Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

Lightning strike took out the HDMI outputs

325 views
Skip to first unread message

Percival P. Cassidy

unread,
May 31, 2010, 7:56:42 PM5/31/10
to
A lightning strike this a.m. took out -- among other things -- the HDMI
outputs of our HR21 boxes. Other outputs are still OK but not as good
quality.

Has anybody attempted fixing one of these or -- since the boxes are
leased rather than owned -- had them fixed "professionally"? If so, how
much?

Perce

AMUN

unread,
May 31, 2010, 10:46:26 PM5/31/10
to


Not sure if Direct offers the same "equipment insurance " Dish does for
about $5.-$6. month.
You may want to keep quiet, and check if that is available.
If you get it, only then tell them about the lightning hit, and get them to
fix/replace it.

You could try your house insurance, but by the time you cover the deductable
and have a claim on your record, the Direct insurance would be a better bet

To be honest, most times lighting hits electronics, it fries so much, it's
rarely worth fixing.


Scott Lurndal

unread,
Jun 1, 2010, 12:50:20 PM6/1/10
to

One _should_ be protecting one's electronics with a surge supressor. Whole
house surge supressors are available, as well as simple plugstrips or
Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) subsystems.

scott

http://www.milestek.com/search_NonSorted.asp?skw=surge&image.x=0&image.y=0
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/1EC58

Percival P. Cassidy

unread,
Jun 1, 2010, 1:08:31 PM6/1/10
to
On 06/01/10 12:50 pm, Scott Lurndal wrote:

> One _should_ be protecting one's electronics with a surge supressor. Whole
> house surge supressors are available, as well as simple plugstrips or
> Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) subsystems.

Have all of those. They all have their limitations.

It was LOUD. Our neighbor, who lost his DSL connection, said he saw the
hit, which looked as though it was right at our house.

Perce

Dr. Personality

unread,
Jun 1, 2010, 5:02:52 PM6/1/10
to
In article <gTaNn.370121$eB.2...@news.usenetserver.com>, Scott
Lurndal <sc...@slp53.sl.home> wrote:

> One _should_ be protecting one's electronics with a surge supressor. Whole
> house surge supressors are available, as well as simple plugstrips or
> Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) subsystems.

One _does_, and yet one lost his DSL router, a couple of phones and
some other stuff last year when one had a boomer go off right over
one's house. It was probably the loudest thing one ever heard.

Tim J.

unread,
Jun 1, 2010, 5:14:29 PM6/1/10
to
On 01 Jun 2010 16:50:20 GMT, sc...@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal)
wrote:

>One _should_ be protecting one's electronics with a surge supressor. Whole
>house surge supressors are available, as well as simple plugstrips or
>Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) subsystems.

I used to work with a guy who had as a customer the Holiday Inn across
from Disney World. They spent $50,000 (in 1985) on lightning
protection equipment to protect their computer and telephone systems.
A few months later, a lightning bolt hit the flag pole outside, and
somehow made its way into the electrical and phone system, taking out
everything; the computers, phone system, and the lightning protection
system. All of it had to be replaced. Lightning is a crazy beast.

Raymond Feist

unread,
Jun 1, 2010, 5:25:11 PM6/1/10
to
In article <5pta061uer8rt90ec...@4ax.com>,
Tim J. <tj6...@usa.not> wrote:

In Florida, it's no mystery. I never did electrical, but I worked with enough
of those guys to have heard all the stories while I did construction to pay for
my college.

In Florida, ground water is the culprit. You can have a surge protector on
every plug in the building and if the lighting grounds close enough to the
structure, the moisture in the ground will spread it everywhere, including any
metal plumbing fixtures, metal L-brackets on studs, any place you can imagine a
pulse jumping from place to place in micro-seconds. You'd have to dip the
foundation of the building in rubberized plastic to keep this from happening,
and even that might not work.

I've seen lighting fry a system that was 500% overspec'ed for the worst case
line surge into the building over the power lines. Hit a metal downspout (all
blacked and charged powder coat to show for it) and roasted the entire apartment
complexes, CAT system. Fortunately it was back in the less sophisticated days
so it didn't croak every TV in the apartment.

Beest, R.E.F.

--
Never attribute to malice what can
satisfactorily be explained away by stupidity.

Percival P. Cassidy

unread,
Jun 1, 2010, 8:02:34 PM6/1/10
to

AND now I find that we get a "searching for signal" message on several
channels. Is it significant that it's always on "Sat 2 In" -- never on
Sat 1 In? Same on both boxes.

And there is 0 signal strength on some of the transponders. Tuner 1 and
Tuner 2 the same.

Did an LNB get fried?

