Lately I've been very paranoid about things like this. What do you guys think? Personally I unplug things I really care about, like my pc, and I take my phone etc. from the charger, but I don't unplug a lot more than that.
Do you think you should unplug everything during a thunderstorm?
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it's always the most secure option, but in the homes built in the netherlands after 1990 they're already protected once with earth cable to all electronic devices like radio's, computers and tv's. there's an update with new houses now around that also have condensator like system that will absorb the electricity of lightning but it will burst when done once, you can add manually a lightning catcher (an high antanna that connects to the ground to be even more secure... so sure there's a little risk and for older buildings it means most likely that they haven't got those upgrades, just chances are low in the netherlands.
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most surge protection can only take 10000 volts wich is just 0,001% of what't comming to it... and in the second it breaks it could already be too late for the other devices.
I do run around unplugging things. Bonus of most people using phones as an alarm clock now is I don't have to reset said clocks afterwards (or worse find the 9V battery I stuck in them to avoid it leaked everywhere).
Lost a nice router to it a couple of years back to a storm, though I think it might have been the phone line that did it in, as I did not wake up in time to get to it. Various friends at the same height have lost game consoles, a school not terribly far away and not too much lower had a nice incident a while back as well which made for cool photos from the lighting ring when that provided the best path to ground.
As far as I can tell surge protectors do little other than frustrate ethernet over powerline and maybe provide an insurance policy in some cases that is bastard hard to claim from, and some modern ones also include auto power off which really sucks when you have your TV and cable box plugged into one. By the time you get anywhere near needing one you probably have any gear that would benefit is behind a big boy UPS that does double conversion.
Lost a nice router to it a couple of years back to a storm, though I think it might have been the phone line that did it in, as I did not wake up in time to get to it. Various friends at the same height have lost game consoles, a school not terribly far away and not too much lower had a nice incident a while back as well which made for cool photos from the lighting ring when that provided the best path to ground.
As far as I can tell surge protectors do little other than frustrate ethernet over powerline and maybe provide an insurance policy in some cases that is bastard hard to claim from, and some modern ones also include auto power off which really sucks when you have your TV and cable box plugged into one. By the time you get anywhere near needing one you probably have any gear that would benefit is behind a big boy UPS that does double conversion.
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Heh, I plug in my portable devices when I think a storm is approaching, then unplug them when it does come. That way, they'll be charged for when the power goes out. 
Same here!Heh, I plug in my portable devices when I think a storm is approaching, then unplug them when it does come. That way, they'll be charged for when the power goes out.
i actually had a computer and a ps2 dying because a thunderstorm...
the thunder hit an electricity post or very close to one.. it fried several lightbulbs and like i said, my ps2 and computer where gone..
so if you are afraid of loosing your devices like your phone or laptop, unplug them..
ps: i don't remember if my washing machines or other stuff broke..
but i remember neighbors refrigerator, tv and other appliances that died..
but it really depends on the place you live and how "outdated" is your neighboor in general, i mean.. i live in a somewhat rural area and in a old holse, my house doesn't even have "ground" connection
the thunder hit an electricity post or very close to one.. it fried several lightbulbs and like i said, my ps2 and computer where gone..
so if you are afraid of loosing your devices like your phone or laptop, unplug them..
ps: i don't remember if my washing machines or other stuff broke..
but i remember neighbors refrigerator, tv and other appliances that died..
but it really depends on the place you live and how "outdated" is your neighboor in general, i mean.. i live in a somewhat rural area and in a old holse, my house doesn't even have "ground" connection
Last edited by migles,
that reminds me.. that also happened to my GPU... when that happened i had recently purchased a good one.. after the thunderstorm i had to get a new motherboard, gpu, and "power thing"
IIRC the HDD ram and cpu survived...
after the thunderstorm i ended up getting a pc "downgrade".. cuz i already had spent money on that build.. i had to get cheaper parts..
Last edited by migles,
In my case the PSU seemingly saved most components in my computer from frying, but the GPU which was hooked up to the monitor wasn't quite as lucky.
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I do but then again I don't invest in surge protectors and thunderstorms are fairly uncommon around here.
never unplugged anything except for when I travel and won't be home for some weeks ...
I believe there are more than enough protections build in the homes nowadays, never heard from anyone around me that any of their electronics died because of a thunder storm ...
I believe there are more than enough protections build in the homes nowadays, never heard from anyone around me that any of their electronics died because of a thunder storm ...
I never unplug everything during a thunderstorm. The thunderstorm and lightning are here all the time mostly during the spring and summer time. I don't unplug everything. You should but No. It doesn't effected any problem with me. Never in my all life. Hope not. Seriously, all my life. Never happened.
Last edited by spotanjo3,
I don't do that, simply because it won't blow up, and it hasn't, as of yet.
However, I do unplug anything on charge, for some reason.
However, I do unplug anything on charge, for some reason.
I unplug everything I can. My old HD TV broke when I was in the hospital but it wasn't plugged in. It probably broke due to being connected to a DVR via HDMI that was still plugged on the wall. Surprisingly, my other TV that others were using is still workong perfectly fine.
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