Get a Surge Protector for your Lawnbott if you don't have one...

[RobotLady]

Lawnbott is like any electronic device.  Lightning strikes near your home can damage the power supply, transmitter and quite possibly the robot if he is docked or if the strike is very close by.  Read the max power specifications on the power supply and choose a surge protector that exceeds the maximum.  Eventually we will find one and sell it on our site (as a convenience), but for now you can pick one up at the hardware store.

[jzawacki]

Also keep in mind that surge protectors/suppressors are designed to be a one time use device.  If you believe yours has been tripped due to a surge, replace it.

Also, if you have extra money to spend, or would like added protection, look into a UPS (Uninterpretable power supply)/ battery backup.  These are capable of protecting from surges, brown outs, and black outs.

[RobotLady]

Great points, James! 

[cullen]

Many years ago, author Jerry Pournelle wrote a column in Byte magazine about the need for surge suppressors after a particularly nasty incident took out everything in Chaos Manor that wasn't attached to a surge suppressor or UPS - including his refrigerator.

[jzawacki]

I had a similar event happen where lightning hit a pole outside my window (saw the flash), came in over the coax (cable tv) and burned up everything that was attached to it (couple of VCRs, Receiver, etc).  And, having a cable modem, it fed into the network, burned up 4 ports on my primary switch (21-24), as well as two network cards (that were in two of the four ports).  Of course, I ran out and bought a surge protector that included telephone and coax protection...after the fact.

[evblazer]

Lightning hit near my bosses house a few years and fried every piece of electronics in the place. All of his av equipment and computers were on surge protectors with the cable/phone jacks and even the desktop what was connected over wireless had to be replaced.
They were all replaced by insurance because they had surge protectors so if for nothing else have one just for that.

[RoboBob]

Great Idea!  However it wont help you if your unlucky enough to have the lightning bolt hit near your perimeter wire....  https://imgur.com/a/TA7q3

[RobotLady]

Correct.  Surge protectors are not fail safe, but they do help.

Another thing we learned recently is that in most areas of the USA the third prong on your power outlet may not be grounded.  Grounding the third prong is another way to help protect robot mower electronics from lightening and power surges.  You can check it with an ohm meter, but the safest way to avoid an electric shock is to call an electrician to check it and have it connected properly.

The electrician can inspect the outlet where your robot is connected to determine whether the 3rd prong is earth-grounded or not.  If it is not earth grounded, he (she... ;-) ) can ground it for you properly by literally putting a stake in the ground outside your house and running a wire to the outlet.

Grounding the outlet properly can prevent robot mower mishaps due to lightening.

Robot Lady