What is everyone doing for EV surge suppression?

wag123 said:
So that a direct strike that is shunted to ground immediately disconnects the load.

Regardless of what the code says, according to the experts it is not the best way to protect yourself from a direct strike. When everything is tied together everything takes the hit. When I had a communication tower I installed a lightning arrestor and a dedicated ground rod, it took a direct lightening strike and everything survived.
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Experts? Like NFPA and IEEE aren't experts?

You got lucky. This time.
 
Eaton BRSURGE

Square D 2175SB SurgeArrestor

Siemens Boltshiels QSPD

GE/ABB THQLSURGE2

Depending on the brand breaker box you have
 
Kohler Xfer Switch has surge and brownout protection built in.

IMG_3291.webp
 
IveBeenRued said:
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I am really interested in the dedicated grounds that some folks are having installed. In this instance, because the surge came up the neutral my current defenses did close to nothing. Residential services are bonded ground to neutral and because my surge suppressors are designed to dump excessive voltage to ground, my devices just got the full hit. My detached garage has two dedicated ground rods, no AFCI, and had no ill effects from the lightning. A dedicated ground rod at my HVAC’s surge suppressor very well may have saved my control board.
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Im curious, being the surge came up the ground from a fairly good distance I’m assuming that you have overhead power lines?
(Good post BTW)
 
alarmguy said:
Im curious, being the surge came up the ground from a fairly good distance I’m assuming that you have overhead power lines?
(Good post BTW)
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Yes, overhead from the substation all the way to my house. They told us 13 years ago that they would be burying the lines but I’m not holding my breath.

I’m thinking of going with multi layer defense (beyond my already multiple layers of defense which failed).
1. Dedicated ground rod at my sensitive branch circuits. Future EV charger, HVAC, etc. I will still tie into the house’s neutral and ground per code but give my downstream surge suppressors a path of less resistance in the event that a future surge comes up via the utility’s neutral again.
2. I won’t charge a future car if there are storms forecasted and I’ve currently been shutting off the HVAC when storms are 30 miles out. But this is dependent on me being present. So…
3. Create an automated system to disconnect sensitive devices. I’m currently thinking of using a Raspberry Pi to hit an API that tracks lightning and then rig something up that disconnects the line. I’d put a physical lightning detector in as backup.
3a. I’ve already figured out how to use my Flipper Zero to clone the heat pump IR control signals and plan on beaconing each head unit when lightning is detected at 40 miles out, switch to fan only mode, dry out my indoor coils, and then shut down the head units when lightning is at 20-25 miles out. Then disconnect the circuit.
 
IveBeenRued said:
I am really interested in the dedicated grounds that some folks are having installed. In this instance, because the surge came up the neutral my current defenses did close to nothing. Residential services are bonded ground to neutral and because my surge suppressors are designed to dump excessive voltage to ground, my devices just got the full hit. My detached garage has two dedicated ground rods, no AFCI, and had no ill effects from the lightning. A dedicated ground rod at my HVAC’s surge suppressor very well may have saved my control board.
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This makes me wonder what the rationale is for the code that doesn't allow for multiple grounds. If it's service-side and has a fusible link I would think it's ok. But I'm not a licensed electrician.
 
Brons2 said:
This makes me wonder what the rationale is for the code that doesn't allow for multiple grounds. If it's service-side and has a fusible link I would think it's ok. But I'm not a licensed electrician.
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If you read the code, it just says all grounding media shall be interconnected to create a single, common grounding system. So you have as many grounding rods as you want as long as everything is connected together.
 
When I was a kid many houses had lightning rods on the roof with heavy cables leading down to a ground rod pounded deep into the earth. I haven't seen one in decades.

What's up with that? Were they over reacting? Why aren't houses being struck today?
 
ecotourist said:
When I was a kid many houses had lightning rods on the roof with heavy cables leading down to a ground rod pounded deep into the earth. I haven't seen one in decades.

What's up with that? Were they over reacting? Why aren't houses being struck today?
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My neighbor in the middle of the field across from me has had his house directly struck at least three times in the last 14 or so years. One caused a major fire. His house is the tallest point in the middle of about 500 acres of tillage land. He does have lightning rods on his peak.
 
