Lightning strike

[Jglass]

My local ford dealer service manager has come out twice now to work on it. We have determined that the lightning came in through the radio antenna on the roof. It is melted and broken. The small cab lights are melted and the fiberglass around them is messed up slightly. They determined the pcm is bad, replaced it and figured out the climate control module, and AB’s module is bad. They believe one of the wiring harnesses has a short, including the wiring going to the cab lights. Also the radio head unit is toast. Next week they are going to work through the wiring harness and replace the known damaged modules.

[Hit_the_Rhod]

I would submit an insurance claim immediately! Given your last post, you are already into it a couple of thousand $$ already. Lightening strikes are the gifts that keep on giving. You will continue to discover new items that were damaged, can you say microwave? If you have the claim established now, you can get future failures repaired.

If it were me, I would not even consider purchasing a coach that had had a lightning strike because you will continue to have new problems pop up. For that reason, you also need to pursue diminished value, at the very least, because of the strike.

You stated that they believe that one of the wiring harnesses has a short . . . In my opinion, a repair to that harness is not possible. It must be totally replaced because you have absolutely no idea what other weaknesses/damage the strike did to the rest of the harness, and IMHO, EVERY wiring harness in the entire coach is now suspect. This is not a car, or truck, where you are awake anytime you are in the vehicle. You SLEEP in this coach! Shorts/damaged wiring has a tendency for causing problems, intermittent shorts, and FIRES.

I have even seen relatively new coaches, with very little visible damage, totaled because the insurance company didn't want to be hounded forever with new issues from the lightning strike.

Request the insurance company tow it to a repair facility and deal with it there. The longer you wait to claim it through your insurance company, the more difficult it will be for you to get everything you've done so far covered.

Depending on what they find when they evaluate it, I may even consider pursuing an independent inspection by an electrician familiar with RV's and lightning strikes. Have him/her write an opinion as to the condition/safety of the vehicle where people sleep, after the demonstrated damage that has been discovered.

Personally, I would push for the insurance company to total the RV. If they decide NOT to total it, I would request that they write you a letter (not tell you, or e-mail you) stating that all the damage from the lightning strike has been addressed, and that the vehicle is free from any lightning caused safety concerns and is safe for operations both as a motor vehicle, and as a residence.

Once again, depending on their response early on, I would also consider opening a case with your states Office of the Insurance Commissioner. They will have your back. Or at least they have had mine in three different states, in three different, unrelated issues, over the last 30 or so years where I have had issues with my insurance companies handling of personal insurance claims.

Best of luck, and please let us know what happens.

[dssl]

Wow that's a bummer. Obviously if the lighning directly hit into the radio a surge protector wouldn't have helped.

Above sounds like good advice.

[jacwjames]

On another forum there was a post regarding a lightening strike on a high end older coach. The owner had been dealing with the insurance claim since middle of 2022. The insurance company finally decided to just go ahead and total the coach since some of the components are obsolete and they had not yet determined the extent of damage.


I'd suggest filing a claim. Your insurance company may push back considering what you had already done. The sooner you file the better.

[mr.tommy]

Originally Posted by dssl

Good practice, but if the lighting storm hits while you are away, or while sleeping that doesn't work. Also disconnecting power implies losing air conditioners which is tough when it's hot.

When possible I disconnect shore power during a lighting storm. I can even run an air conditioner off my batteries.

But for when it's not practical to unplug I have a surge protector on the post, plus a built in ems surge protector plus a transfer switch with a built in surge protector.

Surge protectors and EMS's Will NOT protect against a lightening strike. Read the manual. For one example, Progressive Industries says these things are excluded in their warranty info:
All acts of God and/or natural disasters including, but not limited to lightning damage, hurricanes, floods and earthquakes

Power Dog...the same thing.

The purpose of Surge protectors and EMS are to—in a nut shell—is to do just that. Offer protection from surges. EMS's provide many more protections and not limited to, voltage fluctuations, high/low voltage, and much more. BUT not a lightening strike.

Similarly to you, I am double protected. Surge protector @ the pedestal, hard wired EMS inside my electrical bay. BUT....when I see a forecast with heavy lightning coming I unplug. Period. End of discussion. If I'm leaving the RV with that kind of possible forecast, I unplug. Night time I'll unplug even if it's hot and can't run AC's. I'd rather be a little uncomfortable than risk frying the RV and spending weeks/months fixing stuff, filing claims, put out of cash and so on. Not a risk I'm willing to take.

I know others will disagree and make different decisions and that's ok with me.

[cadillac_al]

If there is lightning damage 15' from the trailer, that is a very bad sign.

[ga traveler]

Having the jacks down grounded the motorhome. Not good. The ground negative charge went up through th e jacks and through the frame to the highest point on the motorhome, the antenna.

[dssl]

Originally Posted by mr.tommy

Surge protectors and EMS's Will NOT protect against a lightening strike. Read the manual. For one example, Progressive Industries says these things are excluded in their warranty info:
All acts of God and/or natural disasters including, but not limited to lightning damage, hurricanes, floods and earthquakes

Power Dog...the same thing.

The purpose of Surge protectors and EMS are to—in a nut shell—is to do just that. Offer protection from surges. EMS's provide many more protections and not limited to, voltage fluctuations, high/low voltage, and much more. BUT not a lightening strike.

Similarly to you, I am double protected. Surge protector @ the pedestal, hard wired EMS inside my electrical bay. BUT....when I see a forecast with heavy lightning coming I unplug. Period. End of discussion. If I'm leaving the RV with that kind of possible forecast, I unplug. Night time I'll unplug even if it's hot and can't run AC's. I'd rather be a little uncomfortable than risk frying the RV and spending weeks/months fixing stuff, filing claims, put out of cash and so on. Not a risk I'm willing to take.

