Lightning Strikes
Direct Lightning Strikes
Only One Part of The
Lightning Damage Equation
You May Realize...
Lightning strikes are by far the most powerful, most dangerous and most damaging form of transient voltage. These strikes can have energy of up to hundreds of thousands of volts and currents of hundreds of thousands of amperes.
Do you know that Malaysia is ranked 3rd for the country with the highest lightning activities in the world?. The average-thunder day level in KL city recorded is approx. 300 days per year. 80% of lightning discharge currents to the ground in Malaysia exceeded 20kA with potentials of reaching hundreds thousand of volts. On average, 50% of KL city strokes exceeded 36kA, where it is only 28kA worldwide. The energy of the surge and the frequency of occurrence are very high in Malaysia. Lightning damages household electrical equipment, industrial electrical operated equipment and many others that may contribute to loss of millions in Ringgit.
Different types of lightning will have different levels of energy and damage.
Most damaging lightning transients are caused by a direct strike to the power system, data or telecommunication lines. Surge damage can also be induced by a strike to the facility structure or nearby separate structure that is connected by a common data, telephone or power line.
You May Not Realize...
Strikes to the ground (your yard) or cloud-to-cloud events should also be of concern... especially if your equipment is unprotected.These events can create very strong and damaging surges and can bring havoc to an unprotected system.
These scenarios may not be as powerful as direct strikes...but are dangerous to your equipment none the less.
Strikes to earth ground can produce very strong transients. Ground surges produced from nearby strikes can destroy electrical systems by entering unprotected circuits through the facility ground or equipment systems ground.
Distance cloud-to-cloud flashes can also produce transients in the electrical distribution system.
Cloud-to-cloud lightning is capable of inducing electrical field intensities in the hundreds to thousands of volts. If this happens across an unprotected power, telephone, data or coaxial line, the result can be severe system damage or complete destruction.
Many have thought that their facility already has a lightning system on the roof and therefore do not need further surge protection, you may not realize... air terminals (and Early Streamer Emission systems) on or near a building’s roof are installed to prevent damage to the building structure. They do not protect the electronics within the facility from damages due to lightning surges or utility-generated surges !. Both systems work together to completely protect a building.
Don't let it happen to you…Prevention is the best option!
With the potential for lightning damage, everyone should be prepared. Structural lightning protection systems (lightning rods) are designed to mitigate the damage to your business or homes structure from lightning strikes and are a great asset.
However, without the correct lightning surge protectors for business power,home power, data lines and telephone lines…your valuable and sensitive electronics will not survive the different lightning type events.
Lightning strikes are instantaneously damaging. These events are very costly to the entire electrical system. Mitigation techniques should be viewed as a necessity...not as an option.
Take protective measures with high quality and high performance gear.
Mitigate and prevent damage to your critical systems.
Get the Right Gear!