Last night we had a nice little thunder storm as we often do this time of year in South Carolina. That got me wondering about protecting my layout in the event of a lightning strike. Do any of you have any kind of surge protection for your control system? Right now I just have my power supplies plugged into a Dollar General power strip, which don't offer a whole lot of protection.
Modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad in N Scale.
www.prr-nscale.blogspot.com
I have a surge protector plus everything plugged in to a wall outlet is switched off with X10 appliance modules (which are relays and work when there is low or no power draw, unlike the lamp modules which need a minimum load to operate). Not that a good surge couldn't jump the relay contact gap, but once it does that (and fries a $10 X10 module), the surge protector ahs a better chance of blocking the rest.
One thing I NEVER do is leave stuff on in the train room when I'm not there. I don't use the 'sleep' mode on my DCC system, I turn it OFF. My workbench is also powered via an X10 module, so the whole thing gets turned off as well, even if I forget to switch off my soldering station. I COULD just flip the switches on the surge protectors to pwoer it all off (can't rewire to have it all controlle dby a wall switch), but the X10 control means I don't have to crawl down onthe floor to do this, a little remote control sits on the layout near the door to turn things on and off.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I have a somewhat large surge protector on the main line coming into my trailer plus everything is plugged into surge protector strips on each outlet. Every strip can be turned off and has a safety circuit breaker. My DCC system is plugged into a double switched outlet which turned off if I'm not using the system. My computer is on a double switched setup plus a UPS That will keep it running long enough for to shut it down in the event of a power failure. I bought my trailer in 1994 and it's taken several lightning hits plus had other hits that have fried the meter and outside box. Even with that I have yet to lose anything inside.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
Best protection is to unplug everything when not in use.
I use power/surge protector strips a lot in my house, but I doubt their surge protection is worth much. On trips I unplug the strips for things like the computer stuff, layout stuff, tv, etc. I probably should do the same for thunderstorms, but generally don't.
Just been lucky.
Paul
Hi!
My electronics (TV/amps/PCs) are all covered with hi-end surge protectors. My layout DCC electronics are not. Frankly, they should be.
I do have the practice of not running trains in bad weather, and totally unplugging the stuff when I leave the room. That's a big help, but you can surely have surges without bad weather.
Your bringing up the subject has prompted me to do so - which I will.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
I have a whole-house surge protector. It plugs in between the meter and the meter box contacts. Our power company sold and installed these almost 2 decades back. You might check to see if this is available from your power supplier, as they have to either install it or be there to confirm the meter reading and reseal it when the install is finished.
I've never had a surge related power line issue in all that time.
This doesn't protect against everything. You can get surges in your wiring from things like a motor starting. I have a amplified antenna that pulls in over-the-air TV. It's in the attic and I've had it trip the surge protector it's attached to twice during nearby lightning strikes, so you can still get RF related surges, too.
I protect my computers with their own surge protectors, but don't for the layout, which is located in the basement. Never had any issues with my DCC, etc. YMMV
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
A power strip or individual surge protector does no good at all against a close lightning strike, because the amount of current in the lightning can jump right across the on-off switch contacts.
A whole-house surge protector installed by your electric company at the meter is much safer, but if the lightning strikes your house beyond that protector everything electrical can still be destroyed.
Completely unplugging everything is the safest bet.
My Layout is plugged into a surge protector that I also use as an on off switch between op sessions. I unplug it during storms.
Joe Staten Island West
Nothing stops a lightning bolt. A strike on wires close enough and you get a million volts on your house wiring. That will jump open mechanical switches and fry any kind of surge protector. It will also set your home on fire.
Strikes farther away, say a couple of miles, the voltage surge is less, but still enough to damage solid state electronics, but not enough to jump open switch contacts or start fires.