I know others will disagree and make different decisions and that's ok with me.

The way it can help is if a lightning strike hits the power line it causes a surge. Obviously there are limits to how big surge you are protected by. Each surge protector is rated for some amount of energy(joules) it can suppress. My understanding is that each level of surge protection reduced or eliminates the surge at its output. The more total surge protection you have the better your chances of escaping major damage to your electrical system.

Obviously the manufacturer can't warranty against any arbitrary lightning strike, and most surge protectors are sacrificial, which implies they are destroyed by a large surge.

I am not sure where you live and where you camp, but when it's warm/hot and humid being without AC is a huge deal. Sleep is important and lightning strikes are rare events, and the risks can be reduced. I can run my BR AC off of my batteries all night which I do if there is an active lightning storm, but if it hits in the middle of the night I'm not going to sweat it.

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by dssl

The way it can help is if a lightning strike hits the power line it causes a surge. Obviously there are limits to how big surge you are protected by. Each surge protector is rated for some amount of energy(joules) it can suppress. My understanding is that each level of surge protection reduced or eliminates the surge at its output. The more total surge protection you have the better your chances of escaping major damage to your electrical system.

Obviously the manufacturer can't warranty against any arbitrary lightning strike, and most surge protectors are sacrificial, which implies they are destroyed by a large surge.

I am not sure where you live and where you camp, but when it's warm/hot and humid being without AC is a huge deal. Sleep is important and lightning strikes are rare events, and the risks can be reduced. I can run my BR AC off of my batteries all night which I do if there is an active lightning storm, but if it hits in the middle of the night I'm not going to sweat it.

Nope not even close. Mankind has been trying to harness the power in lightening for centuries, unsuccessfully. A lightning bolt can contain up to one billion joules of energy.
When a surge suppressor fails it allows ALL the energy to pass through, not just the excess over rating.
source:
https://conquerallelectrical.ca/how-...ightning-bolt/

I used to work for Westinghouse Electric co. Their engineers tried to design lightening suppressors for household application, but it was all guesswork because they cannot even come close to duplicating the energy in lightning.

The project was scrapped after about a year of trial and failures.

[dssl]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

Nope not even close. Mankind has been trying to harness the power in lightening for centuries, unsuccessfully. A lightning bolt can contain up to one billion joules of energy.
When a surge suppressor fails it allows ALL the energy to pass through, not just the excess over rating.
source:
https://conquerallelectrical.ca/how-...ightning-bolt/

I used to work for Westinghouse Electric co. Their engineers tried to design lightening suppressors for household application, but it was all guesswork because they cannot even come close to duplicating the energy in lightning.

The project was scrapped after about a year of trial and failures.

If the lighting hits your rv, or your pole then for sure no surge protector is going to help. It's much more likely that the lightning strike will hit the power distribution further away from you which will limit the amount of energy surge that arrives at your RV.

Here is an article that somewhat explains it https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...HEtyaEN9Si87kH

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by dssl

If the lighting hits your rv, or your pole then for sure no surge protector is going to help. It's much more likely that the lightning strike will hit the power distribution further away from you which will limit the amount of energy surge that arrives at your RV.

Here is an article that somewhat explains it https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...HEtyaEN9Si87kH

I don't have much faith in one persons blog/article. I do believe the 3 years of research and testing performed by Westinghouse engineers.
In the end it is your property and money involved.

[n2zon]

A surge protector in a lightning strike is about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.* They will do nothing to keep the energy of a strike from entering your coach or home. Surge suppressors are metal oxide varistors (MOVs). They conduct current above their trigger voltage and act as insulators below it. However, each time they conduct, the trigger voltage drops, and eventually they fail shorted. I replaced the whole-house suppressor we have not to long ago for this reason (after ~20 years!).

A lightning arrester is completely different. Its job is to conduct a higher than normal voltage to ground. There are two main types, simple spark gap arresters (commonly sold by Radio Shack back when there was such a company) and good gas discharge tube arresters. With the right kind gas discharge tubes it is possible to construct a *ground system* that will direct the strike's energy to ground nearly all the time. This can be done well enough to protect equipment, not only the structure. These systems are installed on commercial broadcast stations everywhere. They *work*.

There is essentially no way to do this in a campground. Unplugging is the best strategy but nothing will protect you from a direct strike unless you spend lots of money and have an exceptionally cooperative campground owner. (For starters, the required ground ring is under the surface, along with 10' ground rods every 10'.) The lightning traveled thousands of feet through air (a pretty good insulator!)to get to your coach. A direct strike is not going to be deterred by a few inches of wet rubber if you retract your jacks.

Unplugging (don't forget the cable connection) helps when there is a nearby strike because any voltages induced in those wires won't enter your coach if it's not connected.

*Submarines, I'm been told, do have screen doors to keep insects from entering when they are running on the surface with the hatch open.

[NXR]

Originally Posted by ga traveler

Having the jacks down grounded the motorhome. Not good. The ground negative charge went up through th e jacks and through the frame to the highest point on the motorhome, the antenna.

That lightning bolt just traversed thousands of feet, or dozens of miles, of air. Having the jacks up or down will not make a bit of difference in whether it decides you are the target or not.

Ray

[n2zon]

Originally Posted by NXR

That lightning bolt just traversed thousands of feet, or dozens of miles, of air. Having the jacks up or down will not make a bit of difference in whether it decides you are the target or not.

Ray

Exactly.