Lightning....

sdkid

sdkid

IPCT+ Member
Dec 6, 2014
6,102
24,310
South Dakota
I am camping 50 miles from home and had weather moving in. I checked my cameras, and at home it was raining hard with some lightning... One bright flash and 4 of my cams went down. Three of them came back after a few minutes but one is still down. I was able to get into my Aruba switch, and it had a POE port fault on one port. ugh. So, a few hours later I checked again, and that cam was still down. I did a reboot of the switch--- and I guess the switch got hung up on an error or something and didn't finish the reboot, and now I can't get into anything. Yay.
 
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sdkid said:
I am camping 50 miles from home and had weather moving in. I checked my cameras, and at home it was raining hard with some lightning... One bright flash and 4 of my cams went down. Three of them came back after a few minutes but one is still down. I was able to get into my Aruba switch, and it had a POE port fault on one port. ugh. So, a few hours later I checked again, and that cam was still down. I did a reboot of the switch--- and I guess the switch got hung up on an error or something and didn't finish the reboot, and now I can't get into anything. Yay.
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Do you have ethernet surge protection and proper ground on your premises?
 
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Arjun said:
Do you have ethernet surge protection and proper ground on your premises?
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No-- I have my POE switch, router, modem, and BI computer isolated behind a battery UPS / surge protector for power line surges. This is almost certainly lightning-EMP induced current in the cabling itself. Can that be mitigated??? Eleven years ago I lost 2 cams and a switch to a lightning surge like this one-- some Dahua 1.3mp bullets...
 
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sdkid said:
No-- I have my POE switch, router, modem, and BI computer isolated behind a battery UPS / surge protector for power line surges. This is almost certainly lightning-EMP induced current in the cabling itself. Can that be mitigated??? Eleven years ago I lost 2 cams and a switch to a lightning surge like this one-- some Dahua 1.3mp bullets...
Click to expand...
Wait...how many cameras are down now? 1 or 4? If its multiple, wouldn't suggest that something is not grounded correctly?
 
right after the lightning hit-- 4 cams went down. 3 of them rebooted and came back, but one did not. I think this issue is from current induced directly in the ethernet from lightning emp. I won't be able to check until I get back because my reboot of the switch killed my access to everything...
 
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Update on this. I was able to get in again, but my BI computer was down. Guessing the UPS battery backup shut it down-- not sure. My daughter got it started for me and ALL of the cameras are operating again. Guessing there was a hard fault on the port for the cam that had remained down, and the reboot brought it back??

Is there a way to stop EMP-induced current in ethernet cable? I guess the switch stopped it, but do I really need to put some device between my cams and their ethernet connection to protect the cams?
 
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sdkid said:
Update on this. I was able to get in again, but my BI computer was down. Guessing the UPS battery backup shut it down-- not sure. My daughter got it started for me and ALL of the cameras are operating again. Guessing there was a hard fault on the port for the cam that had remained down, and the reboot brought it back??

Is there a way to stop EMP-induced current in ethernet cable? I guess the switch stopped it, but do I really need to put some device between my cams and their ethernet connection to protect the cams?
Click to expand...
Thanks to you, I just purchased these at my local Microcenter
store.ui.com

Ethernet Surge Protection Outdoor (10kA) - Ubiquiti Store

ESD protection for outdoor high-speed networks.
store.ui.com store.ui.com
 
 
I've rationalized going the lazy route, self-insuring the cost of damaged cameras and POE switch against the cost and work of installing surge protectors, plus the added reliability risk of adding more connectors. So far it has worked out well, but the economic calculation may have tilted some. The POE switch isn't much of a factor because I use a used business class switch which is available at a pretty low price. With cameras, it was easy to say the cameras are pretty cheap and I'll probably replace them in a few years anyway. That part has certainly changed with the new cameras costing more and the older ones being generally more desirable. (Same thing as with new cars I just realized). Looks like the price of the surge protectors has come down, too, compared to a few years ago. I see it as a make your decision and take your chances sort of thing.
 
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sdkid said:
Is there a way to stop EMP-induced current in ethernet cable? I guess the switch stopped it, but do I really need to put some device between my cams and their ethernet connection to protect the cams?
Click to expand...
The ones I've used the last 10 years are not avalable any more but here's a link to its replacement on Ama2on => Gigabit Ethernet Surge Protector, 10KV RJ45 Lightning Protector for PoE/PoE++ Devices, 120W/Port, 10/100/1000Mbps Network Surge Suppressor, GDT Technology, CAT5e/CAT6 Compatible, Flange Mount

I installed 6 in a double-wide trailer about 2012 that is a trucking company office and it had really bad lightning issues since I took them on it 2006. The database server for their accounting s/w hated Wi-Fi delays so I re-connected the CAT-5, put these on 3 PC's, a networked printer and both ends of the LAN connection from the DSL modem to their switch.

About 2015 I replaced the one coming from the modem but closest to the switch and the phone co. had to replace the modem. Then about 4 years ago I replaced one at the networked printer. The best I can tell they did their job and were worth the money.

I made sure the nearby outlets used at each location were grounded well and put the green/yellow wire under that outlets's cover screw.

ethernet-surge.jpg
 
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