Gate opener fried by lightning

[Galaxiedan]

I have a mighty mule gate opener at my property that runs off a transformer plugged into a 120volt gfci outlet.
Its been fine for almost three years but the storm yesterday blew the plug- in transformer clean out of the watertite outlet cover frying the transformer and burning up the main board. I ordered a new board ($240!) but obviously don't want to keep changing it.
I'm going to add a ground rod by the gate and ground the outlet there and research has been foggy as to if adding a surge suppressor to plug the transformer in would help?
Any suggestions?

Oddly enough the strike didn't pop the gfci?

 

[SR1911SHOOTER]

I have a mighty mule gate opener at my property that runs off a transformer plugged into a 120volt gfci outlet.
Its been fine for almost three years but the storm yesterday blew the plug- in transformer clean out of the watertite outlet cover frying the transformer and burning up the main board. I ordered a new board ($240!) but obviously don't want to keep changing it.
I'm going to add a ground rod by the gate and ground the outlet there and research has been foggy as to if adding a surge suppressor to plug the transformer in would help?
Any suggestions?

Oddly enough the strike didn't pop the gfci?

Wow Galaxiedan,
That is above my pay grade, and I am a retired Navy electrician.
Blackie

 

[Xsales]

A lightening rod near the gate to take the hit may work - have it high enough

Surge protection will NOT work
There is NO known man made surge protection that can handle a single lightening strike
with its extreme voltage generated

 

[Merle1948]

A lightening rod near the gate to take the hit may work - have it high enough

Surge protection will NOT work
There is NO known man made surge protection that can handle a single lightening strike
with its extreme voltage generated

Second the non-performance of the surge protector - for one thing they don't operate fast enough.

The Navy did come up with a lightning protector that used gas tubes, but it would put you in the poor house. :shock:

 

[H.H. Hipshot]

G-Dan,

While it is true that a surge protector will likely not survive a direct lightning hit, the protector will surely help for lighter static discharges and spikes on the power line. After losing an expensive washing machine and stereo amp to surges out in a rural area, I have surge protectors on just about everything now. I highly recommend them. Ten bucks for a surge arrestor beats a replacing $240 circuit board every time.

Also, a surge arrestor needs a good ground in order to operate properly. I recommend a 6' or 8' rod in the ground and wired to the electrical ground in the box, or if a metal box, wired to the box itself. While your electrical power source carries a ground wire, it is a long way from your gate to the meter box, where it actually goes to earth.

HHH

 

[Mobuck]

"Gate opener fried by lightning"

Gosh, sorry to hear about your spouse/child/hired hand.

 

[GP100]

A lightening rod near the gate to take the hit may work - have it high enough

Surge protection will NOT work
There is NO known man made surge protection that can handle a single lightening strike
with its extreme voltage generated

Second the non-performance of the surge protector - for one thing they don't operate fast enough.

The Navy did come up with a lightning protector that used gas tubes, but it would put you in the poor house. :shock:

I've heard of those. And I agree. You'd go broke trying to afford it.. Let's just say, that's a government thing.. They got the money for that..

 

[Kanook]

I lost 4 in 8 yrs because of lighting. I went to solar panel 3 yrs ago, so far so good.

My father's ship in the Navy was nick named "The Mighty Mule".

 

[hdxr750]

I agree with H.H. Hipshot, but really I would put 2 8ft rods in the ground about 4ft apart. It's the latest NEC for your service. so if it's far away well it won't hurt.

 

[CoolLogic]

The purpose of the gfi is to protect you. Not your electronics. It will do absolutely nothing to protect against lightning. A surge suppressor will only protect against abnormal voltages coming through your wiring. It sound like you had a high voltage strike on your fence that tried to go to ground through the transformer. A ground rod at the fence is the best bet. The fence post (metal?) and electrical box both should be bonded to the ground rod.

 

[Pat-inCO]

First off, unlike what most seem to think, a lightning rod is NOT to take a
lightning strike to ground. Quite the opposite in fact. The lightning rod is to
dissipate the static charge that is in the ground.

It tuns out that a lightening strike goes from the ground to the cloud, NOT
the reverse as most think. When you have one or more (I like more) rods
connected to a good ground connection, the static charge in the earth
(notice I changed one word, so it is easier to think of) is dissipated a little
at a time and does not build up sufficiently to have a strike occur.

I have a war story about how well it works, but I'll save space.
Suffice to say it works well.

For the gate controller, I would have multiple "lightning rods" connected
so the property around your gate could not build up the charge necessary
to mess things up again. You can do a reasonable set up for around fifty
dollars and an excellent one for closer to one hundred.

Some of the joys of static electricity. :D

 

[redhawker]

There is NO known man made surge protection that can handle a single lightening strike
with its extreme voltage generated

That about 1.21 gigawatts...right? ;)

 

[blume357]

First off, unlike what most seem to think, a lightning rod is NOT to take a
lightning strike to ground. Quite the opposite in fact. The lightning rod is to
dissipate the static charge that is in the ground.

It tuns out that a lightening strike goes from the ground to the cloud, NOT
the reverse as most think. When you have one or more (I like more) rods
connected to a good ground connection, the static charge in the earth
(notice I changed one word, so it is easier to think of) is dissipated a little
at a time and does not build up sufficiently to have a strike occur.

I have a war story about how well it works, but I'll save space.
Suffice to say it works well.



For the gate controller, I would have multiple "lightning rods" connected
so the property around your gate could not build up the charge necessary
to mess things up again. You can do a reasonable set up for around fifty
dollars and an excellent one for closer to one hundred.

Some of the joys of static electricity. :D

What he said... ground the heck out of it... ground and bond and it should keep the static charge from building up. 3 times in my life I've been the conduit to dissipate that static charge as it builds up... not fun.

 

[Pat-inCO]

While we are at it, here is some really good stuff to maintain the electrical
connection(s) and minimize or potentially eliminate corrosion in the
connections. http://www.sanchem.com/electrical-contact-lubricant.html

The local baby-bell uses the No-OX-ID A Special (grease) for their battery
installations and guarantees them for twenty-five years service.


Another, for low voltage, low current is Super Lube

 

[blume357]

that's Di-electric grease and I use it on gas appliance connections to retard corrosion and it seems to work. Most gas appliances the pilot light is producing from 125 - 500 millivolts (not much) and even a small amount of corrosion will block the circuit.

 

[#1rugerman]

A friend of mine has had the same problem, so far he has not found a reliable fix. Good luck.

 

[Galaxiedan]

New board comes Friday,
I picked up two 5/8 by 8 ft long ground rods and some #8 copper wire. I also bought a Tripplite surge suppressor that comes with a 50k warranty for anything plugged into it. I'm gonna build a new Watertite box to house my backup deepcell battery, the surge suppressor, along with the new board.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Lightning hit a pine tree right in front of my house. The current traveled down the tree and through the roots, got onto the outside lights, blew out the timer, entered the electrical system of the house and started a fire in the attic. Luckily I smelled the smoke found the smoldering fire and put it out with a fire extinguisher.

 

[Galaxiedan]

Lightning hit a pine tree right in front of my house. The current traveled down the tree and through the roots, got onto the outside lights, blew out the timer, entered the electrical system of the house and started a fire in the attic. Luckily I smelled the smoke found the smoldering fire and put it out with a fire extinguisher.

I was working at house and the homeowner was showing me how lightning had struck nearby traveled through his chain link fence, burning and melting some of the galvanized connectors and then blowing sections of stucco off his block house. He said everything in his house that was plugged in that had a circuit board was burned out.