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General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
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In Reply to: RE: Insurance.. Do you have 'replacement' coverage? posted by tdbr8de on June 26, 2016 at 09:55:41:
I thought I-10 was only in FL, but of course that doesn't mean anything to an insurance company. My buddy who lived in Orlando and then Longwood, FL told me it was like the lightning capital of the world. He replaced so many answering machines it was ridiculous and he decided to get the voicemail service from the phone company, we are talking a landline here, this was a long time ago.Your amp probably just needs a set of rectifiers. There is a slight possibility it needs a power transformer.
It is not always lightning hitting the power lines that damages things, sometimes it is the associated EMP. Every wire becomes a generator. The longest wires in there are in the power transformer, or if a tube amp the output transformers maybe.
Most likely the filter caps saved the amp itself, but the surge current shorted out the rectifiers.
The way to check is to use a DBT and disconnect the main rectifiers, if the bulb dims the transformer is still good. Then of course take a DVM and look for shorts. The outputs may well be shorted because that EMP also induced voltage into your speaker wires. But not if it was off and has a protection relay.
I have seen EMPs do some strange shit, seriously. Like making relays inoperative. They check just fine on a DVM but simply won't work. From the same house I had an amp in which the speaker relay would not engage, though it was fine on a static check, and a cassette deck that was autoreverse that used a relay to kick in the other poles of the heads, as opposed to flipping the head over like newer decks. It would reverse but play side A in reverse. Both same house, and same occurrence, came in the same day. In each case, SOME of the turns of the relay coils were shorted but not a dead short that a DVM would have revealed.
In another case a Sony Trinitron CRT got magnetised so much and so evenly that the colors were like reversed. When it wanted red it was blue, when it wanted green it was red, etc. Found out there was a nearby lightning strike when it happened. The internal degausser, and even the shop degausser could not fix it. I had to take a variac and crank it up to beyond line voltage and feed it to the degaussing coil to fix it, and it got hot. I had to take it up to like 150 volts for over ten seconds to do it, because the normal duration and current it used was not enough. This in spite of the fact that it used a 6.3 amp fuse and the inrush, due to the degausser and the main filter cap, which results in a peak current up in the hundreds of amperes. But only for a short time, like maybe 16 mS max.
It might be fixable, but in other bad news, it is possible that your speakers or the crossover components within could be bad now. Not as likely but quite possible.
The EMP from lightning also destroys the electronic ignition in newer lawnmowers and sometimes even cars. (but in many cases the car body acts as sort of a Faraday cage) And strangely, it does not burn out the lightbulbs like a normal power surge. This is because of thermal mass.
When lightning DOES actually hit the power lines it very much depends on where. I have seen like eight inches of quarter inch copper vaporized on a TV circuit board and the fuse was not even blown. And it was quite surprising that once I repaired that it worked. No other faults. What happened there is the "electrical mass" if I may coin a phrase, of the main filter in the power supply saved the rest of the set.
Another thing about this, if you can get it repaired, make sure the shop does a legal, live line leakage test. The procedure is available online as well as in almost every television service manual in this country.
I am an expert in this kinda shit but if you want me to do it you have to ship it up here. I have not really had good luck with UPS, or Fedex. And I hear horror stories about the USPS. I don't know what to tell you. Actually there are people who pack professionally, maybe one of them. The second last place I worked actually did it for like $25, but I have no idea how it is down there. Suffice it to say though that if you remember the old Samsonite luggage commercial where they put a suitcase in the cage with a gorilla, it has to be ready for that. And that adds to the cost.
There has to be someone qualified there. The problem is that they might not give you a warranty. If you get another lightning strike of course that will not be covered.
Without going into detail, I remember fixing things where they said "No matter what". Expensive or with sentimental value. If this is like that, SOMEONE can do it. And insurance should pay for it, as long as it is higher than the deductible. I have dealt with insurance companies before. They can be a pain but read that policy. If they are subrogated to pay do not let them get out of it. That is what the premiums are for. And refunding the premiums does not work under current law. That may change, but as far as I know it has not.
Edits: 06/26/16
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Follow Ups
- RE: Insurance.. Do you have 'replacement' coverage? - JURB 20:23:40 06/26/16 (1)
- RE: Insurance.. Do you have 'replacement' coverage? - fredtr 17:25:12 07/02/16 (0)
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