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Author Topic: Lightning struck the perimeter wire... now what?  (Read 7932 times)

RoboBob

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Lightning struck the perimeter wire... now what?
« on: October 03, 2016, 12:20:58 PM »
Greetings All,

Ater putting on a new transmitter, it is showing a solid green LED.  I walk around with the AM radio with one of the wires unplugged from the perimeter wire to find the break.  I confirm my zone 1 is good, however venturing further out I notice the signal gets fainter and fainter, there is no sudden no signal according to the am radio - this is roughly at 1000 ft or so.  Its very hot and muggy in South Florida right now, and I just want the lawnbott start cutting something as the grass is getting long, so I cut the leg of the boot segmenting Zone 1 from Zone 2 and run it back to the dock as the end of the perimeter - wire - this should work as I confirmed the radio signal was working at the end of this point.  However when I connected it, I noticed that the transmitter suddenly had no LED indicators and when trying the lawnbott out, it said "No Signal"

Any ideas on what to do next?


If you want the full story....read below....

Last week a lighting bolt hit the perimeter wire - it hit a tree, then appears to have bounced from the tree to the ground where the perimeter wire was acting as flower bed around the tree.  It blew a large chunk of the tree bark off and vaporized about 8" of the perimeter wire.  I cut back about 12-18" from each of the vaporized ends and spliced new cable.

Checking the electronics box mounted on the wall near the dock - I found that the Transmitter was burnt to a crisp, the signal booster had smolder marks on the power outlet and was dead confirmed by multimeter, there were smolder/smudge marks in the inside of the electronics boxes and the connection points where the wires connect to the transmitter and where they connect to the dock were blown off or melted (will upload pictures of all the carnage in a bit...) - Amazingly even though the lawnbott charger had charr marks on the chassis - the multimeter confirmed it was still putting out nominal voltage. 

I was very lucky that the lawnbott got stuck next to another tree in the yard (yeah, need more "flower beds" around the trees...) and didn't make it back to the dock when it detected rain and subsequent lightning bolt through the perimeter wire to the dock. 

I am doubly "lucky" that I happen to have a spare transmitter and power supply, found that the signal booster was just a rebranded power supply.  Swapped out those components out, only to find that the lawnbott says "No Signal" and the transmitter is showing a solid green LED.  I walk around with the AM radio with one of the wires unplugged from the perimeter wire to find the break.  I confirm my zone 1 is good, however venturing further out I notice the signal gets fainter and fainter,  there is no sudden no signal according to the am radio  - this is roughly at 1000 ft or so.  Its very hot and muggy in South Florida right now, and I just want the lawnbott start cutting something as the grass is getting long, so I cut the leg of the boot segmenting Zone 1 from Zone 2 and run it back to the dock as the end of the perimeter - wire - this should work as I confirmed the radio signal was working at the end of this point.  However when I connected it, I noticed that the transmitter suddenly had no LED indicators and when trying the lawnbott out, it said "No Signal"

Any ideas on what to do next?
« Last Edit: October 03, 2016, 12:33:32 PM by RoboBob »

RoboBob

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Re: Lightning struck the perimeter wire... now what?
« Reply #1 on: October 03, 2016, 01:08:10 PM »
Images of the lightning aftermath can be seen here:   https://imgur.com/a/TA7q3


RobotLady

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Re: Lightning struck the perimeter wire... now what?
« Reply #2 on: October 03, 2016, 01:14:12 PM »
Incredible story and amazing photos!  It sounds like there is a break in the perimeter wire 1000 feet in.  I will send you our signal trouble shooting guide via email.

Robot Lady

RoboBob

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Re: Lightning struck the perimeter wire... now what?
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2016, 01:18:35 PM »
I am pretty certain there are no wire breaks in the "temporary" loop I just made ) - effectively cutting out zone 2, 3 and 4 - However I noticed when plugging in the shorter perimeter wire, the power supply fan stops whirrling and the transmitter shows no lights, when I remove the wire, the power supply starts whirling and the transmitter flashes red

RoboBob

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Re: Lightning struck the perimeter wire... now what?
« Reply #4 on: October 03, 2016, 01:30:28 PM »
I just checked the resistance with the multimeter for the shortened perimeter wire - it reads at 3.8, so the wire shouldn't be causing the issue?

RobotLady

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Re: Lightning struck the perimeter wire... now what?
« Reply #5 on: November 01, 2016, 01:31:02 PM »
Hi,

It is unclear whether you unplugged the entire perimeter wire before trying the test loop.  If not, please do, it is necessary.

Also, the test loop needs to be at least 20 feet of wire, but 50 feet is even better.  It will not work if the wire is too short.

3.5 ohms on the test loop tells me you may have used wire that is too thin for the test.  Try to use wire that is similar to the perimeter wire.   Using the same wire would be best, if you can.

Robot Lady

 

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