Lightning

[boomerang]

Having worked for/owned a marine electronics business since the early 90's and prior to that, in the marine field since the early 80's it goes without saying I've seen lots & lots of lightning strikes. Sailboats, power boats... fiberglass, wooden ,aluminum and steel. Lightning protectors ,no lightning protectors, in the water, on land, on a boat lift and even on trailers where it's assumed that the thing would've been less prone to a strike due to being isolated from an earth ground by the rubber tires (honestly I can't say if the tongue jack had a plastic wheel or a metal pad).
I'm of the opinion that lightning is going to do what it's going to do and there's no rhyme or reason as to the path it's going to take or the path it took. I've seen VHF antennas literally disintegrated by a strike but the radio itself worked (I actually had to reset the processor but after I did that, I installed it on my own boat where it worked fine). I maintain a fleet of steel-hulled fishing ships here locally on the Bay and I can't think of one ever being damaged by a strike, even though I've been on the phone with the Captains while they were describing lighting bolts striking the water all around them! Steel boats sitting in salt water with the highest thing in the sky being a giant steel mast 65' in the air. If that's not an adequate path to ground for a bolt of lightning, then I don't know what would be!
Most recently, an outboard powered fiberglass center console just took a hit through the VHF antenna while it was on the lift at the end of the dock. Pretty much all of the electronics were DOA or not functioning correctly, the Suzuki electronically-controlled outboard was fried but the trim-tilt still worked. All of the DC pumps worked as did the incandescent indicator lights but every LED light on the boat was toast EXCEPT the one directly beside the VHF radio, which had the face blown loose from the strike,btw. Go figure!
My point is, if lightning enters an object ,it has to exit it to earth. I don't know if anyone will ever figure out the potential path that lightning will take and what the best method of prevention from a strike would be.

 

[angus99]

is it the idea that when the apparatus is vaporized the current will follow the plasma trail?

The idea is to present a path of least resistance outside the boat, recognizing that nothing—except maybe a Faraday Cage—is likely to be truly protective. Probably as useless as other techniques (other than avoiding thunderstorms) and I wouldn’t expect to use it more than once—but maybe better than doing nothing?

 

[Transaxial]

The idea is to present a path of least resistance outside the boat, recognizing that nothing—except maybe a Faraday Cage—is likely to be truly protective. Probably as useless as other techniques (other than avoiding thunderstorms) and I wouldn’t expect to use it more than once—but maybe better than doing nothing?

As Boomerang and others have said lightning goes wheres it wants, probably with some logic of least resistance to ground. I have a 100’ steel tower made from 4 legs of 6x6x1/2” angle and cross braced on 4 sides every 10’. It has it’s own 4/0 ground cable as well a 4 30” x 20’ bell pilings loaded with rebar. The bucket elevator inside the cage has never been damaged by lightning in 16 years. Powered by a 25 hp electric motor and wired into the control room with a dozen more motors and controls and all with common grounding network. Point is why isn’t this tower a target? Is this a perfect Faraday cage? There is the old theory for lightning rods with the point on top that they bleed off the potential difference that builds before it jumps and makes a huge arc. I won’t take any bets but there must something to that theory. There may be a connection between this tower and the voltage surges in my house and yard that are all on the same transformer and distribution grid. That is what a surge suppressor system should be effective on I would think.

 

[HiDHo]

A tip from our garage door opener installer. Buy one of the small surge protectors for the 120ac receptacle the opener plugs into, he told me many of his service calls are for faulty circuit boards in the opener from electric surges. Definitely worth doing for less than ten bucks.

 

[Hippocampus]

Been told those dissapators you see on top of masts do nothing. Some believe they may even increase the risk of a strike. But they do keep the birds off.