# Lightning Strike



## D&J Railroad (Oct 4, 2013)

A few months ago, I was away on travel and there were some pretty sever storms back home here in Virginia. When I got home I planned an op session for a few weeks later. In the mean time, I ran a few trains and did some other work around the layout but didn't notice anything unusual. During the op session, one of the operators noticed a section of track was dead. A closer look revealed a few more sections, then more as I continued checking. It appeared that the problem was spreading across one section of the layout. All of power section three went dead. After some head scratching, I pulled the PM42 out of its slot and swapped it into another section of the layout. Now that section was dead which pointed to the suspect PM42. The PM42 must have been taken out by a lightning strike. I sent that off the Digitrax for repairs and bought a new one on line. Further work on the layout revealed the lack of signal operation. Apparently the light strike hit my signal control laptop too. None of the signals responded to turnout changes or block occupancy. The PR3 interface device was still good. I've had to go through the Train Controller Silver and re-establish all the blocks. I think the laptop may have been damaged too, so I bought a brick and transferred the TCS over to that. During the block building process, I think I have found that a BDL168 is also bad. It's not relaying the block detection information so when running a train, the blocks don't show occupancy on the computer screen. As I worked through the block detection, I started working on the signals too. Now, I'm finding that the turnouts don't change the signals as I have them programmed. Possibly the SE8C card is bad. Well, I have an op session coming up this next weekend so I have to get things put back together. While cleaning the track, I found that the turnouts for one section didn't work. They're powered off the SE8C card. Just out of curiosity, I rebooted the layout. The turnout worked one time then nothing. Another lightning strike casualty. Today, I was attempting to setup my LokProgrammer with the new brick computer. Downloaded the software for it and did the install but no link to the LokProgrammer. The PR3 works fine but not the ESU. I took it over to my local dealer and he checked it out. The USB cable has a small board in the connector that plugs into the LokProgrammer. That was fried. Also the LokProgramer could read the decoder on a loco but it couldn't send data to it. Another lightning casualty.
A lot of damage and it's not all immediately obvious. I had turned everything off before I went on travel but didn't unplug anything from the power source. No surge protectors either.
Now, I have surge protectors on everything.


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## Dennis461 (Jan 5, 2018)

Call your insurance company.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

D&J Railroad said:


> A few months ago, I was away on travel and there were some pretty sever storms back home here in Virginia. When I got home I planned an op session for a few weeks later. In the mean time, I ran a few trains and did some other work around the layout but didn't notice anything unusual. During the op session, one of the operators noticed a section of track was dead. A closer look revealed a few more sections, then more as I continued checking. It appeared that the problem was spreading across one section of the layout. All of power section three went dead. After some head scratching, I pulled the PM42 out of its slot and swapped it into another section of the layout. Now that section was dead which pointed to the suspect PM42. The PM42 must have been taken out by a lightning strike. I sent that off the Digitrax for repairs and bought a new one on line. Further work on the layout revealed the lack of signal operation. Apparently the light strike hit my signal control laptop too. None of the signals responded to turnout changes or block occupancy. The PR3 interface device was still good. I've had to go through the Train Controller Silver and re-establish all the blocks. I think the laptop may have been damaged too, so I bought a brick and transferred the TCS over to that. During the block building process, I think I have found that a BDL168 is also bad. It's not relaying the block detection information so when running a train, the blocks don't show occupancy on the computer screen. As I worked through the block detection, I started working on the signals too. Now, I'm finding that the turnouts don't change the signals as I have them programmed. Possibly the SE8C card is bad. Well, I have an op session coming up this next weekend so I have to get things put back together. While cleaning the track, I found that the turnouts for one section didn't work. They're powered off the SE8C card. Just out of curiosity, I rebooted the layout. The turnout worked one time then nothing. Another lightning strike casualty. Today, I was attempting to setup my LokProgrammer with the new brick computer. Downloaded the software for it and did the install but no link to the LokProgrammer. The PR3 works fine but not the ESU. I took it over to my local dealer and he checked it out. The USB cable has a small board in the connector that plugs into the LokProgrammer. That was fried. Also the LokProgramer could read the decoder on a loco but it couldn't send data to it. Another lightning casualty.
> A lot of damage and it's not all immediately obvious. I had turned everything off before I went on travel but didn't unplug anything from the power source. No surge protectors either.
> Now, I have surge protectors on everything.


