Following a nearby lightning strike (about 300-400 metres aw
Discussion
Following a nearby lightning strike (about 300-400 metres away) my TV and A/V system flashed and went off. Initially I thought it caused the ARC HDMI port on my TV and A/V amp to fail. Apparently the electro-magnetic burst from lightening can take out electronic components when switched on, but sometimes quite randomly. It can also cause HDMI cables to fail. So my cable box is fine for example.
For background information a lot of people locally have lost telephone lines and routers attached to telephone lines, etc. Also my surge protector seems to have blown [which may have protected some of the other devices].
So moving on from that I have got some new HDMI cables and I’ve systematically checked all my external devices (V6 TIVO box, Amazon Fire TV, Panasonic Blu-Ray player and Yamaha A/V amplifier) moving them from one individual HDMI port (there are 4 on my Panasonic Vieira TV set – a TX-P42GT30B) to the next to check if the ports (and therefore the attached devices) work.
As part of that exercise I have ‘hard’ reset my TV a couple of times, plus reset it to its factory default setting.
What I’ve basically discovered is that (it appears) that each individual port will work with any individual external device. So for example I have plugged in and got to work the fire TV in each HDMI port 1 to 4. However, as soon as I plug in any second device into any other HDMI port then the TV refuses to start up and the red standby light simply blinks red.
The only slightly different exception to this is if I connect the Yamaha A/V amp using its output HDMI to the TV, it will allow the TV to switch on, but it generates no graphical user interface display on the TV so you simply cannot do anything with the Yamaha. (And just to say it does not matter which HDMI port you plug it into on the TV.)
So I deduce the following:
1. It seems likely that the HDMI interface within the Panasonic TV is damaged but retains some functionality. I guess there is some electronic board within the TV that controls it, but it is discrete from the main TV function.
2. That HDMI output from the Yamaha A/V amp has failed. Either this caused the TV HDMI ports to fail, or visa-versa.
So really, this post is me just looking for advice as to whether anyone else has encontered a similarly situation and whether there are any other checks/resets I can carry out.
Thanks for any comments/advice.
For background information a lot of people locally have lost telephone lines and routers attached to telephone lines, etc. Also my surge protector seems to have blown [which may have protected some of the other devices].
So moving on from that I have got some new HDMI cables and I’ve systematically checked all my external devices (V6 TIVO box, Amazon Fire TV, Panasonic Blu-Ray player and Yamaha A/V amplifier) moving them from one individual HDMI port (there are 4 on my Panasonic Vieira TV set – a TX-P42GT30B) to the next to check if the ports (and therefore the attached devices) work.
As part of that exercise I have ‘hard’ reset my TV a couple of times, plus reset it to its factory default setting.
What I’ve basically discovered is that (it appears) that each individual port will work with any individual external device. So for example I have plugged in and got to work the fire TV in each HDMI port 1 to 4. However, as soon as I plug in any second device into any other HDMI port then the TV refuses to start up and the red standby light simply blinks red.
The only slightly different exception to this is if I connect the Yamaha A/V amp using its output HDMI to the TV, it will allow the TV to switch on, but it generates no graphical user interface display on the TV so you simply cannot do anything with the Yamaha. (And just to say it does not matter which HDMI port you plug it into on the TV.)
So I deduce the following:
1. It seems likely that the HDMI interface within the Panasonic TV is damaged but retains some functionality. I guess there is some electronic board within the TV that controls it, but it is discrete from the main TV function.
2. That HDMI output from the Yamaha A/V amp has failed. Either this caused the TV HDMI ports to fail, or visa-versa.
So really, this post is me just looking for advice as to whether anyone else has encontered a similarly situation and whether there are any other checks/resets I can carry out.
Thanks for any comments/advice.
I'd be contacting my house insurance company and asking them to advise, especially if the gear is expensive stuff. You might fix one symptom, to then discover another, much like when trying to sort a car that has been in floodwater up to the windows.
As an aside, a friend in Sweden lives in a valley known for lightning strikes. The inhabitants have a warning system set up, and a few years ago, the alarm was raised, and my friend disconnected every electrical device in the house. He could see the storm rumbling up the valley, so watched it, coffee in hand. Then..... BANG! Lightning struck nearby with such strength that almost all devices in the house were ruined.
