Lighting

[andre]

I tend to leave my control box and computer on all the time. everything is grounded and fine. WIll a bolt of lighting blow out the control box?
The box is hardwired right to my panel.

[srwtlc]

Storms coming through tonight....I went out to the shop and unplugged it all. Lighting will do some crazy things! I've had it take out a PRT board and the serial port, but the rest of the computer still worked fine.

[myxpykalix]

If it was me, i would turn my control box off when not in use. But regardless of whether its on or not if lightning strikes the electricity will follow the path of the wires and possibly hit the box.
Here is an idea i just came up with, in thinking about this. If you want a relatively easy and fast way to physically disconnect the power line from the bot if you're that concerned about it in a storm then try this.
Assuming you have a 220 connection like i do, i would go to lowes and buy a replacement plugin wire for an electric stove along with the matching receptacle. Replace the 220 wire coming out of the box with the plugin wire. Take the wire coming out of your panel box and mount the receptacle to it. You now have a disconnectable connection to the bot. Obviously you can't pull the plug while its powered up but just shut it all down, switch off circuit, pull plug if you feel like you want to make sure nothing will get to the bot during a storm.
Someone more knowledgable might have a good reason why you shouldn't do this, i don't know. This isn't anything i have tried, i just thought of it.

[ed_lang]

Andre,

Here is what I do-

Computers-
No network cables in my shop or house, too many close strikes and network cards, or computers get toasted. All wireless now and no more problems.

All expensive shop equipment-
Disconnected when not in use. I use L6-30 twist lock plugs on every 220V equipment in my shop. I have sockets mounted in the shop where I have equipment and in a couple of extra places as well. I have the ShopBot control box and the VFD on this plug system. I unplug them and move the wires away from the socket after each day of use. If I hear thunder, I shut the ShopBot down. No production for me is worth hurting the machine, or its control computer.

I also unplug the laser engraver and its computer. My lathe has a smaller VFD like the HSD spindle so you bet that is disconnected as well. I don't want to take any chances. Is all of this needed? It is for me to get a good nights sleep so in my case, the answer is YES.

Equipment like my table saw, big band saw and planer all stay connected. I don't worry about them as they do not have electronic controls, just magnetic starters.

Let us know what you decide.

ed

[ljdm]

If you leave the control box and computer on, doesn't that keep the motors energized, to keep position? Is it bad to keep them in that warm/hot stage all the time? Seems like more wear and tear on components nut in use.

[cookie]

I was told by my insurance co. to install a lightning arrestor in the circuit breaker box. This item looks like a capacitor and is wired to a circuit to help protect against whatever. Cost was less than a hundred bucks. I haven't had any problems with it installed.

Bruce

[andre]

I'm calling shop bot today to ask about leaving the control box on all the time.
I'm in the shop now and no power outages last night despite the awesome thunder and lighting.
Lighting arrester? sounds interesting, I will ask my electrician about that

Ed what about your usb to the control box?
I'm not so worried about my computer as I am about the control box. I think a good power surge protector shoud do the trick with my computers.

[andre]

I just talked to Ryan at SB and he said its okay to leave things on. THats what they do.

[henrik_o]

I'm not sure of the proper terminology in English, but if you have an inledningsskydd (main power supply protector, or somesuch) you should be protected against power surges resulting from lightning strikes etc, as long as your actual facility is not directly hit. This unit is installed right where power comes into your total electrical system, before the main system ground.

Such a unit goes for approx. $330 in Sweden (and also includes a box for protecting telecom), it should be even less expensive in the US. It does need to be installed by a licensed electrician.

Failproof protection against direct hit, uh, that's expensive. I think it's better to insure against that in your policy, the risk for a normal site to be hit is so infinitely small as to make the added insurance cost quite reasonable. I think I pay in the order of $50 per annum.

That said, I'm not real worried about power surges. The company has had one fax machine die on us in 30+ years.

What does irk me somewhat is outages. There's a lot of construction work starting up around us and that just can't be good. Is there any reasonably cost-effective way to protect against that?

[ed_lang]

Andre,

My USB to Control box cable is so short that I don't protect it in any way and leave it connected.

