lightening strike?

[moon_lake]

Ever since we had a bad lightening strike in our yard last week, I've found several outlets in the mh dead. There are a few working, checked the circuit breakers and they are fine, now what?

[jerseyjim]

Surge Protectors are good. Electrical Management Systems are much better. Check out Progressive Industries. Yes., expensive, but......for me...it took a nearby lightening strike that fried my fridge and almost totalled by transfer switch. So, 1400 bucks, 300 for a EMS is cheap.

[mci7]

There are many different levels of "Direct lightening strikes", everything from a blown breaker to total disaster where nothing in the area survives.
At our home "High ridge" location,and with a 170 ft tower, we had many cases of issues. Finally we went with Poly Phaser Co. setup, dug a 1' ditch 15' away from house circiling the house, every 15' along the ditch, drove a 8' ground rod, layed a 3" solid copper strap, cad welded to rod, finished up bonding from tower, the loop and the electric meter ground together, added a 200 amp choke to incoming power line. That was 18 yrs ago, have had zero issues since.
Cost $4,500.00 plus labor, yes we did it our self.
Found if you want protection from lightening, start with proper grounding.
When on the road in a RV Park, disconnect at first sign of up coming issue.
Dave M

[mockturtle]

J-Rooster wrote:

moon.lake wrote:
Its an older coach, 97. Yes it was plugged in. Storm came outta nowhere!
Guess we have alot of research to do. Thanks for all the good info., except the
1 iron!

Sorry you didn't like the Tex Mex ( Golfer Lee Trevino) humor! It wasn't met to be personal! Whenever, there is a lightning storm, I always think of Lee out on the fairway holding up his 1 Iron and Saying GOD can't even hit a 1 Iron! And, Lee was never hit by lightning when he was on the Pro Golf Tour!

From Wikipedia:

After he was struck by lightning at the 1975 Western Open, Trevino was asked by a reporter what he would do if he were out on the course and it began to storm again. Trevino answered he would take out his 1 iron and point it to the sky, "because not even God can hit the 1-iron." Trevino said later in an interview with David Feherty that he must have tempted God the week before by staying outside during a lighting delay to entertain the crowds, saying "I deserved to get hit...God can hit a 1-iron".

[J-Rooster]

moon.lake wrote:
Its an older coach, 97. Yes it was plugged in. Storm came outta nowhere!
Guess we have alot of research to do. Thanks for all the good info., except the
1 iron!

Sorry you didn't like the Tex Mex ( Golfer Lee Trevino) humor! It wasn't met to be personal! Whenever, there is a lightning storm, I always think of Lee out on the fairway holding up his 1 Iron and Saying GOD can't even hit a 1 Iron! And, Lee was never hit by lightning when he was on the Pro Golf Tour!

[wa8yxm]

cochise49 wrote:
If you use a surge suppressor (I do) and the RV itself experiences a lightning strike, wouldn't you still have problems?

There are Surge suppressors and spike supressors.. Now a true Surge suppressor/Energy MONITOR system like the HW-50C incorporates spike supression as well.

HOWEVER... A lightening strike can overwhelm the MOV's blow them up like firecrackers (only not nearly as much violence) and blow right past the system to take out stuff in the RV... If not for one thing I would have said that there is no protection against a direct hit.

(That one thing comes later this post)

For the O/P.. If you have an inverter check it
If you have not already check the GFCI outelte

What outlets/systems are not working?

IF kitchen, patio and bathroom and any outlet ABOVE the dining table,, GFCI is suspecte They can be triped or taken out by a near miss.


The true story:
Tower (Radio tower) where I woerked took a direct strike.. Everythign went DOWN (including the telephone system in the building over 100 yards away)... Then everything re-booted and came back on line.

Engineers toured the dog house (The radio equipment room at the base of the tower) next day and found one power supply (Actually a "Converter" by RV nomenclature, a 3-stage battery charger/floater) that was... Only about 50% there.. I got to see the half that remained.. Kind of impressive.. They never found the other half.

But all the radios survived, and the one the converter powered... Ran off batteries till a new converter was installed.

Only direct strike survival case I know of.. Those Michigan State Police radio engineers are clearly 1st Rate.

[mockturtle]

I agree about checking the GFI outlets (resetting them) first. Always best to start with the simplest solution. :W

[ryanw821]

Surge protectors are great and I totally recommend them, but they wont do squat for a direct lightning strike, even completely unplugged if the coach took direct hit its likely to have fried things.

I would say call your insurance company, your homeowners would likely cover it if you are parked at home. If you are not parked at home call on your policy on the coach, Lightning/storm damage is almost always covered on these policies.

[dbates]

A friend of mine keeps his MH in a barn that was struck by lightning. Even though the MH was not plugged in he sustained several thousand dollars in damage to the MH. So with a very close strike it doesn’t make any difference if you do or don’t have a surge protector but in so many other situations they are of great value.

Dave

[moon_lake]

Its an older coach, 97. Yes it was plugged in. Storm came outta nowhere!
Guess we have alot of research to do. Thanks for all the good info., except the
1 iron!

[J-Rooster]

In the future if your aware of lightning in your area unplug your coach! Next climb up on the roof of your coach and hold a 1 Iron high the air. You know what Lee said about a 1 Iron! Nothing to worry about until the next storm!

[Yellowboat_]

X3 on GFI plug. If a few plugs are not working it is usually a GFI plug in the circuit. Remove and replace the GFI plug and the other plugs should work once more.

Safe travels.

JD

[Passin_Thru]

If it was a lightening strike, you can weigh it and see how much lighter it is!! LOL. If it was lightning then you can get a Fluke Meter and check resistance through circuits.

[darsben]

Check your GFI device in the trailer It can sometimes run multiple outlets

[wolfe10]

cochise49 wrote:
If you use a surge suppressor (I do) and the RV itself experiences a lightning strike, wouldn't you still have problems?

Depends on how close and how the lightening entered the coach.

No surge suppressor will protect against a direct lightening strike. WAY, WAY too many joules of energy.

Agree, places to start are GFI's (usually more than one), all breakers (including on the inverter), etc.

Then see what is not working.