Trucks getting hit by lightning? Now common?

[Rawze]

Lightning is a strange thing. It is unpredictable where it will hit but there are things you can do to help prevent being its target.

First of all,.. it is not like what most people think.

Metal,.. especially GROUNDED METAL that has a decent amount of continuity to the ground actually, most of the time, makes a negative ion "umbrella" during a lightning storm that repels most lightning. That is why you see lightning strike something nearby and it does not even get close to the radio tower down the street. The radio tower has spiked balls on top of it for amplifying this negative ion umbrella effect. On the other hand, sometimes (far less often but still happens) the lightning has a charge that is directed TOWARDS such ion fields, but this is far less common.

I.E.> "Lighning rods" are NOT for attracting lightning, but repelling it.

One thing known for sure to attract lightning is anything that will build a static charge on it. Plastic truck components + poor grounding + drag in the wind = a static charge. Fiberglass components seem to be exceptionally good at this. - It Makes sense to me that newer trucks with all their fake chrome and plastic/fiber-glass hoods, + lead-free paint etc. and poorly protected/grounded wiring would be a high attractant for lightning. Here is an example...

I have helped many people over the years with radio towers and antenna systems. I can tell you for sure that people who use fiberglass antenna at the top of a tower will attract lightning like mad and have lots of lightning issues. Put a grounded metal antenna up there and the problem stops. Paint the outside of the fiberglass antenna with a diamond pattern of conductive paint so that it discharges static buildup and the problem also stops.


Just some FYI on lightning by someone who dealt with it on radio equipment and towers for many years -- ME.


-- You want a vehicle less prone to lightning? -- Prevent it from getting static buildup on it. The wiring can also be designed to not build a charge and fry things during as lightning strike, but no one bothers to think that far ahead at the truck makers these days. A direct path to ground on the outsides of the vehicle is the first prevention. For the EMP that accompanies that massive discharge on the outside of the vehicle, a simple ground wire connected only at the end you want to protect, leading outward in all directions that the wiring goes, ending to nothing at all will stop the EMP from hitting the thing you want to protect. In the case of an ECM, simply putting a decent ground at the casing, feeding it to all parts of the wring harness with it NOT CONNECTED TO ANYTHING at its far ends will build an opposing charge during an EMP of a lightning strike and dissipate/cancel out the buildup that takes place in the other wires 180 degrees out of phase. I have used this trick for many years to protect my own radio equipment and have seen many direct hits to my tower(s), it not harm my radio gear one damn bit.


lightning protection ==

* making sure stuff cannot build a static charge.

* making a way for it to pass directly to ground on the outside of what your protecting, preferably a very short direct path.

* grounding wires that fan outwards away from what you want to protect, ending to nothing at all, so they can build a 180-deg out of phase emp wave during the hit.