Perce

Tim J.

unread,
Jun 1, 2010, 9:39:41 PM6/1/10
to

With a lightning strike so close, you can't rule anything out.

gearj...@gmail.com

unread,
Jan 22, 2013, 9:41:37 AM1/22/13
to
That can be several issues: One it could be your cable coming from the dish into the house to anyone of your receivers or/it can be your LNB at the dish, it can take out only one of the several points you have on the dish or it can be in the little box that is behind your receiver or your receiver itself,(I have experienced all of these from lightning with your type of issues). 'O' as a signal level may be normal on some of the channels as they are not used, it is significant to have no signal coming in on SAT 2. That does not solve your problem but here are a few ways to diagnose what the problem is or simply call your satellite provider and have the tech do it. First, do a complete reset of the receiver check for the problem. Also do a unplug and wait 10 minutes and plug back in reset and check the problem. Next get a good working cable and put it between the receiver and the TV, (If using HDMI after trying a new HDMI cable then go to composite cable) if the problem persists your cable may be fine. To diagnose the little box behind your receiver swap them around and see if you gain signal on SAT 2 and loose signal on SAT 1, if so that is the problem. You can check the cable from the dish by going to the meter for your electric and DirecTV should have a grounded plug with the four wires running into it grounded into the same post as the meter, switch the cables from one post to the other and check if the problem changes, if so it is the cable, if it remains it is then the LNB. To check the LNB you can take the lines plugged into the post on the LNB and switch from one to another checking for the issue, if it switches from SAT2 to SAT1 then that is the problem. If all of this does not lead to a solution then it could be your reciever itself. You could get another good working receiver and see it it works or call tech support.

I have had two major strikes in the last two years and pay my monthly insurance (In my opinion is well worth the cost). The first strike took out the Dishes' LNB, the second time the little box behind two receivers got nailed and the LNB and one section of cable, all from one strike. Both strikes took out the HDMI on the Flat Screen TV as well. Everything is grounded per DirecTV’s specs and I have everything except HDMI run through UPS backups which to date have never failed. I also have a whole house surge protector that does not protect my expensive equipment. (I am looking into DirecTV’s whole house premium insurance so that TVS and Computers will be protected.)

Those who have mentioned lightning is a funny animal are absolutely right. I am looking for HDMI protectors so any advice on products, pleases reply.

Percival P. Cassidy

unread,
Jan 22, 2013, 10:13:43 AM1/22/13
to
On 01/22/13 09:41 am, gearj...@gmail.com wrote:

>>> A lightning strike this a.m. took out -- among other things -- the HDMI
>>> outputs of our HR21 boxes. Other outputs are still OK but not as good
>>> quality.
>>>
>>> Has anybody attempted fixing one of these or -- since the boxes are
>>> leased rather than owned -- had them fixed "professionally"? If so, how
>>> much?
>>
>> AND now I find that we get a "searching for signal" message on several
>> channels. Is it significant that it's always on "Sat 2 In" -- never on
>> Sat 1 In? Same on both boxes.
>>
>> And there is 0 signal strength on some of the transponders. Tuner 1 and
>> Tuner 2 the same.
>>
>> Did an LNB get fried?

> That can be several issues: One it could be your cable coming from the dish into the house to anyone of your receivers or/it can be your LNB at the dish, it can take out only one of the several points you have on the dish or it can be in the little box that is behind your receiver or your receiver itself,(I have experienced all of these from lightning with your type of issues). 'O' as a signal level may be normal on some of the channels as they are not used, it is significant to have no signal coming in on SAT 2. That does not solve your problem but here are a few ways to diagnose what the problem is or simply call your satellite provider and have the tech do it. First, do a complete reset of the receiver check for the problem. Also do a unplug and wait 10 minutes and plug back in reset and check the problem. Next get a good working cable and put it between the receiver and the TV, (If using HDMI after trying a new HDMI cable then go to composite cable) if the problem persists you
r cable may be fine. To diagnose the little box behind your receiver swap them around and see if you gain signal on SAT 2 and loose signal on SAT 1, if so that is the problem. You can check the cable from the dish by going to the meter for your electric and DirecTV should have a grounded plug with the four wires running into it grounded into the same post as the meter, switch the cables from one post to the other and check if the problem changes, if so it is the cable, if it remains it is then the LNB. To check the LNB you can take the lines plugged into the post on the LNB and switch from one to another checking for the issue, if it switches from SAT2 to SAT1 then that is the problem. If all of this does not lead to a solution then it could be your reciever itself. You could get another good working receiver and see it it works or call tech support.
>
> I have had two major strikes in the last two years and pay my monthly insurance (In my opinion is well worth the cost). The first strike took out the Dishes' LNB, the second time the little box behind two receivers got nailed and the LNB and one section of cable, all from one strike. Both strikes took out the HDMI on the Flat Screen TV as well. Everything is grounded per DirecTV’s specs and I have everything except HDMI run through UPS backups which to date have never failed. I also have a whole house surge protector that does not protect my expensive equipment. (I am looking into DirecTV’s whole house premium insurance so that TVS and Computers will be protected.)
>
> Those who have mentioned lightning is a funny animal are absolutely right. I am looking for HDMI protectors so any advice on products, pleases reply.

Do you realize that you are responding to a message from more than two
years ago?

Anyway, I put up with the problem for a long time, then tried bypassing
the multiswitch -- since we now have only two DTV boxes connected anyway
-- and that solved the problem. So it appears that the lightning hit had
damaged the multiswitch too.

Perce
0 new messages