Surge protectors are fairly worthless. They are mostly power strips with Metal Oxide Varistors (MOVs) soldered between each side of the line and ground. The MOV is a device about the size of a nickel. When voltage across it rises well above line voltage, the MOV turns on and conduct the surge thru itself to ground. This causes the MOV to heat up and when it gets too hot it goes Poof. Then you have no protection at all. A blown MOV looks just like a good one, and there is no practical way to test a MOV in the field. So all those surge protectors are good for just one big surge, the next surge goes right thru them. And there is no practical way to know if that first big surge has taken them out already. So I don't place much faith in surge protectors.
As a matter of fire safety, I like to leave my train room with everything, power packs, soldering irons, power tools, DCC equipment , Tortoise supplies, powered off, or even better, unplugged. To this end, I have every thing in the layout powered off ONE power strip. I merely unplug that power strip when finished with trains.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
TA462 My house has a surge protector before the electical panel. I also have Monster Cable surge protectors on everything that gets plug into the wall that has any value.
My house has a surge protector before the electical panel. I also have Monster Cable surge protectors on everything that gets plug into the wall that has any value.
I use a CyberPower CP1000AVRLCD Intelligent LCD 1000VA 600W with AVR Mini Tower UPS. $110.00 free shipping from Amazon .com.
I use one on my PC and Internet modem/router also.
Yes, a direct strike can bypass.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
Cheapie surge protectors are worthless, they usually just have a single MOV and that's only across one possible conenction.
Hate to break it to you, but pretty much EVERYTHING "Monster Cable" brand is really the cheap stuff with a fancy label on it. Their power cords and speaker wires and other things like HDMI cables are a complete marketing gimmic designed to seperate you from as much of your money as possible.
UPS with surge protection.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
A whole house surge suppressor attached to your electrical input distribution box is a good idea.
Getting the "electronics Surge suppressor" {about $30 or more one "surge power strip'} in ADDITON to the whole house suppressor to things like flat screen tvs, DVRs, computer systems and the like is also suggested. AS noted, El CHEAPO surge suppessor strips are garbage, and plain old power strips offer NO protection.
Adding a high end electronics surge suppressor for you DCC system/train layout or anything else {small kitchen appliances?} you want to protect in addition to the whole house is a good idea.
BUT: I want to note: Lightning DOES NOT have travel the wires plugged in to kill such things you want to protect!!! It can bounce from tree to tree or tree to electrical pole and BOUNCE FROM APPLIANCE DIRECTLY TO ANOTHER APPLIANCE OR ELECTRONIC GIZMO ACROSS THE ROOM!!!
HOw do I know? happened at my my parents' and next door neighbor...they were lucky as it bounced around the rooms it didn't strike a human. They share the same electrical pole, and it hit the power pole and traveled to the houses, then bounced around for funsies. Resulting in many appliance and electronics/computer gizmos for both being "killed"...neighbor sustaining higher loss of Major appliances.
SO DON'T be thinking you are 100% secure if you DO buy the protection strips.
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
At present I have a whole-house suppressor, installed by the power company when they installed the new `smart' meter a couple of months ago.
I also have suppressors for my computer and big TV.
The house has good, old-fashioned Ben Franklin lightning rods, connected to a copper-coated rod driven eight feet deep in the usually-damp flower bed at the NW corner of the building.
Low voltage power and communications wiring is underground - look Ma, no poles - and the service points are diagonally opposite that ground rod, on the south wall of my east-facing attached garage.
There is a big, fat lightning trap (high-voltage line on tall poles) a couple of hundred yards west.
The layout is turned off with a standard wall switch at the entrance (120 VAC - connects to everything on the layout.) Propulsion power (analog DC) is switched off (both AC and DC sides) unless active to control a train. The layout electricals are bolted to the steel stud benchwork - very little flammable anywhere near them.
In all, I feel pretty secure - but I'm still not going to stand on a hilltop with a metal-framed umbrella in a thunderstorm...
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I think that given the investment that many of us have tied up in this hobby, the buyer's remorse for purchasing protection would be greatly outweighed by the anger, cost and sadness over fried components and locomotives.