[fleinbach]

Henrik,

I have had 3 power outages that lasted from 3 to 5 days in the past 15 years plus many others that lasted from a few minutes to several hours. I finaly purchased a generator 2 years ago that automaticly kicks in if I have an outage. Since my house is attached to my shop I connected it to both. I have had 2 outages since it was installed but luckely I wasn't running anyting in the shop at the time.

As for the lightening issue I just take my chances. I worked with electronics for most of my life. My company Sat TV lasted from 1981 to 1998 and I installed Satellite tv, burgular alarms, and phone systems. I maintained my customer base of a bit over 2,000 during that time. Though many electronics dealers pushed surge protectors I did not. During this pireod I only saw 3 direct hits. Nothing will protect against a direct hit. Things melt and fry. Other then that there where realatively few minor problems related to lightening or surge.

Personaly when you consider out of over 2,000 customers over 16 years the percentage of surge related problems was very small. That is why I take my chances. Of coures if you fear you may be that unfortunate person then by all means use whatever surge protection will make you feel secure in knowing you won't be the one to get a direct hit.

[terryd]

Frank,

Do you know Mr. or Mrs. Murphy. They live at my place and I would be so happy to introduce you to them :-)

TerryD

[fleinbach]

Terry,

It just so happens I do. But whenever they visit something goes wrong and I have to ask them to leave.

[elcruisr]

I live in lightning central and I do leave my control box on 24/7. The computer is protected by a UPS / surge protector that's commercial grade and my control box is also protected by an item called a voltage diverter (Excess voltage sent to ground). We recently installed an industrial grade surge protector on our Delta control for the spindle. In six years of operation I've replaced it twice due to powerline issues. Only replaced a control board once and that was not due to a power issue.

In central FL it pays to protect all the sensitive stuff! One hit took out my Delta controller, dust collection motor for the whole shop and and AC control board.

[henrik_o]

Frank,

I agree that the risk of suffering electronics-frying surges is quite remote. I do not have a decent protector currently. However, things are beginning to add up. In the 'sensitive' department, as of now, we have the shopbot ctrl box, the ventilation system ctrl box and the piggyback fire shutdown box, the ctrl box for the heating system, and four or five computers. This fall, we'll also install electronics for the main DC system. I'm beginning to feel it's just too much that could get fried if that very very remote incident did occur, especially considering the low cost of a competent protector.

Also, you won't believe me, but after a year of no outages, we just had one today. What are the odds of that? The shopbot wasn't running at the time, and power was quickly restored, but still.

I'm interested in your generator setup, would you mind giving some details?

I'm with you on the direct hit thing. I've seen systems built for that, in churches where they have installed 1-2 million USD climate control systems with dozens of sensors and control boxes spread out around the facility. With their tall steeples they get hit all the time so they must have protection against direct hits, the units I've seen were absolute monsters, and as I understood it they 'caged in' the building so there was some serious work done all over the perimeter.

[elcruisr]

I might add that 1 month ago just after we added the last of our "insurance" another lightning hit fried all three transformers coming into our building but we survived the hit! Nothing like FL ligtning.

Frank, I suspect, you must live in a gentler, kinder climate! We have more deaths and damage from lightning in this state than the rest of the country...

[fleinbach]

Henrik,

I am using a Generac 7Kw natural gas model. You can also get them with propane or gasoline. I have half the 8 circuit breakers feeding my shop and the other half for the house. Everything is totaly automatic. If the power fails the generator kciks in within 10 seconds. As I said this is not fool proof since if I where in the middle of a file with the shopbot I would need to reset and restart everything. But at least I will still be able to keep working if we have another one of those several day outages.

Eric,

Yes I,ve heard there are plenty of thunderstorms down there. I have lots of friends and 4 of my grandchildern who live down there. I visit about once a year but due to the heat never intend to live there myself.

[cookie]

I bought a 15k generator for use on my tractor on aug. 14. On aug 15 a farmer run into a major transmission line and took out 4 substations and 2400 customers. It would have been nice if I had it wired so I could have used. Just never know when something will happen.

Bruce