Ligntning - Power Surge

[cloudwireless]

Hey guys, we had some lightning saturday night which caused a relay to go offline.

I attended Sat morning and found the WS-150DC was powered on with the light showing but all the ports were lifeless with no LED's.

I checked the Powerbeam and Rocket which were connected to the switch and they are both dead so it looks like there was an indirect hit or surge when the power came back on after the powercut.

I am just wondering is it worth me purchasing one of the Netonix Repairs (replacement board) or not?

Also could I have prevented this from happening? I am using touch cable but I guess the surge came up the power cable from the grid so not sure if anything could have stopped this? Surge protector on the plug maybe?

Thanks

[sirhc]

If the power led is on then the surge did not come from the AC

99% of all WISP equipment damage is from ground current (I own a WISP)

Here are some good posts on grounding:
http://forum.netonix.com/viewtopic.php? ... 279#p19279
http://forum.netonix.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=1816
http://forum.netonix.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=188
http://forum.netonix.com/viewtopic.php? ... =30#p13447
http://forum.netonix.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=1429

Read the posts above but the basics are as follow:
Tower ground rods must be bonded to electrical service ground rods HEAVY #2 wire.
I always add 1 or 2 “new” ground rods to older existing electrical services.

I would RMA it, most times is it cheaper than buying a NEW one plus we provide a detailed report of what we found and what we suspect caused the damage.

[cloudwireless]

Hey Chris, thanks for your reply.

Just so I fully understand this - what route would you suggest the lightning took to blow everything? Are you saying the lightning may have struck the ground somewhere near the relay and then travelled through the soil to the kit and if so how did it blow the radios and Netonx ports but not the Netonix power input?

I am just curious what route you suspect it took so I can understand it better and prevent it happening again?

Our setup is:
A five inch square fence post in the ground with a 10 foot aluminum pole attached via bracket to it, the sector and powerbeam are on the pole, the toughcable from both goes down to a WS-150 in a metal cabinet which plugs into the standard UK mains 3 pin plug.

I have no grounding or surge protectors on anything so it's not surprising it happened but this is the first hit we've ever had at a site so I would like to prevent this happening again here and on other sites.

Thanks for all your help :)

[sirhc]

Draw a diagram picture of the complete site, maybe also some pictures.

Show the pole (post) with mount and radios. (Label them)

Show the equipment box and where it gets electricity from.

Any and all ground rods and ground wires.

[cloudwireless]

Hi, Chris been very busy so sorry for the late reply. Can I purchase a replacement board like I did with the WS12 - 250DC as were in the UK and it's much easier than sending it off to the US?

[sirhc]

Hi, Chris been very busy so sorry for the late reply. Can I purchase a replacement board like I did with the WS12 - 250DC as were in the UK and it's much easier than sending it off to the US?

Yes, in the comments section at check out from the web store you MUST provide the MAC address and board serial number of the unit your purchasing the replacement board for.

The serial number is on a decal on the board with a barcode.

[cloudwireless]

EC:13:B2:E1:06:68

[sirhc]

EC:13:B2:E1:06:68

in the comments section at check out from the web store you MUST provide the MAC address and board serial number of the unit your purchasing the replacement board for

[cloudwireless]

Hi Chris, I am sightly confused as I am not sure which option I should be choosing to checkout with, there is no 150 DC on there to select?

[sirhc]

I did not realize you were talking about the WS-8-150-DC
You do realize that with the WS-8-150-DC there are only a few parts:

Chassis - our cost $8+/-
DC terminal and wires - our cost $2+/-
Fan - our cost $5+/-
Retail Box, Decals, and Rubber Feet - our cost $19+/-

So if you add up all the parts not including the board $19+/-

So a replacement board for a WS-8-150-DC would nearly the cost of a new unit.

This is why we had not offer a replacement board for the WS-8-150-DC.