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Comment by reneherse | Hacker News Reader

Living in storm prone regions for most of my life has given me the same habit. All my sensitive electronics get unplugged when storms approach.

Two of my family members have had devices fried by lightning strikes over the years, and not even in regions known for the worst electrical storms.

I keep some portable battery packs handy in case I need to charge a phone, and if I'm working will switch to my laptop and tablet screens.

Of course, one can't conveniently unplug everything (HVAC, big kitchen appliances, etc.) but it's easy enough to safeguard work and lifestyle electronics.

Turning the TV off and listening to the storm is usually a nice change of pace, too.

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I'm pretty sure you can just buy various surge protection systems for this, am I wrong?

What if you're out somewhere, do you drive home in a bad storm and unplug it all?

> What if you're out somewhere, do you drive home in a bad storm and unplug it all?

If we're traveling overnight we'll unplug things before leaving, but otherwise, no rushing home out of concern for the TV :)

A defining characteristic of lightning is that it jumps the gaps (ie, all the air between the cloud and earth), so I believe it will jump right over surge protection.

If that's the case, wouldn't there be no point in unplugging devices?

No, unplugging works because cables are antennas. Power cables being disconnected dramatically reduces the ability for the lightning to couple into the device

The device itself usually has shielding, capacitors, transient suppressors, etc… as well as usually designed to make a poor antenna so on it’s own it will be affected much less than when charging

Surge protectors do work, mind you - but only for weaker storms or pulses coming in from the outside power lines. Just by physically being separated from the final device they are limited in how much they can protect from direct coupling

Unplugging works but it's pretty impractical, you basically need to be always awake an always near your devices to make it work.

There is also a risk of electrocution when unplugging a device during a storm.

I suppose the difference is that surge protection provides a guide to a possible circuit. Whereas unplugging greatly increases the micro-states where you are not in a viable path.

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