Brons2 said:
This makes me wonder what the rationale is for the code that doesn't allow for multiple grounds. If it's service-side and has a fusible link I would think it's ok. But I'm not a licensed electrician.
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During a very high electrical event, like a lightning strike, you want everything that is connected to a ground system to rise and fall at the same time and potential. This keeps all the energy at the same potential across all the ground systems and avoids lightning from arcing over from one system to the next seeking a better path to ground. Bonding all the grounds together also gives lightning multiple paths to ground reducing the strain on a single ground.
 
ecotourist said:
When I was a kid many houses had lightning rods on the roof with heavy cables leading down to a ground rod pounded deep into the earth. I haven't seen one in decades.

What's up with that? Were they over reacting? Why aren't houses being struck today?
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Yeah, we see homes in rural areas a lot with lightning rods.

I think what is the marketing back then. It was a big sales push.
Also, possibly some homes would be high up and no trees around it.

I guess you could look to protect yourself from anything however, most people won’t even bother to put surge suppressors in the circuit breaker box, HVAC system along with plug-in units in homes.

Never mind spending for lightning rods just like people don’t spend extra for sprinkler systems in their homes.

I think one example I would be willing to bet over 90% of the people in this forum do not have an HVAC suppressor on their outdoor unit.
Bet it cost less than 100 bucks or maybe 250 to have somebody do it. Also on the home breaker box.
I don’t have the figures, but I am sure more electronics are damaged in this country from indirect lightning and electric utility surges than actual lightning hitting a home?
 
IveBeenRued said:
I’m in the market for an EV and still somewhat traumatized by a series of lightning strikes that hit my utility about three months ago and cost me thousands in repairs. What is everyone using for surge protection for their EVs?

The reason why I ask is because during the lightning storms a surge on the neutral bus made its way past a whole home surge suppressor and through a dedicated HVAC level 2 surge protector and managed to fry my air conditioner control panel. We also visibly saw a 6 foot arc jump from our main service panel and over to a lolly pole. It was terrifying.

Interestingly, all circuits that had AFCI devices tripped and no electronics were damaged. Those unprotected by AFCI all had at least one item damaged. Is anyone’s EV charger on an AFCI protected circuit?
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I unplug my car when there's a thunderstorm going on.
I otherwise I run three metal oxide varistors in my charger, a 300v rms mov line to line and two 140v rms mov on each line to neutral. Use mov intended for surge suppression.
 
ecotourist said:
When I was a kid many houses had lightning rods on the roof with heavy cables leading down to a ground rod pounded deep into the earth. I haven't seen one in decades.

What's up with that? Were they over reacting? Why aren't houses being struck today?
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Mine still has it. It’s part of the tv antenna array on my roof. I don’t use the antenna, but it’s still there. My neighbor’s lightning rod is even taller than mine.
 
demarpaint said:
The best bet is don't charge if an electrical storm is predicted.
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That’s not practical in the southeast, thunderstorms pop up at any given moment of the day or the night 🫤

With that said, a proper whole house surge suppressor combined with a secondary surge suppressor at the charger, power surges would be the last concern of mine forever
 
alarmguy said:
That’s not practical in the southeast, thunderstorms pop up at any given moment of the day or the night 🫤

With that said, a proper whole house surge suppressor combined with a secondary surge suppressor at the charger, power surges would be the last concern of mine forever
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I guess it depends on needs. I don't use the Tesla charger that can be restarted from the app or maintains the power supply to the car once it hits the set charge limit. I actually have to reset it from the box to charge again if I don't unplug and plug the car again. It cuts all power from the cable's control panel once charged. I'm sure that a lighting strike could bridge this cutoff just because of close proximity, but it does show 0v at the car for available power. I used to find it annoying, but the connector cites this as a safety feature.
 
alarmguy said:
That’s not practical in the southeast, thunderstorms pop up at any given moment of the day or the night 🫤

With that said, a proper whole house surge suppressor combined with a secondary surge suppressor at the charger, power surges would be the last concern of mine forever
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Looks like another strike for me for owning an EV, especially if we end up living in the south.
 
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