The Importance Of Proper Surge Protection and Grounding

Hey guys, I thought I would share an eye opening event experienced by one of my friends.

He just moved into a new house and set his home theater system which consists of an Onkyo network receiver, 60" Panny plasma tv and 5.1 made up of Klipsch Synergy speakers and Sub 12.

He had the satellite tv company come out and install his satellite dish a few days after he moved in. He went to watch TV a day later and his tv, sat box, receiver, and Sub would not power on. Voltage tested fine at the wall and Monster AV surge protector.

It turns out that a surge came in on the coax from the satellite dish and spiked the satellite box which then fried the receiver via HDMI, which fried the TV via HDMI and the sub via rca cables. Although the surge protector had coax protection, he didn't have them hooked up and they took out all of his equipment.

It turns out that the installer who installed the satellite dish did not properly ground it, so despite his mistake of not hooking the coax surge protection up they are going to cover the cost of the equipment repairs. It turned out to be a cheap lesson for him but if the dish was properly installed, he would have been SOL.

I guess I just wanted to stress the importance of surge protection for your equipment, even on coax cables and also to make sure your incoming coax (satellite or cable) are grounded correctly.

SurgeX.

I use a Monster Audio HTS 1600 power center. I got it during a lightning sale on Amazon for $79.99 shipped. It works well for my system. I considered Belkin and APC's offerings before the sale came up and they both seemed to have great basic power conditioner/ surge suppressors. I hooked the coax protection up on mine from the start, but may not have if there was no coax cable included.

My home theater is on a APC battery backup, really helpful when the power goes out for .5 seconds like it does here somewhat frequently.

My PA rack has a Furman M-8Dx

Grounding a dish can cause more damage than not grounding.

It is not a black and white issue.

APC S20 FTW.

Originally Posted by GlockMan

Grounding a dish can cause more damage than not grounding.

It is not a black and white issue.

APC S20 FTW.

That APC unit is awesome. I just took a look at the specs.

Can you elaborate on the issues with grounding a satellite dish? The only thing I can think of is that you may be making it more conductive and therefore more likely to get hit. Is this what you are referring to?

Originally Posted by DangerousMind

That APC is unit is awesome. I just took a look at the specs.

Can you elaborate on the issues with grounding a satellite dish? The only thing I can think of is that you may be making it more conductive and therefore more likely to get hit. Is this what you are referring to?

I have the s15. It is pretty amazing but insanely priced ($1500 few years ago).

There have been a lot of debates over the years about sat dishes grounding. Yes one side argues the grounding attracts lighting. In the lightning capital, this is a big deal. Add to the fact that so often they are grounded wrong and the argument can be said that not grounding has advantages in some circumstances.

JMO

Crap. I didn't even know things can be fried via coax.

Originally Posted by Amoeba

Crap. I didn't even know things can be fried via coax.

and telephone and rca and hdmi and just about anything with silver or copper in it

So what is the best way to check my satellite dish and make sure it is safe ?
Do you ground it at the dish and tie a wire off the dish to the gutter, or run it to the ground ?
Or do I make sure that it uses a three prong plug at the electrical outlet ?

Oh yeah, how do you ground coaxial cable ?
Do I have to buy one of those surge x things for coaxial ?

You don't have to go nuts to get a decent surge protector to protect the coax too. Look at something like the monster HTS700.

Great information, and I'd also like to add one thing.

I have the basic "$10,000 insured" surge protectors and when I had a surge caused by line workers in my backyard Phillips refused my claim. Long story short, yes I tried to claim with the power company but after that I went to Phillips. They said since I never registered their product they wouldn't pay anything out.

Luckily I only lost the main logic board on my Samsung and it isn't a major part, but a warning to everyone in that you should inquire about all policies mentioned beforehand.

well I had my A/V hooked to a panamax power conditioner and my home office on a belkin surge protector. House got struck by lightening/power surge Thursday, and guess what? everything is fried...crazy think is the breaker never even popped, all the swithes were "on", the lightening just tore through the place. sounded like a nuclear bomb going off in the house...

Originally Posted by King of Chicago

well I had my A/V hooked to a panamax power conditioner and my home office on a belkin surge protector. House got struck by lightening/power surge Thursday, and guess what? everything is fried...crazy think is the breaker never even popped, all the swithes were "on", the lightening just tore through the place. sounded like a nuclear bomb going off in the house...

Sorry to hear man. Did you have your coax cables going through the Panamax as well? Is the plug properly grounded? If every component and incoming A/V cable was running through the Panamax, it should have been the only thing to smoke. My friend had everything but his coax running through surge protection and that was all it took for everything to get fried.

Very few people have the equipment properly protected.

You could have a $5,000 surge protector, but if your equipment is not installed properly, it does not matter.

Perfect example... TV on the wall, equipment across the room. Both have to be on the same AC outlet. No one ever does it. (I do.)

Coax, Network, Telephone, etc all need to be joined and protected together.

Plug a subwoofer into one wall, a TV in another, receiver into another and you are far from protected no matter what surge protector you have on each.

Originally Posted by GlockMan

Plug a subwoofer into one wall, a TV in another, receiver into another and you are far from protected no matter what surge protector you have on each.

Why is that?

And do surges normally come from lightning? Or more from other sources as well.

Originally Posted by Amoeba

Why is that?

And do surges normally come from lightning? Or more from other sources as well.

Because they are not grounded together.

Both lighting and normal stuff.

Lightning hits a telephone pole down the street and it travels down the line.

Your fridge compressor turns on and off and creates a surge. (ever see your lights dim or get bright?) Same with garage door opener, hairdryer, or A/C compressor, etc.