Digest Number 1650
Archiver
Posts: 46,084
Chris,
If lightning strikes anywhere nearby, get some Marmalade, 'cause your
electronics is toast. I once had a strike about 100 ft from my house and it
melted the insides of my TV so that the parts that didn't melt fell off the
PC board when the solder did. Knocked me across the room, too.
Still, Ben Franklin's lightning rod might help prevent that strike, It was
often used to protect "historical" trees where I grew up, and grounding your
electronics enclosure might help with EMI from a nearby strike.
Larry
In a message dated 2/18/03 6:55:26 PM Pacific Standard Time,
basicstamps@yahoogroups.com writes:
> The sensors are located at the top of an Eastern White Pine at about 100
> feet (30 meters) off the forest floor. The area is heavily wooded with
> other pines, maples and oaks. My "sensor tree" is slightly taller than
> the surrounding trees. I recently ran a length of #6 AWG copper wire
> from ground to the peak and have two 8 foot (2.5M) grounding rods ready
> to be hammered into the ground. The sensor data travels in shielded
> twisted pair cable and RG-6 coax for the video signal. Both of these
> cables run inside a 1" (25mm) plastic conduit the length of the tree.
> I'm open to suggestions and comments on protecting against lightning
> strikes. Some of my questions are:
> Is it ok to tape the 6AWG grounding wire to the outside of the 1" plastic
> conduit or is a separation recommended? (Taping it to the plastic
> conduit is the easiest method)
> Should the electronics at the top of the tree be housed in a metal
> enclosure? (I currently have a plastic junction box in place.)
> Should the grounding wire run up past the electronics to try to
> "intercept" the lightning before it hits the electronics
>
> Any help is appreciated,
> Chris Dundorf
>
>
[noparse][[/noparse]Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
If lightning strikes anywhere nearby, get some Marmalade, 'cause your
electronics is toast. I once had a strike about 100 ft from my house and it
melted the insides of my TV so that the parts that didn't melt fell off the
PC board when the solder did. Knocked me across the room, too.
Still, Ben Franklin's lightning rod might help prevent that strike, It was
often used to protect "historical" trees where I grew up, and grounding your
electronics enclosure might help with EMI from a nearby strike.
Larry
In a message dated 2/18/03 6:55:26 PM Pacific Standard Time,
basicstamps@yahoogroups.com writes:
> The sensors are located at the top of an Eastern White Pine at about 100
> feet (30 meters) off the forest floor. The area is heavily wooded with
> other pines, maples and oaks. My "sensor tree" is slightly taller than
> the surrounding trees. I recently ran a length of #6 AWG copper wire
> from ground to the peak and have two 8 foot (2.5M) grounding rods ready
> to be hammered into the ground. The sensor data travels in shielded
> twisted pair cable and RG-6 coax for the video signal. Both of these
> cables run inside a 1" (25mm) plastic conduit the length of the tree.
> I'm open to suggestions and comments on protecting against lightning
> strikes. Some of my questions are:
> Is it ok to tape the 6AWG grounding wire to the outside of the 1" plastic
> conduit or is a separation recommended? (Taping it to the plastic
> conduit is the easiest method)
> Should the electronics at the top of the tree be housed in a metal
> enclosure? (I currently have a plastic junction box in place.)
> Should the grounding wire run up past the electronics to try to
> "intercept" the lightning before it hits the electronics
>
> Any help is appreciated,
> Chris Dundorf
>
>
[noparse][[/noparse]Non-text portions of this message have been removed]