How do you ground lightning protection?
Low impedance paths to ground are preferred by lightning. Dedicated wire down conductors or building steel, or both, must be installed in accordance with NFPA 780 (see section 4.9. 9). High impedance paths must be avoided since they can create unwanted heat and/or mechanical damage.
How do I protect my ham antenna from lightning?
The easiest is to ground your antennas and tower so that a lightning strike will go into the ground and away from your house. Antennas should be ground bonded to the tower and the tower bonded to an eight foot ground rod buried at the base of the tower.
Does my building need lightning protection?
It is not a legal requirement for all buildings and structures to have lightning protection, according to the risk control publication RC35 ‘Protection of buildings against lightning strikes’. If you have a new electrical mains system installed, it will need surge protection for any indirect lightning strikes.
What’s the best way to install lightning protection?
There are a few options for how to install lightning protection: a wire from the antenna mount to a grounding source (described below), or a surge arrester. How to decide?
How are lightning rods used to prevent lightning strikes?
Lightning Rods. Note that lightning protection systems do not prevent lightning from striking the structure, but rather intercept a lightning strike, provide a conductive path for the harmful electrical discharge to follow (the appropriate UL-listed copper or aluminum cable), and disperse the energy safely into the ground (grounding network).
Where does a grounding arrestor need to be?
This is to minimize the length of wire between the arrestor and the ground rod or ground conductor, since they should be installed in the ground or in the basement. It should mount with two short screws to the wood, concrete or brick base of the building.
Do you need to install lightning rods in your area?
When installing systems in lightning prone areas or where telemetry poles or antennas are located at higher elevations than their surroundings, lightning rods should be installed. Lightning rods do not attract lightning; they simply divert lightning strikes from causing direct-strike damage to nearby areas.