Earthing and Lightning Protection

M

Mark in Portugal

Member
My Satellite Setup
VU+ duo, 1.8 meter primary focus fixed
My Location
algarve
My new 1.8 meter dish has just been delivered, and I'll be bolting it to my roof tomorrow.

Here in Portugal, there is no culture of lightning protection, and I haven't actually dealt with the issue before.

What do members recommend? Should the dish be earthed? should I put a lightning rod elsewhere on the roof?

The aluminum dish is mounted to the galvanized steel frame with 320 stainless bolts, so I guess corrosion at the bolting points shouldn't be a problem.

I'm in a masonry house on a wide plain near the sea. The dish will be on top of the kitchen, which has a [nearly] flat roof. There's an angled tile roof to one side that's about 2 meters higher at the peak.

We do get storms.

Merry Christmas from southern Portugal. It was 18C here today!
 
Not much warmer than our own 14C ........................ ;)
 
Have a look round at some similar systems, and maybe ask a couple of residents if they have lost kit as a result.

The best protection is of course to unplug everything in advance, and not be tempted to go near the stuff until the storm has passed.
 
I have no neighbors with a setup out here, and even if I did that wouldn't mean theirs were done right.

A friend of mine installs off grid power systems; he says static buildup during storms can wipe out a 2kw inverter using the house wiring as an antenna. That's without even having a strike close by.

As I said, there is no culture of lightning protection here. I asked at the electrical supply, but they didn't have a clue.
 
Your friend may also have told you that there is no full protection against a strike, not in terms of damage anyway.

Commercial systems use both a fully earthed drain spike (or two) on top of the antenna to disperse the energy before a strike, but also high conductivity ribbon, usually copper to the nearest guaranteed earth point. Each connector is done with same metal bolts to remove the chance of corrosion and everything is isolated from the rest of the system with polyester isolators.

The cost of an average protection system on say a 3m dish is in the region of $3k, but even then, there is no guarantee of loss during the storm season, though estimates do suggest this reduces the chance of loss by some 85/90%.
 
Be smart,lighting it s not a joke,take measure and connect to the ground the dish,roofs,search on your language on internet how to protect goods from lighting.Protection it s not big deal,but must be make in the wright way.The funny part it s that the culture of lighting protection comes after mother nature take one lesson to the people...and become homeless after.
 
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