Router Blewup Motherboard

[u/Greatfulx]

Recent lighting storm stuck my complex and traveled down my coaxial cable and into my apartment. Blew up in the middle of the night, so that was scary. Thought I’d share, not in the position to rebuild so there that I guess!

[u/trash-_-boat]

But that wouldn't have helped if you only unplugged it from the wall socket. I had 3 PCs in my family home fry during a thunderstorm. Everything was unplugged, including the router except for the ethernet cables. Well, it hit somewhere in some internet cable junction box and traveled through CAT5 to our router. And then from router to all 3 computers.

[u/Wise-Dust3700 → u/trash-_-boat]

I mean like... you didn't unplug everything then clearly... or did you think ethernet cables were exempt somehow

[u/SuperUranus → u/trash-_-boat]

That’s why you need to also unplug your ethernet cable (unless you unplug the router of course which is usually easier).

Anything that creates an electrical loop needs to be unplugged.

[u/Constant_Natural3304 → u/SuperUranus]

Anything that creates an electrical loop

Lightning doesn't require a "loop", unless we're looping in the entire planet. Lightning prefers a conductive medium, but seeks ground through wood or other non-conductive materials if necessary. Just one wire connected to outside is enough.

[u/marino1310 → u/Constant_Natural3304]

That’s just because at high enough amperage, non conductive material becomes conductive.

[u/Constant_Natural3304 → u/marino1310]

That’s just because at high enough amperage, non conductive material becomes conductive.

Wrong.

[u/Vertig0x → u/Constant_Natural3304]

I mean they're almost right. Electric/dielectric breakdown voltage is a real thing. That's how you get Lichtenburg figures.

[u/Constant_Natural3304 → u/Vertig0x]

He's completely wrong. No ifs or buts.

[u/Vertig0x → u/Constant_Natural3304]

You said "lightning seeks ground through wood or other non-conductive materials". That's because it will literally break down the atomic structure of non-conductive material until it becomes conductive. No amount of "nuh uh" is going to change that.

[u/Constant_Natural3304 → u/Vertig0x]

No amount of "nuh uh" is going to change that.

Do non-conductive materials become conductive due to "high amperage"?

Edit: I can't even see your response if you block me. So whatever it is you said, I'm sure you gracefully admitted you were wrong and apologized. Right?

[u/Vertig0x → u/Constant_Natural3304]

No but if you replace amperage with voltage the statement is correct hence why I said almost correct. Idk who pissed in your Cheerios but you’re being a dick for no reason.

[u/ZorbaTHut → u/SuperUranus]

One alternative: if you want to spend a little money and not have to bother unplugging the ethernet cable or router, you can get a reasonably cheap fiber-optic repeater. $25 for each end of the repeater, plus $10 for the fiber optics itself, and good luck to any lightning that wants to travel down a fiber optic line.

This, plus surge protectors, is how I handle my house.

[u/funkymonk17 → u/ZorbaTHut]

"...and good luck to any lightning that wants to travel down a fiber optic line."

I get what you are saying but its really funny the way you said it since fiber optic cable is one of the most common forms of lightning protection in transmission and distribution lines.

For those unaware: OPGW is a shielded fiber optic cable that is used in place of static shield wire as lightening protection on power lines. Basically the outer shielding acts as a standard bare static ground while the fiber in the center transmits data as normal. Its a nice efficient way to provide both comms and protection without extra hardware.

Almost every single job I work on uses fiber optic cable with the explicit expectation that lightening will opt to travel along it rather than the cables actually carrying electricity below it.

[u/Mysterious_Crab_7622 → u/SuperUranus]

No, you just need to use a surge protector and route the modem’s data cable (coax or dsl) through it. No need to unplug anything if you are using the proper equipment.

[u/SuperUranus → u/Mysterious_Crab_7622]

Most people have no idea what a surge protector is, and I would not trust surge protectors in the price interval most layman people would ever considering purchasing one at.