Sudden burst of weather in Wellington (20/09)

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DarthKermit

5346 posts

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#899300 21-Sep-2013 07:59

JamesL: Anyone else lose any electronics with that thunder and lightening? I just lost a PoE TP Link switch which was connected to a circuit breaker power strip which was connected to another power breaker power strip. Neither of which went off...

On a brighter note the VDSL2 modem went from 32mbit -> 45mbit when it resynced. Presumably most of the people on the street temporarily lost power for a split second

Sorry to hear of your loss. Circuit breakers won't protect your gear at all from a voltage spike, eg a lightning strike.

I've seen some people on here also say that surge protectors are not much more than a placebo.

Whatifthespacekeyhadneverbeeninvented?

kyhwana2

2566 posts

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#899361 21-Sep-2013 10:47

DarthKermit:
JamesL: Anyone else lose any electronics with that thunder and lightening? I just lost a PoE TP Link switch which was connected to a circuit breaker power strip which was connected to another power breaker power strip. Neither of which went off...

On a brighter note the VDSL2 modem went from 32mbit -> 45mbit when it resynced. Presumably most of the people on the street temporarily lost power for a split second

Sorry to hear of your loss. Circuit breakers won't protect your gear at all from a voltage spike, eg a lightning strike.

I've seen some people on here also say that surge protectors are not much more than a placebo.

Pretty much.. You want a UPS and ideally one that is Line Interactive or Online, so in the case of a decent strike/surge, it'll just blow the UPS and not the equipment that's plugged into it!

JamesL

956 posts

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#899381 21-Sep-2013 11:46

Nice, thanks for the heads up

Any recommendations for a UPS with line interactive/online? Will look at procuring one as I'm not going to take that risk again.

First time I've ever had something die during thunder/lightening

keewee01

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#899657 22-Sep-2013 11:43

jimbob79: Vodafone's InHome cable broadband went down, despite being assured originally by TelstraClear that all the Local cabinets has there own independent UPS. What's the point of me having my own UPS?

This is the negative side of having a Naked Broadband & VoIP.

Might have been local also, as our cable broadband stayed up.

JimmyH

2886 posts

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#900745 22-Sep-2013 17:09

I disconnected most of my kit as soon as I got home, so no damage.

Important stuff (PC, NAS) are on UPSes. Less important stuff is (mostly) on surge protectors. Notable exception is ethernet-over-powerline adapters, which don't tend to like going through surge strips.

UPSes are pretty cheap, and even the budget ones are much better than nothing. I like having my kit being protected from fluctuations, and being able to do an orderly power down in outages.

Kingy

395 posts

Ultimate Geek

#901141 23-Sep-2013 11:53

naggyman: I think I may win here. I am in the Wairarapa and at the time I was behind a spotlight pointing at Steve Wrigley. The spotlight and our stage lights all dimmed down, which stopped Steve. Then we heard some perfectly timed thunder which Steve handled perfectly. I panicked a little that we would have a comedy night without any power!

Good times for all!

I was also there and he handled it great. A good comedian is made even better when they handle random situations well. Apart from the MC it was great night all round.

Web development blog: http://www.devhour.net
Follow me on twitter: @JAGracie

wongtop

563 posts

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#901676 24-Sep-2013 09:32

It looks like we have lost our TV and Freeview recorder in the storm. The TV wouldn't turn on that night so we knew about that, but yesterday we borrowed a neighbours TV to test our Freeview recorder - it still has the recorded programs, but the tuner no longer works. Both are being assessed today for insurance purposes. Neighbour thinks our antenna might have been struck, but I would have expected much more damage if that was the case! Nevertheless the strike must've been close as my wife said the lightning flash and thunder crack happened at the same time.

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