HELP! Lightning keeps knocking out my IP Cameras

[mgr457 0]

 

 

I have a 16 camera PoE IP NVR system. I live in south Florida. Thunderstorms are an everyday occurrence down here. To date, I have lost 7 cameras, 1 PoE switch, and 2 HDMI transmitters, in the span of 3 different storms.

 

Each camera is mounted under eave of my residence. The camera has an unused 12v power lead and a Cat5e connection. Each Cat5e cable home-runs to an APC modular ethernet surge protector, then to 16 port PoE switch. The entire system is protected on the front end by an APC Backup UPS. Everything is mounted in a network frame. A copper grounding bar is mounted at the top of the network rack; all components are connected to the grounding bar. The grounding bar is connected to an outdoor grounding rod in the ground via a 6 gauge copper wire.

 

I will admit, initially I did not have the rack and system grounded to a grounding rod. That omission resulted in the loss of 4 cameras, the PoE switch and HDMI transmitter.

 

But, after installation of the grounding system, another storm rolled through yesterday and took out 3 cameras and the HDMI transmitter (not groundable, no grounding connection available).

 

Would grounding each aluminum camera case help?

 

Alternately, would there be any benefit to grounding the unused 12v power lead?

 

For reference, the ground pin of the 12v power lead does not connect to camera chassis.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. If this topic is found elsewhere on the forum, please point me to it.

 

Thanks!!

[rossko 0]

Would grounding each aluminum camera case help?

 

Almost certainly; you've nothing to lose trying it. Commercial systems with big old fashioned steel cases are less susceptible than all-in-one style compact cameras.

 

Lightning is funny stuff. You have to accept you cannot protect from a direct strike. But in reality you are more likely suffering from the strong electric/static fields that come along with it, which is where the earthing helps.

 

We might expect the cameras to suffer, being things that stick out into the storm. But how does this HDMI device fit into the picture, why is that dying? Understanding that may help to eliminate some root cause. Feeding static back from the TV aerial?

[mgr457 0]

Thanks for reply.

 

Will try grounding each camera's aluminum case.

 

I can't figure out why the HDMI transmitter gets hit either. Prior to installing APC modular Ethernet surge protector, it not only fried the HDMI transmitter, it also took out HDMI port 2 on my Smart TV that it was connected to.

 

For now I monitor all lightning activity and remotely shut everything down via a Web Power Switch. That has worked through the storms we get here everyday, through summer. So far, so good....just a hassle.