Lightning damage diagnosis

[Stubey]

Hi,

There was an electrical storm in my neighbourhood while I was out and I returned home to find my router, tv and Sky box unresponsive.

The router and TV have been replaced.

After replacing the power cable (fuse blown on original plug), the Sky box turns on and boots up but can't get any signal - perhaps dish damaged. Sky engineer coming on weekend.

My questions:

1. Could someone please recommend effective surge protectors that would protect my hardware?
2. I've noticed that my pc (media centre) that was plugged into the tv via a DisplayPort to HDMI cable still works, but only via VGA. Is it possible that the DisplayPort could be ruined by the lightning, or is this more likely cable damage (unfortunately I don't have any other pc's with DisplayPorts to test the cable)?

Thanks for the help / info.

Regards,
Stuart

 

[oczdude8]

If you live in an area with frequent and harsh lightning storms, I would suggest you have an electrician install a good whole home surge protector at your fuse box. It will save your other appliances too.

If your pc works, it cant have been damaged by lighting. it could more likely be your TV's port

 

[Superplonk]

Myself and 5 neighbours have suffered similar problems from nearby (very!) lightning strike. The circuit board on mine & 2 other neighbours c heating boilers are fried. Three of us have lost our cable Tivo boxes. Two TV's in the street are trashed. 3 out of 4 of my TV's HDMI ports and all my AV amps HDMI ports no longer function.

My point is buy surge protectors (Belkin?) but lightning is very unpredictable & does not necessarily surge through your home power supply. It can come through telephone lines, fibre optic lines, water supply or your homes electrical earth bonding. Myself and one other neighbour have top quality surge protectors none of which have tripped and yet we have damage & he lost his TV & sound-bar.

As for PC if you are lucky it could be the cable, buy a cheap one to find out. If it is the PC its not hard to change a graphics card.

 

[dustin3211]

I bought my surge protector from the TV area at best buy. These ones can produce/protect against the amount of current your PC will use. Don't consider a backup battery type device.