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It's storming outside, close lightning.


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So...what do you do...do you throw the breaker to the studio or do you simply unplug all the power conditioners?

 

How much do you shut down? Do you brave it out and hope for the best while you are on a tight schedule?

 

Nothing will stop a direct strike..short of the breaker and unplugging. What do you do..it is the season here!!

 

(Like a dumbass, I am typing away on the 2nd box)

Bill Roberts Precision Mastering

-----------Since 1975-----------

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I unplug the main power conditioner.

 

No, wait. Bon Mot's right. I hope that you are good at standing on one leg for long periods of time.

 

Good luck.

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I have 3 Tripplite 2400 voltage stabilizer/conditioners that all the control room 120V is wired through. When it storms with lightening, I unplug all 3. I don't bother with the beer fridge and lava lamps though...maybe I should.

 

I will also stop a main tracking session if a real thunder buster with lightening is approaching. My rural studio location is prone to outages during storms.

 

My dad was an electrician and used to repair tube televisions on the side! He was always paranoid about lightening storms and unplugging the expensive eletrical stuff...I guess it just rubbed off.

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Yep, unplug everything. If there is any connection to the outside world at all, you stand the chance of losing your gear. This includes MIDI/firewire/USB or audio cables that are connected to your computer, where the computer might be connected to AC, phone line or network hookup.

 

I had a friend where his house was hit by lightning. All phones, surge suppressors, kitchen appliances (oven, fridge, microwave, etc), home theater stuff, computers, washer/dryer got toasted. All of the light bulbs in the home were blown too. Nothing electrical (that was plugged in) survived the power surge.

 

Wild (and scary) stuff...

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Oh, and don't just throw the circuit breaker to the room. Think about this - if lightning has the potential to travel from the clouds to the ground, the one inch gap from an open circuit breaker won't even be a bump in the road. Same goes for off switches in a AC power strip or surge suppressor. The voltage can go right through the device, whether powered on or off.

 

IMO, the safest route is to physically unplug everything you want to protect.

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That's not paranoid, that's just smart. And yes, physically unplug things, not just turn things off. I'm in L.A., and we rarely have lightning storms, but even so, why take a chance?
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Exactly Ken. Instead of being totally fuxed, be Totally Foxed. Plug it in, plug it in? That might be good advice for room fresheners but the lightening safety credo is

 

Pull it out, pull it out. :thu:

 

Botch, they play croquet, not tennis.

 

Totally Foxed= Pull it out, pull it out.

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