That s ucks.
Good surge protectors are a must. Some are junk, they say.
I have been thinking getting a good lightning rod installed.
I think the storms in the East are getting more intense as the years roll by.
We have had some wicked electrical storms this year.


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## Mark VerMurlen (Aug 15, 2015)

Wow, that’s a lot of damage. You have my condolences.


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## Chops (Dec 6, 2018)

Holy Moley, that’s crazy. When I get home I’m going to unplug my little analog layouts. Glad you were able to make repairs.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

WOW, it's been many years since I got hit. In my case it took out phones, dimmers, a TV and my intercom system.


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## BigGRacing (Sep 25, 2020)

Sorry to hear that as well D&J Railroad. I echo what Big Ed stated, my wife and I have seen the frequency and intensity of storms up here increase significantly since we got hit by Hurricane Juan a few years ago.


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## AFGP9 (Apr 8, 2015)

Sounds like you had some wide spread damage. sorry to hear about that. I learned the hard way about lightning strikes. Weird things happen. I do have surge protectors on everything electrical. If I leave my house for a day or more my layout protector is unplugged. TMCC stuff ain't cheap. My surge protectors are not cheap ones. Even so, I had a strike next to my house, not directly on the house in an intense lightning thunderstorm. That strike took out my surround sound amp, surge protected, my satellite receiver, and A/C contact in my HAVAC system, but not my TV that is plugged into the same protector as the surround amp and the satellite receiver. Go figure. Other unrelated electrical items were also affected. The weirdest thing was my stand alone garage 300 feet away. The door opener control boards were both fried. My attached garage opener boards were untouched. The out side garage is even on the opposite side of my house. Since my layout was unplugged as well as my train room TV both were safe.


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## D&J Railroad (Oct 4, 2013)

Discovered another problem. Any loco that I try to program runs at full speed now. Just putting it on the programming track changes the speed table. The MTH turbine may not have a problem.
I'm tryin to use JMRI to look into the decoder but it won't let me past the save file point. It doesn't recognize the file location. Tried a new download of JMRI and used all defaults, still doesn't recognize path.
This lightning strike must have been very crafty.


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## D&J Railroad (Oct 4, 2013)

More misleading complications.
As I am rebuilding the loconet system on the layout, I start finding that the loconet doesn't extend past one of the BDL168s. I'm using a DT402D throttle to check by plugging it into the loconet. I test the cables, I test the UP5s, but it's looking like they're all not functioning. After about couple hours of this, I decide to test the throttle. Yep, it had decided to freeze up on me and was staying in battery mode despite being plugged into a good loconet. Went back and tested the BDL168 and it was good.
This stuff is getting real frustrating, as though somebody is messing with me.


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

Lightening can do strange things to electronics. Nearly every expensive piece of equipment I have such as computers, amplifiers, TV, etc are unplugged when a storm is approaching. If I'm at work and the chance exists, everything is unplugged before leaving.

It's a PITA, but it's worth not having everything destroyed by a close strike and an overloaded transformer.


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## bigdodgetrain (Jun 12, 2015)

MichaelE said:


> Lightening can do strange things to electronics. Nearly every expensive piece of equipment I have such as computers, amplifiers, TV, etc are unplugged when a storm is approaching. If I'm at work and the chance exists, everything is unplugged before leaving.
> 
> It's a PITA, but it's worth not having everything destroyed by a close strike and an overloaded transformer.



best advice.


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## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

It was my understanding that surge protectors don't protect your stuff from lightning strikes. They protect from power surges when electricity is restored after loss of power.


