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Grounding Question (alien.top)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I recently had a lighting strike and lost about $1000 worth of equipment. I'd like to reduce the chance of that happening again so I'm looking for advice.

I have a UDM in my house, with a 125 foot run underground in conduit to my barn. In the barn, I have a POE switch that feeds 10 cameras and an Ubiquiti AP. I'd like to add a ground somewhere. I just purchased a surge protector with ethernet for the barn, since the switch is currently plugged in directly to an outlet and should be protected anyway. I also bought this from APC for my equipment in the house. I was going to install that between my UDM and POE switch in the house, then ground it to an outlet.

I'm reading so much information about how to go about this. My barn is powered with 220v from my house, so 4 wires go to the barn H/H/N/G. the ground on the barn is the same ground as the house. If I use both devices can that create a ground loop in the event of a surge? I'm also reading that I can use the APC at any point on my network to provide protection. Is this correct?

Please don't suggest fiber runs, as the cable is already run and I don't plan on redoing it. Thank you all in advance.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

First off, is the barn system itself grounded?

If not, it does indeed need to be per the national electric code (assuming you are in the US). That would mean two separate grounding rods installed at least six feet apart.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

National Electrical code defines human protection. Says nothing about appliance protection. Two electrodes is an absolute minimal only to protect humans. Relevant are factors such as geology; that may make those electrodes insufficient.

Does not matter if chassis ground, virtual ground, equipment ground, or motherboard ground exist. Only ground that does appliance protection is single point 'earth' ground. Word 'ground' without that preceding adjective implies one who does not yet understand how to protect from all surges, including direct lightning strikes. Knowledge that was well understood and routinely implemented even over 100 years ago.

An honest solution will always answer this question. Where are hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly absorbed?