Things they want me to believe

[hemiram]

I've had at least the following stuff zapped or, in a couple of cases, blasted by lightning strikes:

Two TV sets from 2 different ball lightning incidents about 45 minutes apart. One of the greatest things I've ever seen (1973)
An almost new base CB radio and antenna got directly hit in 1977. The fiberglass antenna exploded and pieces went all over my yard and my next door neighbor's yards. In the CB, ICs were vaporized and just disappeared off circuit boards. In 1979, another antenna (Aluminum) and CB got nailed. Part of the antenna melted, the CB Shot fire out of it. It was turned on. I had eaten dinner and fallen asleep before the storm hit.
A VCR got popped from a surge in 1989. I had 4 of them, and it was my best one, of course.
Another fiberglass CB antenna took a direct hit about 1990. I found bits of fiberglass for years. No more fiberglass antennas..
My C Band satellite receiver and LNB got popped from a surge.
Another nice VCR never worked again after a storm went through. I opened it up and it was smoked.
A nice old SW radio was hooked up to my outside antenna. I forgot to disconnect it and it was parts only after the storm went through.
ALL the stuff above was hooked up to at least the power strip level. The Sat receiver had an expensive UPS hooked up. It survived the hit fine, the stuff it was supposed to protect, didn't. I tried to collect on the " Up to $25000" equipment protection for $1000, and was basically laughed at.

 

[Speedskater]

I was just reading in an e-mail group about surge protection and its problems:
a] 4000 to 12,000 volt lines falling acroos 120/240V lines.
b] plastic outlet strips with MOV's catching on fire.
c] good whole home surge protection brands:
APC, APD, Eaton, GE, Joslyn, Liebert, Siemens, Square D, Thomas & Betts

 

[Wildings]

I've had at least the following stuff zapped or, in a couple of cases, blasted by lightning strikes:

Two TV sets from 2 different ball lightning incidents about 45 minutes apart. One of the greatest things I've ever seen (1973)
An almost new base CB radio and antenna got directly hit in 1977. The fiberglass antenna exploded and pieces went all over my yard and my next door neighbor's yards. In the CB, ICs were vaporized and just disappeared off circuit boards. In 1979, another antenna (Aluminum) and CB got nailed. Part of the antenna melted, the CB Shot fire out of it. It was turned on. I had eaten dinner and fallen asleep before the storm hit.
A VCR got popped from a surge in 1989. I had 4 of them, and it was my best one, of course.
Another fiberglass CB antenna took a direct hit about 1990. I found bits of fiberglass for years. No more fiberglass antennas..
My C Band satellite receiver and LNB got popped from a surge.
Another nice VCR never worked again after a storm went through. I opened it up and it was smoked.
A nice old SW radio was hooked up to my outside antenna. I forgot to disconnect it and it was parts only after the storm went through.
ALL the stuff above was hooked up to at least the power strip level. The Sat receiver had an expensive UPS hooked up. It survived the hit fine, the stuff it was supposed to protect, didn't. I tried to collect on the " Up to $25000" equipment protection for $1000, and was basically laughed at.

Yikes! I take showers during thunder storms, talk on landlines etc....guess I better start unplugging my gear and increase homeowners insurance. We used to carry skis on our shoulders up into Tuckermans Ravine in NH - high near the lip on shoulder of Mt Washington I have seen all our skis outlined with a blue glow, air felt funny....that was pretty alarming.

 

[Speedskater]

Spring skiing in high country can be dangerous! Was at Vail, just a little falling snow and just one lightning strike, but it killed one skier and injured others. Now they have better distant lightning detectors, but if
there is only one bolt, the detection will be way too late.

 

[lovinthehd]

Lightning around where I live is more likely to start a fire in the forest in the summer than anything else, not considered a worry by the homeowners around here for home electrical stuff (we rarely see lightning at all except during the dry thunderstorms in the summer). I was worried when I moved here (Cascade mtns in Oregon) about needing a whole home surge protector but no one thought it necessary...and so far so good. More likely to get a failure/surge from a tree toppling a power line but no gear damage from any of that (so far). I don't expect the little surge protector strips I use to do a whole lot, tho.

When we were kids in the Chicago area we thought grandfather (an EE) a bit extreme going around and unplugging the TVs/stereo during thunderstorms, altho we took it a bit more seriously after a bolt took out the tree in the front yard....

