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Surge Protectors.. Ya Right.!!

By Diller

August 04, 2015


8 years ago
 
WLS

Diller

Inactive member

US Albany, LA

9y 12,900 55 4

 Surge Protectors.. Ya Right.!!

Just a note to those that think surge protectors are the Greatest things.. To trust one to protect your pride and joy / "pin Think Again. My daughter was filming a rain storm from her front porch next door to me. She was filming towards my neighbors house across the road. He has / Had 3 Pins and 2 slots. Then this Happened. The strike was so fast you saw only a huge flash so I stilled  4 frames. He now only has 1 slot left only because he had unplugged it to work on it the night before. If you love you Pin / Pins Unplug them when not in use. He also had a strike safe meter that exploded. The Strike hit his drop pole.

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Comments

8 years ago
 
ADW

drainman

Inactive member

11y 29,900 21

Bad ground connection.

8 years ago
 
FLE

flecom

Pinside member

US Miami, FL

12y 53,650 852 44 36

ya a strike should take out the MOVs in most modern machines if properly grounded, not hard to replace... a really bad direct strike or improperly grounded machines may take out the primary on the xformer which would suck

8 years ago
 
TBK

xTheBlackKnightx

Pinside member

8y 128K 4,097 137

I hate to state the obvious, but a $5 surge protector is not going to stop a direct lightning strike and a "strike safe meter" is only good if you actually monitor it. Even then lightning can still strike in certain parts of the world without significant rain.

The answer?
Have a dedicated circuit and breaker that has an intercept bypass BEFORE it gets to the main breaker.
The strike will then never get to the machines.
Hardcore pinball collectors have done this for years.

8 years ago
 
FUK

gmkalos

Inactive member

Unknown

8y 59,400 2,024 1

At least it wont happen again right lol

8 years ago
 
TAM

tamoore

Pinside member

US Grayling, MI

11y 123K 6,661 37 58

I'd like to know more about the intercept bypass before the main breaker. I have nightmares about lightning strikes.

8 years ago
 
DJR

fitter108

Inactive member

US Hamilton, OH

8y 15,000 4 1

When I was a kid lightning struck the service at our house and completely blew the breaker panel off the plywood board it was mounted to, The board was on fire and burned the floor joist above fire department came and put out the fire. The strike took out TV, Freezer, Fridge, Console Stereo all beyond repair. It took a local electrical contractor 4 days to fix all the damage. Awesome Power

7 years ago
 
GRB

bevelsport

Inactive member

US Murphy, NC

8y 24,650 10 7

Separating the games from the power source is the ONLY way to fully protect your games. Anything else is futile.

7 years ago
 
TOM

freddy

Pinside member

11y 131K 5,652

i need to find a good electrician. anybody know of one? lol

7 years ago
 
MAB

markb

Inactive member

9y 30,400 65

To be fair, any 20 year old+ electrical equipment should be kept unplugged when not in use.

Even when switched off many pinball machines have a line filter BEFORE the switch which is live when plugged in. I've had these blow on me before and while the pinball machine did not catch fire there was a bang followed by quite a lot of acrid smoke!

I say again keep your pins unplugged when not in use!

6 years ago
 
DAV

wayout440

Pinside member

US Berea, OH

11y 113K 11,267 3 12

A pinball machine or a surge protector would not stand a chance. The lightning threw this SUV in the air, fractured the water main, smoldered wires in the attic in this home and more. Just watching this local news story. Incredible

http://wtam.iheart.com/content/2017-07-11-lightning-destroys-suv-driveway-and-water-main-on-same-street/

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