI firewall/router

My second Netgear WNDR3700 router died yesterday morning when a lightning strike hit a tree in my front yard.

The router was plugged into an Isobar surge protector... but I am wondering if there is anything else I can do to protect my replacement. I have lost three other routers (and I lost a phone as well) and am tired of buying more junk to replace old junk.

Get your junk out of my face.

 

You really need a battery backed UPS that filters and outputs a steady line current. Most of these surge protectors don't trip fast enough to protect against lightning strikes, even though they claim to. I've had the same experience as you with with similar products.

 

Cut all your trees down

 

I live in the Florida panhandle and we get bad lighting all the time. When I hear that first crack of thunder I shut everything down. I disconnect my cable from my cable modem, shut off the surge protector and pull the plug on the surge protector, now your safe.

 

Isobar, if it is the top of the line model, is a really good device. Lots of telco products use them, I have some of them. If you have the right product, I would have thought it would have had not problem protecting things.

But usually it is the phone lines that bring in the spike that kill stuff like that. I found an arrestor one time for my father-in-law, who has a lot of lighting strikes on his phone lines for some reason. I have replaced maybe 8 modems over the years, then found the arrestor and he has been trouble free. I googled it. If I remember I will find the name of the item.

Sul.

 

That Isobar did exactly what its numeric specs claim. And contrary to what a sales brochure said. Did you really think a 2 cm part inside that Isobar was going to stop that three miles of sky could not? That is what a vast majority believe because the vast majority is only educated by sales brochures and retail propaganda.

Ben Franklin demonstrated how protection works. Lightning conducted to earth ground via wooden church steeples. But wood is not an excellent conductor; creates a high voltage. 20,000 amps times high voltage means high energy. Steeple damaged.

Franklin connected lightning to earth via a rod. Conductive wire means near zero volts. 20,000 amps times near zero volts means near zero energy. No damage.

You must do same. Your Isobar did what wood does. Protection is always about where energy dissipates. Either lightning is absorbed harmlessly outside the building in earth. Or that surge will hunt for earth destructively via your appliances. Today a router. Tomorrow a TV. Nothing new. Effective protection - earthing energy outside the building - is how it was done more than 100 years ago.

Every wire in every case must connect to earth - single point earth ground - before entering the building. No exceptions can exist. For example, the cable TV wire first drops down to be wired (no protector) to earth ground. That is 100% protection. Any destructive surge on that wire is absorbed harmlessly in earth. Need not enter the building.

Telephone wire already has a 'whole house' protector installed free by the telco. Telephone will not work if wired direct to earth. So a protector makes that short (ie 'less than 10 foot') connection. Telco provides the less expensive and most superior protector. But only you provide the earthing. Does that telco protector connect 'less than 10 feet' to the same earth ground used by all incoming utilities? Did you install earthing that both meets and exceeds post 1990 National Electrical Code? In every case, protection is only as effective as its earth ground - as even Franklin demonstrated.

AC electric is the most common source of surge damage. AC wires are most often struck - highest on the pole. A direct lighting strike down the street is a direct strike to your appliances. Nothing stops surges. But again, connect energy to single point ground BEFORE it can enter the building. Single point ground cannot be discussed enough. And one 'whole house' protector rated, at minimum, for 50,000 amps.

More responsible companies sell 'whole house' protectors (Isobar is not on the list). General Electric, Leviton, Square D, Intermatic, Keison, and Siemens are but a few. A Cutler-Hammer solution sells in Lowes and Home Depot for less than $50. All protectors with a dedicated wire so that the connection to earth is short (ie 'less than 10 feet').

A most common source of communication damage is incoming on AC mains, through the router, out via telephone or cable. Attn Sully - this is how that damage really happens. Electronics are damaged only when current has both an incoming and outgoing path. Surges do not enter on a phone line, damage the modem, then stop. Incoming via AC mains due to no earthed surge protector. Outgoing to ground because both telcos and cable companies must always install effective protection - connect short to earth ground.

What does the Isobar claim to do? How many joules? How does its hundreds of joules absorb surges that are hundreds of thousands of joules. The word ‘scam’ is found in numbers. Only honest replies also include or demand numbers. And no sales brochures.

Welcome to surge protection 101 - how it was done routinely even 100 years ago. And what is not found in plug-in miracles devices from APC, Belkin, Monster Cable, or your Isobar. Where are those numeric specs that claim protection from each type of surge? The Isobar did exactly what the manufacturer specs claimed. So you have repeat damage.

Protection is always about where energy dissipates. That is not any protector. Energy dissipates harmlessly in earth. Or that surge must find earth destructively via appliances inside the building. It was always that simple. It was always about where hundreds of thousands of joules are absorbed. It was always about a connection as short as possible to single point earth ground. Principles demonstrated by Franklin in 1752. Solutions from more responsible companies provided above. Bottom line soundbyte: a protector is only as effective as its earth ground.

 

I promise not to do it again. Please don't switch me, Daddy!

 

Hi all. This is good conversation. It shows what can happen in a very very short period time!

Or

Boys and their toys. I guess Deborah couldn't find the remote.

Grounding, Bonding, Suppressing, Ground Fault Interrupting and even Isolation are all forms protection for when things go south.... but are not needed when "outside" disturbances are not present.