Lightning Protection

The best lightning protection is an 'all of the above' approach....starting with proper grounding.....here is a guide to protecting your home↓↓↓

http://www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_lhm/IEEE_Guide.pdf

Not that simple. How far from your house the lightning strikes is what gives your devices survival chanses. Actually the lightning instantly released energy is on megaJoules range, and almost nothing unprotected will survive if it gets dirctly hit. Now if you are on high grounds or you are near a long range transmission line that passes from high grounds you could make special provisions. A parallel to mains overvoltage shunt as is the common practice for "protectors" is NOT enough for the terribly unprotected electronic devices we use. There MUST be enough SERIAL impedance before the protection device for it to survive and protect your equipment. The alternative is to make a habit of keeping all your equipment powercords and antennas UNPLUGGED when unused and of course not use it on danger-days. S.M.

Actually the link provide by SE is a very comprehensive collection of multiple layers of protection, how they work, and the protection provided. Unfortunately lightning doesn't always follow the rules, and direct strikes tend to vaporize anything its path.

So your "best" protection is to use multiple layers depending upon how paranoid much money you have to spend relative to the replacement cost of the equipment. Even unplugging the line cords is no guarantee that the EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) from a nearby strike won't induce enough energy in the cords to smoke the IC junctions in the chips.

Lightning is a force of nature that man can't completely control.

I'm still trying to work out how to get a grounding rod higher than the aerial and shortest path to ground to 'protect' my equipment. Our home is the the tallest house in the area and also on the highest point (not mountainous, just relative to all others in the 5km radius) and when electrical storms come, it's very likely to hit our aerial taking out anything in it's path. Surge protectors do nothing for me. My only defence is to turn off and unplug (aerial, power, cable/broadband and connections between equipment) anything of value. Although I do this, I still keep a reserve stock of coax splitters to replace when all the caps are fried ( I have 4 splitters in the roof area that need replacing when hit).

Good luck

The path of lower resistance provides your best chance, but nothing is infallible. Lightning does not always follow our logic.

Use a standard lightning rod (air terminal) approach. Even at the same height as the aerial it would provide a better chance of attracting the stroke if more electrically enticing. A separation of at least 6 ft should (shall) be maintained between your antenna wires and the lightning conductors.

Keep the down conductor from the system as short as possible to dedicated ground rods. Be sure to bond the dedicated ground rods to your house's electrical service grounding system (required by the National Electrical Code...insurance companies love this).

Isolate your antenna's mast from the structure as much as possible so as to not provide a path through the mast to the house. Subsection 4.21.2 of NFPA 780 includes a method for calculating flashover distances. The connections from the antenna should be routed normally, but a lightning arrestor should be used external to the entrance of the leads, again, using the dedicated, or another dedicated ground rod for the arrestor (and again, bonded to the house's ground).

Also remember, though convenient, lightning-rod conductors shall not be employed as electrodes for protectors and grounded metallic members (as replacement for normal system grounding).

See the following for in-depth explanation: NFPA 780-2011, Standard for the Installation of Lightning Protection Systems

(The link isn't working for me right now because I am at work (gov't computer...go figure) but should work for most.)

On this subject, refer to the blog post, and follow included links, from SE top expert ..

http://blog.schneider-electric.com/power-management-metering-monitoring-power-quality/2013/08/22/6-facts-and-fictions-about-lightning/