🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Oct7.152434.11480@col.hp.com> cab@col.hp.com (Chris Best) writes:
>Anyway, not much earlier than all this, I had decided to unplug all
>the equipment in the stereo closet, the antenna and power to the
>TV/VCR area, and power strips to my PC's (including the phone line
>to an internal modem).  Good thing, as it turns out.  A little
>while after the big strike, I tried to call a friend to see what
>it was doing out his way, and used the cordless phone just to be
>safe.  No such luck - it was out of commission, since I hadn't
>thought of the phone lines to the PHONES.  In taking it apart later,
>I found a transistor that had exploded, and black marks under the PCB
>right where the phone connecter is soldered.  Also, the power cube
>that plugs into the wall to power the phone was shot.  I don't 
>know if the surge went out from the phone, or a surge in the power
>lines did it, since it didn't damage another phone (also electronic) 
>that was plugged into the same outlet and a phone jack just six 
>wire-inches away.
>
>I am convinced that a surge came in on the phone line, and expect
>that one also came in on the power lines - not from a direct hit
>on either, but just from the antenna effect all that wiring offers.
>

This should be a reminder to people with PC's.  So many have
surge protectors in their power line to the PC but fail to
put one on the phone line (if connected to a modem as part
of the PC installation).  Via the phone line there is a more
direct path into the expensive innards of the PC, such as
the motherboard, than there is via the power line.  The latter
is more likely to destroy something in the switching DC power
supply--probably less than a $100 cost.

Forrest Gehrke feg@dodger.att.com  k2bt