Kboom

[sengli]

Just passing this one to everyone. Two years ago I had my C6 Z06 plugged into my battery tender here at home. Along comes a pretty good thunder storm. Power lines somewhere near my house took a lightning hit. When I got home, I noticed my battery tender was smoked and dead. Started my car and the stabilitrac and traction control idiot lights are now on?

Roughly $3000 later the car was repaired. It smoked the anti lock brake controller, and blew up both front spindle wheel sensors. Luckily my insurance paid for it, but it wasnt without some effort on mine and the dealers part to prove this damage was due to a voltage surge.

I still use battery tenders, but always un-plug everything if storms are pending.

[sherob]

Surge protectors, my friend... and they aren't that much either... Use them all thru your house for everything you value... good examples below.

http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-surge-protector/

[jayno20]

Originally Posted by sherob

Surge protectors, my friend... and they aren't that much either... Use them all thru your house for everything you value... good examples below.

http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-surge-protector/

Definitely!

I have my battery tender plugged into a surge protector for this exact reason.

[deahl001]

Surge protectors are no guarantee, trust me. Had a direct hit from lightning at my house in 2009. $25k of damage and electronics later, I learned that lightning can basically jump right over the surge protector circuit (and many other things I would never have guessed). Never hurts to use them, but against major voltage it won't do anything.

[jayno20]

Originally Posted by deahl001

Surge protectors are no guarantee, trust me. Had a direct hit from lightning at my house in 2009. $25k of damage and electronics later, I learned that lightning can basically jump right over the surge protector circuit (and many other things I would never have guessed). Never hurts to use them, but against major voltage it won't do anything.

Nothing in life is a guarantee, but it would definitely help to read that link posted above. Shows that the life span of a surge protector is only about 3 years at best, so if you have an old surge protector odds are good it is offering no protection. Might have contributed to your problem...

[ZED SLED]

I thought this was going to be a thread about KaBoom1701, lol. But thanks for the heads up. All the stuff in my house is plugged into surge protection, but my battery tender in the garage isn't. Oh well, it will be off in the next 2 weeks. I'll make sure I have one for next winter.

[sherob]

Originally Posted by deahl001

Surge protectors are no guarantee, trust me. Had a direct hit from lightning at my house in 2009. $25k of damage and electronics later, I learned that lightning can basically jump right over the surge protector circuit (and many other things I would never have guessed). Never hurts to use them, but against major voltage it won't do anything.

Yes, not much you can do about a side flash from a direct hit, in your case. The odds of a direct hit are so low too, that just sucks!

In the OP's case, a good surge protector would have saved him since the strike was down the street.

[jayno20]

Originally Posted by ZED SLED

I thought this was going to be a thread about KaBoom1701, lol. But thanks for the heads up. All the stuff in my house is plugged into surge protection, but my battery tender in the garage isn't. Oh well, it will be off in the next 2 weeks. I'll make sure I have one for next winter.

lol I thought the same thing!

[KaBoom1701]

Originally Posted by ZED SLED

I thought this was going to be a thread about KaBoom1701, lol. But thanks for the heads up. All the stuff in my house is plugged into surge protection, but my battery tender in the garage isn't. Oh well, it will be off in the next 2 weeks. I'll make sure I have one for next winter.

Originally Posted by jayno20

lol I thought the same thing!

Lol...same here.....

I came in here thinking I was going to get some free swag or something. Lol

Oh well

[Sven59]

Originally Posted by KaBoom1701

Lol...same here.....

I came in here thinking I was going to get some free swag or something. Lol

Oh well

Kboom not Kaboom. Details, details.

[KaBoom1701]

Originally Posted by Sven59

Kboom not Kaboom. Details, details.

True....I alway did suck at spelling. ...lol

[sengli]

I work in the electronics service industry, and used to do UL, and CSA certification on electronic lighting products. Unless your spending $100 or over, the cheapy surge protectors are worthless, they arent fast enough. I doubt it would have saved me, cause several other things in the house also got zapped.

[deahl001]

Originally Posted by jayno20

Nothing in life is a guarantee, but it would definitely help to read that link posted above. Shows that the life span of a surge protector is only about 3 years at best, so if you have an old surge protector odds are good it is offering no protection. Might have contributed to your problem...

Up to 1 billion volts of electricity hitting a Romex line in my attic contributed to my problem. There isn't a surge protector on earth that can help in that situation. As stated by sherob, it just sucks that I was that unlucky.

My point was simply that it might be worth unplugging your car regardless of whether or not you have a surge protector because it can't protect it from everything. Then again, there are a ton of things that can damage our cars that we can't plan for so why live in fear...

[KaBoom1701]

So it sounds like it's far better to leave your car off these trickle chargers and just deal with the dead battery issue or jump start your car. Far cheaper to do that then hook your 60k+ car to the house via a battery tender and then it gets zapped by a voltage spike.

Just my .02