Re: Weather Station and Lighting

4+ mmm as in solid copper wire that is 4 mm in diameter.
That will earth lightning and remain intact. The experiments
recently performed in AZ used blunt rods and sharp pointed
rod. The purpose of a lightning rod is to earth a direct
strike. Lightning preferred earth via blunt rods.

Delicate electronics already has thousands of volts of
internal protection. This defined in manufacturer
semiconductor data sheets, required in IEC and other
standards, and is why we divert lightning to earth so that
electronic internal protection is not overwhelmed.

How well proven is the technology? The £multi-million
telephone switching computer connects to overhead wires
everywhere in town. Do they shutdown for each thunderstorm?
Of course not. They also use same 'well proven even before
WWII' technology. Protection of electronics is that routine
and that well established in virtually every town.

Protection of electronics in that weather station is defined
by the quality of and connection to earth ground. Lightning
that does not find a path to earth via electronics does not
damage that electronics.

Dave Liquorice wrote:
> Blunt as in a straight cut or blunt as in terminating in a hemisphere?
> Assuming by "rod" you mean something of circular cross section.
> ...
>
> Please define what you mean by "4+ mm".
> ...
>
> That is what I said.
> ...
>
> Delicate electronics does not take kindly to the huge induced voltages
> that a lightning strike produces over several hundred yards distant.
> Yes, you can build electronics that will survive but that does not
> come cheap. In effect the electronics to read the sensors, convert the
> data to a form suitable to be sent over a low power RF link cannot be
> protected at a price the consumer is prepared to pay.
> ...
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: House grounding
    ... Lightning seeks earth ground. ... Earthing provides chimney protection. ... wire must connect from breaker box to an earthing electrode that is ...
    (alt.home.repair)
  • Re: Building foundation. Trying to locate ground rod
    ... Lightning seeks earth ground. ... Earthing provides chimney protection. ... wire must connect from breaker box to an earthing electrode that is ...
    (alt.home.repair)
  • Re: Power supplies keep crapping out on me
    ... Few components in an Apple II power supply are custom.Inspection ... Damage from lightning is an electrical path from cloud to earth. ... electronics, through thermocouple, and to earth ground via fermenter. ... protection unless you have installed a 'whole house' protector AND have ...
    (comp.sys.apple2)
  • Re: Weather Station and Lighting
    ... Lightning protection, as demonstrated by Franklin in 1752, ... Lightning seeks earth ground. ... A wire suspended over ...
    (uk.sci.weather)
  • Re: Should I buy a new motherboard if lightning hit my computer?
    ... Lightning seeking earth via four ... incoming and outgoing path through electronics; ... better internal protection was not damaged. ... transients that typically damage electronics. ...
    (alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt)