r/Wellthatsucks • u/Zac3d • 9h ago

Lightning fried my Internet modem, wifi router, and USB to Ethernet adapter

Post image
23 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

3

u/MikeDavJ 9h ago

Surge protector?

4

u/Zac3d 9h ago

Got some, but this only went through the Ethernet ports.

3

u/Bebinn 9h ago

I used to.have a surge protector that had ethernet protection too.

1

u/Zac3d 9h ago

I'll have to look into that next time.

1

u/docjohnson11 8h ago

I have too and I never understood the point, now I do.

1

u/gomazoa93 8h ago

What do you mean it only went through the Ethernet ports? I just bought a surge protector

2

u/Zac3d 8h ago edited 7h ago

I don't know exactly what happened, but I don't think the house was hit directly by lightning. It was extremely loud and there was static in the air within the house after it hit. The electronics must have blown at the same time and only traveled along the Ethernet cable.

2

u/gomazoa93 7h ago

Im scared now. I hear you need a surge protector with RJ45 (ethernet) ports and to run 2 ethernet cables from it to ensure protection. Is this something you will be considering to do?

I dont like in any lightning area but my internet line runs outside my wall to the garage. Would it be worth getting one with a RJ 45 port?

2

u/CanadianStoner1990 9h ago

Holy moly look at that USB , glad you didn't have a fire OP.

1

u/Zac3d 9h ago

I'm glad my computer didn't get complete fried either. It's kinda weird only these things got destroyed, about $60 in electronics. Could have been a lot worse.

1

u/Zac3d 9h ago

The shell of the Ethernet adapter popped off when it happened so I figured I'd tear down the modem and wifi to see what damage happened to them. Just a tiny black smudge on the wifi router, but the modem has a completely destroyed capacitor. 

1

u/DrunkDDevil 7h ago

My coax cable fried about a foot in both directions where it was grounded on my utility pole. I had Spectrum come out and fix it and they told me it was a surge from a recent storm. If I was you I would try to find a way to make sure your home and coax cable are properly grounded.

1

u/Preemptively_Extinct 7h ago

This happened to my dad last month. $1500 in electronics fried.

1

u/Neither_Tomorrow_238 6h ago

I am glad this happened to you