Been struck by lightning?
If you've had damage from lightning, please share your experience.
Forum Discussion
I'm happy to report that I have never been struck by lightning, but I have been in many electrical storms while camping in the TC, and even while backpacking with only a tent. A few years back my wife, young son, and I were in a truly spectacular storm in the middle of the night at Jenny Lake in the Grand Tetons. The mountain tops & trees all around us were struck repeatedly for well over an hour and we had no option other than to ride it out and watch. We could feel the electricity and smell the ozone... It was both exhilarating and terrifying! We were close enough that there was no discernible delay between the blinding flash/cracks & the deafening thunder claps. Oh and, it was raining down in buckets. My son didn't like it one bit!
A lightning bolt can have a potential in the neighborhood of ONE BILLION VOLTS at more than 100,000 Amps!!! As a result, rubber tires (or the boots on your feet) will do absolutely nothing to "protect" a truck camper (or RV or car or person) from a lightning strike! Occupants of automobiles and RV's frequently survive lightning strikes because the shell of vehicle can create an effective Faraday cage. Tires might offer some protection from a fallen power line… but not from lightning.
The best protection is not to be out where the lightning is in the first place! Alternatively if you get caught in an electrical storm, move out of open spaces and toward a lower elevation or into a valley, you want to be the lowest object around. Stay inside your vehicle (the mostly steel truck is likely to be a better spot than the camper). Safer still would be to get inside a building with grounded plumbing and electrical system. If there are tall well-grounded metal objects (antenna towers or power poles) in the area that's great, but remember that they are likely to be struck first, so you do not want to be adjacent to them when the discharge occurs… several hundred feet away (at least) would be a good idea.
Keep in mind that IF lightning is going to strike near you there is absolutely nothing you can do about it… the charge has to go somewhere! While Steve's (sabconsulting) idea of creating a ground path for lightning seems logical, it should never ever be attached to the truck camper! The "best route" is far-far away from you and the ground connection should be made to a tall metal object to create a "lightning rod" (these objects would typically be grounded already unless you erected it yourself). A lightning rod can create a low(er) resistance path where the charge will dissipate instead of passing through/around your truck & camper. You may be lucky enough for the rod dissipate the electrical field since it will represent a lower resistance path to ground. However this type of system must be in place long before the electrical charge builds… If you have heard a thunder clap within the previous 60 minutes it is way too late to think about creating any kind of makeshift ground path and you absolutely shouldn't handle or touch any metal objects.
I do love watching electrical storms from a distance and, strangely enough, I wish they happened more frequently here in the SF Bay Area :C
Cheers,
-Mark
Just a thought... my camper never has any sort of contact with earth except the rubber tires which don't conduct electricity... no ground... no worry maybe...
A lightning bolt can have a potential in the neighborhood of ONE BILLION VOLTS at more than 100,000 Amps!!! As a result, rubber tires (or the boots on your feet) will do absolutely nothing to "protect" a truck camper (or RV or car or person) from a lightning strike! Occupants of automobiles and RV's frequently survive lightning strikes because the shell of vehicle can create an effective Faraday cage. Tires might offer some protection from a fallen power line… but not from lightning.
The best protection is not to be out where the lightning is in the first place! Alternatively if you get caught in an electrical storm, move out of open spaces and toward a lower elevation or into a valley, you want to be the lowest object around. Stay inside your vehicle (the mostly steel truck is likely to be a better spot than the camper). Safer still would be to get inside a building with grounded plumbing and electrical system. If there are tall well-grounded metal objects (antenna towers or power poles) in the area that's great, but remember that they are likely to be struck first, so you do not want to be adjacent to them when the discharge occurs… several hundred feet away (at least) would be a good idea.
Keep in mind that IF lightning is going to strike near you there is absolutely nothing you can do about it… the charge has to go somewhere! While Steve's (sabconsulting) idea of creating a ground path for lightning seems logical, it should never ever be attached to the truck camper! The "best route" is far-far away from you and the ground connection should be made to a tall metal object to create a "lightning rod" (these objects would typically be grounded already unless you erected it yourself). A lightning rod can create a low(er) resistance path where the charge will dissipate instead of passing through/around your truck & camper. You may be lucky enough for the rod dissipate the electrical field since it will represent a lower resistance path to ground. However this type of system must be in place long before the electrical charge builds… If you have heard a thunder clap within the previous 60 minutes it is way too late to think about creating any kind of makeshift ground path and you absolutely shouldn't handle or touch any metal objects.
I do love watching electrical storms from a distance and, strangely enough, I wish they happened more frequently here in the SF Bay Area :C
Cheers,
-Mark
