Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!mips!apple!well!nagle
From: nagle@well.sf.ca.us (John Nagle)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: lightning protection question
Message-ID: <24086@well.sf.ca.us>
Date: 8 Apr 91 07:59:31 GMT
References: <91093.214905XWUU@PURCCVM.BITNET> <6095@ptsfa.PacBell.COM>
Lines: 16

dmturne@PacBell.COM (Dave Turner) writes:

>In article <91093.214905XWUU@PURCCVM.BITNET> XWUU@PURCCVM.BITNET writes:
>>I recently read in a reputable computer repair manual that one can gain
>>some measure of lightning protection for an electronic device (computer, TV,
>>etc.) if a simple overhand knot were tied loosely in the power cord.  

      It's not a totally stupid idea.  Lightning arrestors for antennas
usually have a few turns of a coil made out of very heavy wire (busbar
in some units) to provide some inductance to block lightning pulses.
But lightning arrestors also have a spark gap (in air, or in a gas tube)
to provide a high-current path to ground.  With the knot approach,
you're presumably relying on arc-over at the wall outlet to perform
that function.  This might work, if you're lucky.  Very lucky.

					John Nagle