"Hi, everyone,
The heavy thunderstorm here last week made a serious consequence: it blew both of my Sony 27" TV and JVC S-VHS (6900) VCR. None of them can be turned on now. During the storm, both units were connected to power outlets and cable but were all off. Anyone out there had such unpleasant experience before? Any suggestion of how they can be fixed? Thanks very much, Jin"

The TV and VCR were not powered off as
they have clocks and other electronics
still operating so the remote can turn
them on, etc. Even if they had a 'big red
switch' that disconnected them from the
mains, that tiny gap in the switch will ]not stop a direct strike, or even induced current from a close/powerful enough strike. What got through found every possible path to ground, and yes,
that includes the cable connection.


Sometimes a close strike can destroy
electronics not connected to power
sources because the circuit traces act
like the secondary winding of a
transformer, with the bolt as the
primary. It's more rare but it happens.

If you have a roof top antenna with the
coax disconnected from your set, you may
see sparks leaping from the center pin to
the side of the 'barrel'. This is induction in action. This is very
dangerous because it may ignite the
carpet, and a really wicked close strike
might cause a small bolt to jump from the
coax end to a nearby object (including
humans) as it seeks ground.

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"The lightning doesn't have to hit an AC power line for this
to happen; the magnetic field around the lightning bolt does the job."

They can sometimes demagnetize the
permanent magnets in electric motors.
I've heard many tales of electric battery
powered wall clocks being rendered
inoperational in this fashion.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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