 

[hemiram]

Yikes! I take showers during thunder storms, talk on landlines etc....guess I better start unplugging my gear and increase homeowners insurance. We used to carry skis on our shoulders up into Tuckermans Ravine in NH - high near the lip on shoulder of Mt Washington I have seen all our skis outlined with a blue glow, air felt funny....that was pretty alarming.

Well, I lived next to a river for most of those hits, but first CB kills were in Vegas, where I saw storms in the early Summer that made most of the ones I saw before and after in Ohio look almost gentle. The ball lightning hits were in Toledo. I wish so bad I had video of them. The look on the dog's face would have been a great youtube click magnet. He was such a "don't care, I'm the boss" dog that seeing him terrified was total shock. Usually he stared like this:

He never had a fight he didn't like. Won all but a couple, even against much larger dogs.
But this guy was a total boss, perfectly named King, nicknamed, "The Evil Genius"

Fearless of anyone and anything, except for my vacuum cleaner. Smartest dog I've ever had, and by far the most amusing, and frustrating of them all.

 

[slipperybidness]

I lost my NES when I was a kid due to a lightning strike. I was devastated!

Several years ago, my next door neighbor took a direct lightning hit on their roof. EVERYTHING that they had plugged into the outlets in the house was TOASTED.

I lost my computer from their direct hit. Luckily, nothing else was effected at all. My PC was already aging at that point, so no big deal to replace and upgrade.

It scared the crap out of me and my pets, I happened to see it hit. I stepped out back in the pouring rain, there were smoldering shingles on my back patio.

 

[MrBoat]

Well, I lived next to a river for most of those hits, but first CB kills were in Vegas, where I saw storms in the early Summer that made most of the ones I saw before and after in Ohio look almost gentle. The ball lightning hits were in Toledo. I wish so bad I had video of them. The look on the dog's face would have been a great youtube click magnet. He was such a "don't care, I'm the boss" dog that seeing him terrified was total shock. Usually he stared like this:

He never had a fight he didn't like. Won all but a couple, even against much larger dogs.
But this guy was a total boss, perfectly named King, nicknamed, "The Evil Genius"

Fearless of anyone and anything, except for my vacuum cleaner. Smartest dog I've ever had, and by far the most amusing, and frustrating of them all.

Ball lightning consumed an aluminum lawn chair right before my eyes. Looked like a humming/buzzing blue ghost moving across the yard. This was in the 70's as well. And no, I was not smoking anything then.

 

[hemiram]

I bet you wish you had video of it, don't you? So many things happened back then that are just memories, no evidence to back them up. Maybe that's a good thing, since kids can't get away with 1% as much as we did. Not to mention how we spent all day by ourselves, without contact with our parents from morning until dark. I feel sorry for kids now, especially the ones with "helicopter parents". Even the bad stuff, like getting shot in the face by a BB gun being handled badly by my best friend, and still having that BB in my face is a laugh now. It sure wasn't when it happened. We lied and told our folks that I had run into a dresser in his bedroom while staying overnight. In reality, it took hours to stop bleeding and it hurt like hell. About a year later, we got busted when I was in the ER with a broken nose and the doc walks in and yells, "So when did you get that BB in the face?", and we heard all about it. For about a week. I kind of forgot about it being there until I moved and went to the dentist and it appeared like a black hole at the top of my mouth. He totally freaked out and convinced me I should have it checked. The doctor laughed and said, "Oh come on, that thing was encapsulated a couple of months after you got shot, he's worried about nothing!", and what a huge deal it would be to take it out.

 

[MrBoat]

Lightning in Florida is serious. I was working on a well pump, installing a 120 gal galvanized tank in the people's garage. The pump/well was in the yard right next to a tall southern pine. Lightning hit the pine tree, down thru it's roots into the galvanized pipe that was buried in the ground to where I was fitting the tank. I watched it jump the gap to the union on the tank that I didn't have coupled up to yet but I had my arms around the tank sliding it into place and my shoes were just wet enough. Knocked me on my ass and I felt funny well into the next day. Now I don't chance it.

