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[K3] Be Careful in Lightning Season

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Pete Smith N4ZR

[K3] Be Careful in Lightning Season

About a year ago, when I first got my K3, U1 on the KIO3 board fried
during a lightning storm, even though all my antennas and control cables
were disconnected. Apparently the damage was caused by EMP on the
serial cable. Anyway, $110 later I added a surge protector between the
radio and the cable, and swapped the cable for a USB-to-serial adapter,
thinking it might reduce the chance of future damage. As suggested by
Elecraft, I also started disconnecting from the RS-232 port when a
lightning storm was expected.

Well, last Wednesday night I was awakened by thunder and lightning, went
back to sleep, and in the morning discovered that I had *not*
disconnected the serial cable. In fact, I'd also left the antenna on my
QS1R - horrors! The QS1R was OK, as it turned out, but the EMP fried
both my USB-to-Serial adapter and the KIO3 - probably U1 again,
according to Elecraft, which is sending me the IC so that I can attempt
a repair myself. Excellent support, as usual.

It does seem, though, that the RS-232 port on the K3 is highly
vulnerable - in some 15 years of using radios with serial ports, I had
never before disconnected the serial cables, and never had any damage,
even when my tower took a direct hit. I have heard that Elecraft is
working on a ruggedized version of the KIO3, and wonder - when might it
be ready, and will it be a user-performable mod?

--
73, Pete N4ZR

The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at www.conteststations.com
The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000

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Joe Subich, W4TV-4

Re: [K3] Be Careful in Lightning Season

Pete,

Are the chassis of your K3 and computer bonded together and are they
connected to the common lighting protection ground?

Are they both connected to the same AC circuit (same "safety ground")?

Have you removed (bypassed) L1 on the KIO3 RS232 board?

Is your RF ground system bonded to the power system safety ground at
the entrance panel?

Your symptoms are symptomatic of divergence between the chassis of
the K3 and computer with the result that the KIO3 sees reverse
"reverse" voltage. RS-232 inputs are usually somewhat rugged since
they are required to accept +/- 25V in normal operation but enough
difference between chassis potential on two connected items will cause
that difference to appear on the connections (e.g. RS-232 input in
this case).

73,

... Joe, W4TV

On 6/18/2011 6:44 AM, Pete Smith wrote:

> About a year ago, when I first got my K3, U1 on the KIO3 board fried
> during a lightning storm, even though all my antennas and control cables
> were disconnected. Apparently the damage was caused by EMP on the
> serial cable. Anyway, $110 later I added a surge protector between the
> radio and the cable, and swapped the cable for a USB-to-serial adapter,
> thinking it might reduce the chance of future damage. As suggested by
> Elecraft, I also started disconnecting from the RS-232 port when a
> lightning storm was expected.
>
> Well, last Wednesday night I was awakened by thunder and lightning, went
> back to sleep, and in the morning discovered that I had *not*
> disconnected the serial cable. In fact, I'd also left the antenna on my
> QS1R - horrors! The QS1R was OK, as it turned out, but the EMP fried
> both my USB-to-Serial adapter and the KIO3 - probably U1 again,
> according to Elecraft, which is sending me the IC so that I can attempt
> a repair myself. Excellent support, as usual.
>
> It does seem, though, that the RS-232 port on the K3 is highly
> vulnerable - in some 15 years of using radios with serial ports, I had
> never before disconnected the serial cables, and never had any damage,
> even when my tower took a direct hit. I have heard that Elecraft is
> working on a ruggedized version of the KIO3, and wonder - when might it
> be ready, and will it be a user-performable mod?
>

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Larry stowell

Re: [K3] Be Careful in Lightning Season

In reply to this post by Pete Smith N4ZR

Pete
It came in on the cable and I'm not sure about the AC, it was selective on what it effected.

I'll look into the whole house surge protector.

73 Larry K1ZW

-----Original Message-----
From: Pete Smith [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2011 8:05 AM
To: Larry stowell
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [K3] Be Careful in Lightning Season

Hi Larry - ouch! It would be worth some effort to track down what the
entry path was. From the wide variety of devices affected, I suspect
the AC service. We have a big surge protector right at the meter,
courtesy of the power company, and I'm pretty well convinced it is worth
the $3/month rent.

73, Pete N4ZR

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Bob-270

Re: [K3] Be Careful in Lightning Season

Kind of hard to evaluate if it worked or not but I can say the only thing I every
lost due to lightning was a phone modem. I put a surge arrestor in from this
company about 25 years ago. I know a neighbor who lost a control board in a
dishwasher after a close strike. Here:

http://deltala.com/mcart/index.cgi

Our now defunct local electrical supply warehouse had them in stock back
then. I'd like to think it worked but even if not I got my money's worth in
"feeling better" about it being there.

I'm not aware of my power company (JCP&L) even offering any devices but
if these are functional equal it would not take that long to pay for itself if the
charge was $3 a month.

73,
Bob
K2TK ex KN2TKR (1956) & K2TKR

On 6/18/2011 11:42 AM, Larry stowell wrote:

> Pete
> It came in on the cable and I'm not sure about the AC, it was selective on what it effected.
>
> I'll look into the whole house surge protector.
>
> 73 Larry K1ZW
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Pete Smith [mailto:[hidden email]]
> Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2011 8:05 AM
> To: Larry stowell
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [K3] Be Careful in Lightning Season
>
> Hi Larry - ouch! It would be worth some effort to track down what the
> entry path was. From the wide variety of devices affected, I suspect
> the AC service. We have a big surge protector right at the meter,
> courtesy of the power company, and I'm pretty well convinced it is worth
> the $3/month rent.
>
> 73, Pete N4ZR
>
>