[TenTec] OT: automotive lightning hit

[Dr. Gerald N. Johnson]

Several years ago KD9UD, Charlie Corcoran, took a direct hit on his 2m 
antenna. It was hard on the radio, and I don't remember what happened to 
the car. I recall the 2m antenna was shortened, and the car stopped 
instantly. I think it was replaced, not repaired, but I'm not sure. He 
should remember.

A good strike is a few kiloamps, and when applied to wiring made for a 
few amps, most of the copper gets vaporized.

And the electric and magnetic fields from a few kiloamps couples more 
than enough voltage and current to ICs to fry them. Probably the 
upholstery and the tin work is salvageable. Maybe not all the upholstery.

73, Jerry, K0CQ

On 8/8/2010 6:02 PM, Al Gulseth wrote:
> Greetings Ten-Tec'ers,
>
> As noted, this is "OT", but I thought I'd toss it out for comment since I am
> sure that a good percentage of the readers of this reflector have dealt with
> the effects of lightning on Ten-Tecs and other electronics.
>
> Here's the situation: a friend of mine who works for a local automobile
> dealership today told me that they had an '09 small import SUV that was
> brought (towed) into their shop after suffering a lightning strike. While the
> strike's exact path is needless to say an educated guess, according to my
> friend it appeared to enter via the vehicle's nav system antenna, found its
> way around inside, exited via the BC radio antenna across the body and/or
> through the electrical system and to ground through the tire pressure
> monitoring system and wheels. In the process, it took out the alternator and
> instrument cluster and "powdered" (carboned?) the surface of the fusebox
> (strangely, didn't blow any fuses.) It also burned a path across the rear
> cargo area carpet (likely from wiring underneath.) Needless to say, there's a
> strong suspicion that this isn't all that was damaged.
>
> So, based on this description and any experience you may have had with
> lightning vs. Ten-Tec rigs and/or other equipment, is there much (or
> anything) left of the electronics in this vehicle? I told my friend that from
> what I knew even if the vehicle were "fixed" it would probably be back
> multiple times with aftereffects. His reply was that he suspected it might
> wind up going to the salvage yard given the amount of parts and labor that
> could be involved (e.g. it would probably be cheaper to replace the engine
> with a used one than to check and replace all the sensors buried inside it.)
>
> Any comments?
>
> TNX/73, Al
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