Lightening

[lonak]

Does AS have any lightening protection? Just curious as we head into stormy weather.

[AWCHIEF]

Best protection is the odds are on your side of not getting a direct strike. Honestly something not worth losing any sleep over. If it happens it happens. Hopefully you will have insurance to cover any damage to your electronics that will most certainly be the result.

[perryg114]

Lightening will pass through the shell and then to ground. It is about as safe as it gets. Not a bad idea to have the shell grounded with a grounding stake but not many folks do that.

Perry

[Rich W]

You're in a Faraday cage, just don't touch the aluminum during the storm. If lightning strikes the AS the voltage will follow the aluminum down to the ground through your wheels. One or more of the tires will blow but you'll be safe.

Now wind, is another story. If they are calling for high winds you need to seek other shelter. In a campground go to the innermost area of the bath house/restroom. Put as many walls between you and the storm. Most (not all) storms come from the west to southwest. If boondocking it's best to have already picked a place to go. You need someplace low but not one that can get flooded. A cave is good if you're that fortunate. Expressway overpasses are NOT a good place. You want to keep as close to the ground as possible, somewhere where the wind cannot get under you to lift you up.

Wherever you are, cover you head. Helmets of any kind are good, even bicycle helmets. Protect your face and eyes.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by perryg114

Lightening will pass through the shell and then to ground. It is about as safe as it gets. Not a bad idea to have the shell grounded with a grounding stake but not many folks do that.

You already have so many paths to earth that it's not worth worrying about. Between your tongue jack, your stabilizer jacks, safety chains hanging to the ground (if you allow them to hang to the ground) and the ground wire in your shore power cable (if you're connected to shore power) you've got all the grounding you need for a lightning strike.

[jcanavera]

I think I get more concerned about power surges rather than a direct strike to the trailer itself. We had a storm here at home a few years back where lightning struck the ground nearby. While we have underground wiring, the charge to the ground fed back into my neighbors power to his home and blew out several appliances. I always have thought about a surge protecter to protect the power of the trailer but I've never plunked down the $$ to purchase one.

Jack

[rodsterinfl]

LOL my first away from home camping (out of town) was to St. Augustine. That week, there was a tropical storm with powerful gusts and lots of rain and storm. I got to see just how it was to camp and tow with gusting winds to around 50mph. One point when I was heading into the wind towing my mpg on the truck went down to 4mpg. The side wind assaults were a breeze compared to what I saw semi trailers and even a box trailer going through. It was the rounded shape.

[AWCHIEF]

Last summer a modernized and restored vintage Sparten (same basic construction as Airstream) parked right next to me took a direct strike. Blew the AC off the roof, 3 tires melted, frige, Television and two radios fried. His AC landed less than 5 ft from my trailer. Scared the crap out of me and my poor cat. This was 2AM, not a good way to be woken up.

While living and cruising down island in my sailboat I took a strike in Trinadad. Blew my frige compressor and all three radios. The strike came thru the mast directly to the hull grounding copper hull plate. I was unhurt and extremely lucky it did not blow the hull plate off.

[mandolindave]

We were camping near trees at a festival. I got the warning about the storm, and went Dad on everyone and yelled at them to take down awnings and get safe. Oddly, my drunk ex girlfriend listened to me and she got into my Argosy.
Lightning hit a tree next to the camper where she was getting drunk. The bark of the tree was stripped off, and the bolt came out of the ground through the lawn chairs ( looked like it jumped from one chair to another ) and melted the camp mat where the legs of the chairs were, The friends camper electronics got fried.

Same storm….A blue glow ( St. Elmos Fire ) traveled along speaker wires and shocked the sound man.

Same storm….A guys camper got hit and his hand was on it. He said it affected his pace maker.

[BassCan]

We use to worry about lightening more when we camped in a pop up trailer.

[Protagonist]

For those who want to ground their trailers in a campground, you need only one thing: a pair of heavy-duty jumper cables. Clamp both cables to the frame of the trailer, probably at the axles or springs. Then clamp both cables to the water pipe that provides your municipal water, to serve as your ground rod. Buried water lines make excellent ground rods. With not one but two heavy-duty cables grounding your trailer, you'll be about as protected as you can get; especially if you use wooden or plastic blocks under all of your jacks so that you don't have a good path to ground through them.

[AWCHIEF]

In all my years of camping, tenting and trailering, I have never seen a trailer or MOHO of any kind with a dedicated grounding wire. Can anyone post that have or that they do?