I've been in a house that was struck (all TVs, fire alarm and clocks burnt) and outside our old pad near Stansted when it struck all around. Fantastic sensation, love it.
As an aside, a friend in Sweden lives in a valley known for lightning strikes. The inhabitants have a warning system set up, and a few years ago, the alarm was raised, and my friend disconnected every electrical device in the house. He could see the storm rumbling up the valley, so watched it, coffee in hand. Then..... BANG! Lightning struck nearby with such strength that almost all devices in the house were ruined.
I've been in a house that was struck (all TVs, fire alarm and clocks burnt) and outside our old pad near Stansted when it struck all around. Fantastic sensation, love it.
I had to get a telecoms unit tested for lightning performance at a lab in the UK, having seen the effects I'm not surprised equipment gives up the ghost.
We had 10m of utp cable bundled up connected the box for a direct strike equivalent test (100kA), afterwards there wasn't a bit of cable left that was longer than 1", the current had destroyed everything including the box which was smashed open and very scorched.
Definitely an insurance job but if you had a lightning protector with a guarantee that promises to pay in the event of damage might be worth trying to claim on that.
Also worth googling fulgurites as these can be made when a lightning strike hits sand.
We had 10m of utp cable bundled up connected the box for a direct strike equivalent test (100kA), afterwards there wasn't a bit of cable left that was longer than 1", the current had destroyed everything including the box which was smashed open and very scorched.
Definitely an insurance job but if you had a lightning protector with a guarantee that promises to pay in the event of damage might be worth trying to claim on that.
Also worth googling fulgurites as these can be made when a lightning strike hits sand.
Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 7th June 17:07
A couple of years ago, anything plugged into my Virgin router via cat5 got fried, by a spectacular hit in my road!
Nothing else was touched . Neighbour had exactly the same, destroyed his xbox.
My TV was 4.5 years old from John Lewis & they took it away to fix. It came back ok but always had a few glitches, died a few weeks after the JL 5 year warranty expired. Perhaps unrelated.
I should have pressed for a replacement really.
House insurance is bound to affect ‘no claims’ isn’t it?. When I claimed in the past it bumps up the premium. Plus a load won’t quote via comparison sites. So they do punish you
Nothing else was touched . Neighbour had exactly the same, destroyed his xbox.
My TV was 4.5 years old from John Lewis & they took it away to fix. It came back ok but always had a few glitches, died a few weeks after the JL 5 year warranty expired. Perhaps unrelated.
I should have pressed for a replacement really.
House insurance is bound to affect ‘no claims’ isn’t it?. When I claimed in the past it bumps up the premium. Plus a load won’t quote via comparison sites. So they do punish you
One of my customers customers had their house struck and pretty much anything electrical was stuff and the corner bracing for the plaster board was all blown out. The whole house (40m2) need rewiring.
Not quite the same, but we just had a truck take out a power pole and cut power to nearly half the town. I turned my 4K player on and started watching a film, just as King Ghidora fighting Godzilla it turned off and smoke came out the front.
I'm not sure if it was related to the electromagnetic pulse from Godzillas nuclear pre-work out or the power cut (it's connected to a good surge protector). But, Monday morning I'll be chatting to Panasonic and the insurance company. Especially as it was a flagship model 2 years ago.
I'm just thankful it wasn't my new Marantz 7013.
Not quite the same, but we just had a truck take out a power pole and cut power to nearly half the town. I turned my 4K player on and started watching a film, just as King Ghidora fighting Godzilla it turned off and smoke came out the front.
I'm not sure if it was related to the electromagnetic pulse from Godzillas nuclear pre-work out or the power cut (it's connected to a good surge protector). But, Monday morning I'll be chatting to Panasonic and the insurance company. Especially as it was a flagship model 2 years ago.
I'm just thankful it wasn't my new Marantz 7013.
We had lightning strike our chimney a couple of years ago and apart from leaving football sized holes in the roof where bricks and tiles rained down it also broke TVs, AV amp, computers, xbox, PC screen, extractor fan, shower pump, network switch, speakers, CAT 6 cables, aerial distribution box, & other bits and pieces.
I was expecting the insurance company to be a pain but everything was replaced new for old.
I was expecting the insurance company to be a pain but everything was replaced new for old.
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