Lightening Killed My TV

[N80]

We had a lightening strike near our house yesterday. If flipped the breaker in the TV room. We had the TV (40" Sony Bravia), Sony DVD player/entertainment unit (cheap), Apple TV box ($100) and DirecTV box all on the same outlet using a cheap power strip.

When I flipped the breaker back on the DVD player came on but TV, DirecTV and Apple TV box will not come on at all, even when plugged into new power strip and different outlet. TV cost $800 and is less than 2 years old.:weepy:

It also knocked out our cable internet service at the pole in out neighbor's yard. That has been repaired.

Questions: Are there any other tests or checks I need to do before chucking the TV in the garbage? Home owner's deductible is too high to help. Is there any chance that it would be financially beneficial to try to have it repaired? Any advice or previous experience with this appreciated.

 

[Bird]

I'd be surprised if the TV is worth fixing, or even can be fixed, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to take it to a TV repair place and get their opinion. I don't know what else you can do.

On August 4, 1998, we had a lightning strike that killed one digital alarm clock, one 3-way table lamp, another 3-way touch lamp, an old small color TV, the DirectV satellite receiver, and two cordless telephones.

But at that time I only had $200 deductible, called my insurance company, was given a claim number and the name of an adjustor who would be contacting me, and he pretty promptly called. Before I called, I looked up my old records, knew what the items cost, where they came from, etc. and the adjustor just took my word for everything and sent me a check. I thought he'd at least come out to see the stuff, but he said to just throw it away. The DirecTV folks did want the old satellite receiver sent back to them.

 

[bandaidmd]

Make sure you check every GFI in your house ,when i got hit it took them all out.
I was at the neighbors when the storm went thru that evening, less than a month later the neighbors barn that we were working in when my house got hit was burned to the ground by lightning. Fire marshal determined that lightning connected with a iron hayrack system in the loft and ignited several points that had contact with the wooden structure.
Not a good thing to be woken up by accetelyene tanks exploding in the middle of the night.

 

[MoKelly]

Most likely a total loss. But, it won't hurt to take the back off the TV and look. Replace the fuse. See if anything else looks broke or needing replacement. You might just get lucky. Good luck.

MoKelly

 

[MoKelly]

Not a good thing to be woken up by accetelyene tanks exploding in the middle of the night.

Wow. And I thought it was bad when the alarm system goes off due to lightning!

MoKelly

 

[HarryN]

When you get new "stuff", make sure to buy a UPS too! (Uninterruptible Power Supply) They are about $150 and well worth the investment. It probably would have saved you the headache you are going thru now. This is not a surge protector I'm talking about built into a power strip. Places like Best Buy and Walmart carry them.
I have 5 of them. On every TV (with components) and Computers at my home!!
Looks like this:
AMERICAN POWER CONVERSION 1080VA Battery BackUp System BN1080G - Best Buy

 

[MossRoad]

We had a lightening strike near our house yesterday. If flipped the breaker in the TV room. We had the TV (40" Sony Bravia), Sony DVD player/entertainment unit (cheap), Apple TV box ($100) and DirecTV box all on the same outlet using a cheap power strip.

When I flipped the breaker back on the DVD player came on but TV, DirecTV and Apple TV box will not come on at all, even when plugged into new power strip and different outlet. TV cost $800 and is less than 2 years old.:weepy:

It also knocked out our cable internet service at the pole in out neighbor's yard. That has been repaired.

Questions: Are there any other tests or checks I need to do before chucking the TV in the garbage? Home owner's deductible is too high to help. Is there any chance that it would be financially beneficial to try to have it repaired? Any advice or previous experience with this appreciated.

See if the TV has a fuse. My be a simple repair for a TV shop (if you can find a TV shop). But most likely, its toast.

Lesson learned... get a better power strip, one that has a guarantee for lightning strikes. (I should take my own advice ).

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Yes, check the fuses. Google and youtube have some very good tv repair stuff for the newer Tv's. You'll have to take off the back panel and do some research. Please let TV sit unplugged for a few hours to discharge the capacitors as they can keep strong power for a while.

 

[bigtiller]

Lightning fried one of three HDMI circuits in our sony. We only use two of them at a time so all it cost us was a service call from the repair guy.

Our tv was protected by a UPS that was protected by a surge protector that was protected by a whole house surge protector at the meter. I guess it was just our turn.

