Lightning strike on house during charging

[J5hort]

You'd have a better chance to be hit by lightning! What are the odds.
In any event, I had to replace the Ford mobile charger after we lost power (not due to lightning). Completely toast and no way to even open it to repair. It was steady red and did not respond after breaker reset or prolonged power off.

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[rhfritz]

I installed this unit, FYI

https://www.homedepot.com/pep/Eaton-Whole-House-Surge-Protector-CHSPT2ULTRA-1/204761136

How difficult was the install? I had no idea they needed to be replaced. The one I had installed has been there since 1998. So I've got a breaker and an external box already. Would it be easy to swap out?

 

[Fixbear]

I remember being told that you were safer inside your vehicle during a thunderstorm because the vehicle is not grounded due to rubber tires and would not attract lightning. I guess that isn't true.

The rubber in tires has carbon in it and they are conductive.

 

[rhfritz]

How difficult was the install? I had no idea they needed to be replaced. The one I had installed has been there since 1998. So I've got a breaker and an external box already. Would it be easy to swap out?

Here's a weird thing. So after I read this thread a week or so ago, on July 14 I ordered a pair of EATON CHSPT2ULTRAs at about $105 each from Jungle Store. Shipping has now gotten repeatedly delayed, now showing as July 31. In the mean time, when I go to the item here www.amazon.com/dp/B01AQAKRSS
it's now $195 each. I'm thinking someone is stringing me along.

 

[the golden eel]

@shelbycobra Any update on your car? Fixable or totaled?

 

[shelbycobra]

@shelbycobra Any update on your car? Fixable or totaled?

Colonial Ford still has it. They are saying it is the EV charge port assembly and it should be done by Wednesday. $2239. I will just have to pay the $500 deductible. Of course, no telling if it will be fixed for sure yet.

 

[CHeil402]

How difficult was the install? I had no idea they needed to be replaced. The one I had installed has been there since 1998. So I've got a breaker and an external box already. Would it be easy to swap out?

It's not difficult to install/replace, but unless you're comfortable working around a distribution panel / sub-panel I would recommend an electrician to actually perform the work. You have to take the dead front off the panel which exposes all of the high voltage within the panel including live bus-bars unless you can cut power to the box from upstream of the box (not just for example at a main 200 A CB at the top of the box as this would still leave the top of the box hot).

 

[rhfritz]

It's not difficult to install/replace, but unless you're comfortable working around a distribution panel / sub-panel I would recommend an electrician to actually perform the work. You have to take the dead front off the panel which exposes all of the high voltage within the panel including live bus-bars unless you can cut power to the box from upstream of the box (not just for example at a main 200 A CB at the top of the box as this would still leave the top of the box hot).

Thanks! I followed your advice last week. First, although I had new breakers (recommended as compatible by Amazon), they weren't compatible with my two panels. So while the electrician removed the old ones and re-arranged existing breakers for optimal placement, I sprinted out to Lowes and bought the right kind.

And then the original surge protectors from 1998 were flush with the sheetrock. But the new ones were bigger and bulkier and required the electrician to enlarge the hole plus, because the panel cover wouldn't go back on, recess them farther into the wall cavity. That meant pushing back other wires running up into the panel plus having to knock-out another of the passthrough holes in the bottom of the panel. Because of all that, it took him about 2.5 hours. And he did it all while the panel was hot. I'd have been way out of my comfort zone.

So in the end he replaced two ElectraGuards with Eatons.

And, yes, while the holes look like hell, I'm going to cover them with some clear plastic shielding to keep anything from traveling into the wall cavity. Somehow I'm absolutely certain whatever these get replaced with (hopefully in the distant future) will likely be a different shape.

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