Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater thunderstruck!

So, with the massive thunderstorms in Viriginia last night....i'm screwed!

Damage tally:

Denon 2307CI - Fried (or, red blinking power light)
PS3 - Fried (not outputting video via HDMI)
DTV Receiver - Fried (not outputting video via HDMI)
Cordless phone base stations - Fried
Printer - Fried
Wireless Router - Fried
Corded Phone - Fried
Macbook Pro power adapter - fried. Luckily the laptop was not attached to the adapter. The other MBP was on an outlet not affected.

last night there was a bright flash immediately followed by a loud boom, shaking of the house and a explosion type noise.

I'm in a end unit in a 4 townhouse complex. later that night, I was jarred out of sleep by a bright light that I assumed was lightning, but the light did not extinguish. I looked out the window and was greeted by the spot lights of fire trucks. Turns out the neighbor was woken by the sound of a fire alarm and the smell of smoke.

This morning I saw the damage. The room on the other side of my home theater was redecorated by dust and fallen drywall. Turns out that the electricity from the bolt blew out her ceiling. What I don't understand is how my electronics (except the TV) were affected when they were hooked up to my Monster Power HTS 3600 MKII.

The only thing I can think of is that I have my surround wires going up the wall that had the current raging through it. Now I'm worried that my speakers (all of them) are blown. I have no way of checking this since I don't have a receiver to hook them up to. I borrowed my parents blu-ray player and have confirmed that the TV works. I think i'll borrow their receiver tonight to do a test.

That really sucks. Will you get to have any stuff replaced either by insurance or Monster? I don't know how that all works.

A lightning flash-over can induce current in any run of wire.

No surge suppressor is able to shunt all the energy of a direct strike to ground.

Hope you have some other form of insurance other than what is offered by Monster. Their promises look good, but when it actually comes time to file the claim I've heard of nothing but head aches.

I've seen the damage lightning can do first hand in both my personal and professional life. A girl friend of mine loves rain and lightning storms. I used to until I started working for a communications company with radio towers all over the county.

I'm very sorry to hear that My sincerest wishes for the best of luck in getting things sorted out.

Yikes!! So sorry to hear that.

I only heard and saw very distant thunder and lightning last night up here in Leesburg. We always seem to be spared the worst of every kind of weather.

Sorry to hear about the damage. Your best insurance in an electrical storm is to unplug your electronics. Hopefully everything will be covered by home insurance.

My condolences to your equipment Vass. Don't want to sound repetitive but hopefully it's covered(should be).

wow that sucks! good luck!

Let us know how your speakers turn out. Best wishes in getting everything sorted out with your insurance.

V, add my expression of sympathy to the list. This again illustrates that Monster Power or any other surge suppressor has a limited window of usefulness. Modern AV equipment has built-in resistance to moderately strong power surges and handles them routinely. Some surges stronger than that can be suppressed without permanent damage, but a near direct lightning strike such as you've described can't be stopped.