 

[highfigh]

1. My new interconnect has a break in period.
2. My solid state headphone amplifier needs to "warm up" for half an hour.
3. Monoblock amp must sit on $150 rubber feet to reduce vibration.
4. A $400 power cord will make my gear sound better.
5. I need to elevate my speaker wire off the floor with little stands.
I have no electrical engineering knowledge, and have had modest audio systems over the last 45 years. I have recently encountered the above proposals. I do believe different interconnects may have discernable audio characteristics (with headphones), but the rest seems like Snake Oil. Am I rightfully skeptical?

Make sure to avoid touching your cables with your fingers- use bamboo tongs.

You can thank me later.

 

[highfigh]

Why would Burson advise warming up their headphone amp for half an hour before use, or leaving always powered up (no tubes)? What is their agenda ...as I already would have purchased before reading their recommendation?

There are reasons for this, but nothing that will make a huge difference. Some electronic devices are more stable at certain temperatures but in an environment that allows us to survive, it won't matter.

 

[highfigh]

You have spikes on your speakers to grip the carpet? That's what they're for.

That's a whole lotta Nope.

 

[highfigh]

So only EE are people with experience and education ?

Not the individual who's been making wine for 50years?

Not the musician making and producing music?

These experts are experts in their fields. Could I point out an inaccurate composition or musician in an entire Orchestra, absolutely not. But there are people who can and guess what, they're not electrical engineers.

And poor algebra, I wouldn't be able to tell. I suck at math .so I'm easily fooled, but not an expert. It's not just about pseudo-science , It's also experience and knowledge

From personal experience, I can say that many musicians can't tell if a recording sounds good, or not. Partly because of hearing loss (including classical musicians), but partly because not all are interested or trained in listening in that way. Ask them for their opinions on the sound of a particular instrument, though- they can pick that apart in details that most people will never hear.

There's a brand of guitar that had developed an almost cult-like following, founded by someone who doesn't play guitar, but he knows how to build a reliable instrument that plays and sounds great.

 

[highfigh]

I think we need to be more accurate and precise than "warmed up".

"Thermal Equilibrium" is the proper technical term.

I think this equilibrium can only occur at idle- once it starts to conduct current and add gain, it goes out the window.

I think 'quiescent state' is the way it's described in electronics.

 

[highfigh]

Thank you. I do understand that my home circuit breakers are not fast enough to protect against lightning. Is there any reason other than convenience to use a typical $50 power strip?

If it's really able to do what is claimed, yes- to provide protection from surges/voltage spikes (positive OR negative) that are caused by things in the house, like any kind of motor, light switches, etc.

 

[highfigh]

Fearless of anyone and anything, except for my vacuum cleaner.

That's what makes us superior- we're not afraid of vacuum cleaners.

 

[hemiram]

The weird thing was, we had the exact same model vac at work, and he not only wasn't scared of it, he could sleep with it running next to him. I used to take him with me a lot, he really loved going. I started working some 2nd shifts and the cleaning people were there. I thought when he heard the vacuum fire up, there would be panic, like at home, but he just sat there, showing no signs of stress. As it got closer, he rolled over on his side and went out. He could fall deep asleep amazingly fast. The woman running the vac bumped him and said, "Move over honey!", and he looked at her, sighed, and got up, took one step, and went down again. I finally had to slide him out of her way, as he just decided he wasn't getting up again.
He was scared of one other thing, a ceramic Cocker Spaniel my mom got as a birthday gift from my grandmother when she was about 25. Worth some money on Ebay. When King was about 2 years old, he came over for a chin rub, and noticed it for the first time. It stared at him, and his eyes about popped out of his head. He got all shaky and walked away, turning repeatedly to see if it was still staring at him. King's sister, Molly, totally ignored it. I took it off the shelf a couple of times and King wanted no part of it. It was about the only thing that looked like a dog that could outstare him.

The dog I had before King and Molly, Gus, was scared of almost anything. He didn't really need to be scared of much:

For some reason, his head looks small compared to the rest of him, and in reality, his head was too big for the rest of him. Finger amputating teeth along with an insanely high bite force made a lot of dogs that attacked him regret it. A very compact 75 pounds of muscle. a real wuss, but if he was pushed too far, he would get very scary. But it took a lot of get him angry enough to overcome his fear.

 

[lovinthehd]

That's a whole lotta Nope.

Okay, it's to cut thru the carpet and create a good solid contact with the floor underneath....or elucidate.

 

[hemiram]

I was surprised the first time I put spikes on my speakers. I didn't think it would make nearly as much difference as it did.