Lightning strike...... (1 Viewer)

[RonR]

Argh....
I have the RCA DTC-100, took a hit to the house Saturday morning, lost all kinds of stuff. Basically now I can get audio but no picture with the satellite. I can get OTA audio and sat audio, picture for neither. Unplugges everything overnight....nothing. Everything had surge protectors but Im thinking since the cable itself wasnt, it came in through there. I havent tried switching out the component cables with the dvd player yet, not even sure if its the breakaway box that I have for the Toshiba tv set. I just bought this thing 30 days ago from OneCall. Let's assume I switch out everything and it still has no picture...do I consider the cable from the dish to the receiver is bad? Do I call Toshiba? Am I just out of luck? All the other stuff I lost cost maybe $200 total but this baby was like $500 plus my deductible is $1000.00. Need suggestions...I will troubleshoot it more on Monday when I will have more time. Thanks.....

 

[carl-s]

Ron,
Thats a real bummer. I would suspect that the lightening or static came in through the coax on the dish.Not unless it hit a power line . Lightening takes the shortest path to ground.
My dish got hit at 2 different times and luckily I had a Panamax surge and coax protector on the system. I even saw the lightening come out of one side of the surge protector and go to ground. These protectors take the hit and if they don't perform everything gets replaced.
This may seem a bit hard to take but I would get everything checked out. Once a piece of equipment gets hit, direct or indirect, it may not show up at first but it gradually melt inside or lock up .
Carl
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[Scott Kimball]

I feel your pain.
Just so you know: even if your gear is completely unplugged from anything (can't be much more protected than that), the static discharge from a strike to the structure can cause damage. I once lost a $600 receiver that way. There is no 100% safe way to protect from lightning.
That said, once you replace this gear, it does make sense to put spike suppression on the cable and phone lines leading to your sat receiver. The more protection you have, THE LESS LIKELY the threat. Also, many spike protectors have a built-in insurance policy. They will repair or replace anything damaged by a spike as long as it was correctly connected to the spike protector. You can get these for WELL under $100, and it's a good investment.
Speaking as someone who has been hit three times in the last ten years (well, my HOUSE was hit), I can say that either a low-deductible home-owners or renters insurance policy - or a spike protector with insurance - is a good deal. Even "protected," I've lost over $3000 in gear, with out of pocket expenses under $500 with the insurance.
-Scott

 

[RonR]

Thanks.
If I can't get the receiver working looks like this will be an expensive lesson. Also I just found out today the circuitboard to my furnance is fried also. Drat.