 

[Dr_Zinj]

I've lost 6 Craftsman garage door openers over the past decade due to lightning strikes. I've got breakers on the outlets, and I put good quality surge/spike protectors between the outlets and the openers the last couple times. Turns out the strikes aren't coming through the lines. The lightning has been hitting pine trees about 75 feet from the house, and it's the EMP being conducted by the wires from the obstruction safety sensors blowing through the circuit boards. (The IR sensors on each side of the doors are being burned out too.) The last time even blew past the several iron core retarders I wrapped the sensor wires around to fry the circuit boards.

 

[tallyho8]

I had the same problem when lightning hit and took out my flat screen tv and the microwave.

I took the back off the tv, found the blown fuse, went to Radio Shack and got one like it, replaced it and it worked fine.

The microwave wasn't so lucky. It was toast.

 

[N80]

Thanks guys, will certainly check the fuse.

 

[MossRoad]

Thanks guys, will certainly check the fuse.

As someone mentioned, google your make, model and repair videos. It is surprising how many folks take the time to show you how to repair laptop screens, iPads, iPhones, TVs, appliances, etc... one of the good things the internet has to offer besides TBN! :laughing:

 

[jinman]

If you are gonna scrap the TV anyhow, there's no reason not to check for a fuse. My neighbor had a loss earlier this year on a brand new cabin and furnishings. Turns out the cabin did not have a ground rod on it's sub-panel and the grounds and neutral were tied together in the subpanel by the jakeleg electrician. Anyhow, my neighbor had a big screen TV, DVD player, DirecTV receiver and a space heater all with remote control. They all fried. Luckily, the TV and DVD player were only 90 days old, so they took them back to the store and got them replaced under warranty. The heater was a bit older and that was a $200 outlay.

My neighbors asked me to look at things and could not understand why lightning got them when everything was off. I had to explain to them that nothing is really off when it has a remote control. The only way to protect things would be to switch off the master breaker when the cabin is not occupied. They didn't want to do that so they could keep cold drinks in the fridge. I also explained to them that there is NO protection from a direct lightning strike. Later, the power company verified that to be true. If things aren't unplugged, they are susceptible.

 

[creekbend]

First, I am sorry that this happened to You. A good friend of mine owns an Electric Company and an Automotive Shop and Garage. Several years ago, he told me of a way to reduce this Lightning problem. He told me to plug in One Surge Protector into the receptacle and plug a second Surge protector into the First one. I make all my connections into the second 6-plug Surge Protector. BTW, we have alot of close lightning strikes, and some even shake our Home. This scares my Wife. We haven't had any problems for around 6 years. Knock on Wood. I sincerely hope that replacing a Fuse will be the answer. Best wishes.

 

[sam5570]

When you get new "stuff", make sure to buy a UPS too! (Uninterruptible Power Supply) They are about $150 and well worth the investment. It probably would have saved you the headache you are going thru now. This is not a surge protector I'm talking about built into a power strip. Places like Best Buy and Walmart carry them.
I have 5 of them. On every TV (with components) and Computers at my home!!
Looks like this:
AMERICAN POWER CONVERSION 1080VA Battery BackUp System BN1080G - Best Buy

Harry thank's for the post I need this item, my power goes out for seconds almost every day and it's killing us. we are constantly replacing stuff and I know it's because of the surge. we have argued with power company over this for several years.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

We had a tree come down and rip the power line off my parents house causing it to arc. It fried the power supply on the desktop pc and killed all the tvs. The desktop was plugged into a "good" powerstrip that was suppose to protect it and I guess we were lucky the power supply was cheap to replace (the monitor, printer and fax all survived the ordeal). The new and better power strips cost more but our insurance did pay a good portion to replace the TVs (3 of them there). Now everything is hooked into high quality surge protectors.

Good luck with your replacement shopping and hopefully you won't have this happen again.

 

[kenmac]

Consider yourself lucky,,,lighting will also take out A/C units. I've replaced several this yr. from lightening strikes Thousands of $$$$$ to replace



http://www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_lls/nlsi_annual_usa_losses.htm

 

[TCJatko]

If your TV is dead, just bury it and don't get another. Believe me, it's much nicer without it.

 

[grsthegreat]

unit surge suppressors are ok, but whole house systems are better. They will protect ovens, refrigerators, etc...along with tvs and dvd players.

There are all sorts of whole house systems....and some have 5 year guisrantees that pay deductibles if they dont work.