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## Lemonhawk (Sep 24, 2013)

I use a UPS, but the best protection is unplug everything. I had long HDMI cables on my video system and a lightning took out most of it. Since then I switched to fiberoptic HDMI cables.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I see that fiber optic HDMI cables are directional, does that affect applications that require the reverse channel? I also read that the fiber cables can't pass the higher quality audio. Here's one of many references...

_Fiber optical cables support surround sound with up to 5.1 channels. While HDMI supports Dolby Digital Plus, TrueHD formats, and DTS HD. Almost all the television programming gets broadcast in surround sound but there are many Blu-ray discs offering enhanced sound quality. So, if you love watching your content in Blu-ray, HDMI is the one you should be choosing. _


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## AFGP9 (Apr 8, 2015)

Gramps said:


> It was my understanding that surge protectors don't protect your stuff from lightning strikes. They protect from power surges when electricity is restored after loss of power.


That's what I was told as well. Still. I use them any way. Unplugging is the best protection. Trouble is, a couple of times I was a couple of states away on vacation and had no way of knowing there was a thunderstorm. From then on, I unplug the strips.


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## AmtrackJim (May 28, 2015)

Sorry about your loss. Just out of curiosity are you sure it was a lightning strike or could it have been a power surge after losing power for whatever reason? There are also devices that can be added to your main entrance cable at your breaker or fuse panel that are a one time protection for surges.


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## D&J Railroad (Oct 4, 2013)

I had a surge protector power strip on the system. They aren't designed to stop a lightning strike.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Surge protectors are a long ways from 100% effective. Also, unless you spend a chunk of change, they're all based on MOV devices that degrade every time there is a surge absorbed.


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## Lemonhawk (Sep 24, 2013)

The fiberoptic cables run form the PC to the video receiver and from the video receiver to the projector. The run to the projector does not use audio as its removed by the video receiver that drives the speakers. They are all running 4k video. Since the projector is able to communicate the projector name and model all the way, projector to receiver to computer, there must be some sort of 2 way communications.. I just made sure that the cables were 4k compatible.


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## 65446 (Sep 22, 2018)

My sincerest condolences, DJ !! Guess that's one of the dangers on digital MRRing..Not sure if an analog DC powerpack could also sustain damage from lightening if that's the lightening you're referring to...
I'm closing in on a small shelfie layout and love my NCE PowerCab...Man there can be some thunder in Los Angeles in the rainy season. Hoping my shutting off power strip that PCab is plugged into will be enough protection !!
No humor meant when I say: Thanks for the warning, bro.. 
Good luck with repairs and travels on the 1:1 scale.
(I think you are "DJs Trains" on YT. Yes ? ) ....M 🏭🏭🌄🛤🏚🏤🌵


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## D&J Railroad (Oct 4, 2013)

No, I'm not the DJs Trains.
I've been the D&J Railroad since back in the 1980s.


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## 65446 (Sep 22, 2018)

Oh ! Sorry bout dat Ken !! Hope it hasn't been to much of a drag for you; the confusion between the two.


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## Patrick1544 (Apr 27, 2013)

I installed a whole house surge protector on my main panel. Hopefully that will work correctly if needed.
here’s the one I bought.


https://www.lowes.com/pd/Square-D-SurgeArrest-25-KA-Indoor-Outdoor-Surge-Protective-Device/4363149



I just checked. Home Depot has it for $30 less.


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## Lemonhawk (Sep 24, 2013)

While surge protection is nice, its not Lighting protection.


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## cfurnari (Aug 2, 2020)

So, I finished the grading around the building I will be using, and have a guy coming by on Friday to fix up the concrete slab (I hope). With the grading, we had to dig up and rebury the power to the building... The electrician will be reattaching the power, adding a couple more circuits, and is willing to put in a couple of lightining rods, just because it may help. So, two 14 foot copper poles will be banged into the ground and attached..

Fun...


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## D&J Railroad (Oct 4, 2013)

That's the best way to do it. Drive em deep.


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