A bit late to this thread, but a few thoughts. I live in the Canadian equivalent of " tornado alley" or "thunderstorm row" or however you want to call it, and sadly have a fair bit of experience with lightning strikes and damaged electronic equipment of all and any sorts. Also I have a weird mix of wiring here in my downtown, commercialy and residential, they tell there are are still even houses with the old ceramic spool and 30 amp service, and you know what, I've seen it myself. A few thoughts:
1) I have found - the hard way - that most "retail" surge protectors, lightning arrestors, etc, are junk. Look into something that is commercial and/or industrial quality. it's wroth the extra money.
2) Layer your protection. Have more than one arrestor and/or surge protector on your gear. For example, they build those Stryker armoured vehicles here in my hometown, and the armour on them is layered, and different materials, not just a plate of thick steel. Think the same way when protectng against lighting.
3) Bear in mind that depending on the strike, you can have all the protection in the world and still get nuked. I'll give you a direct example. We've taken direct hits on our building here, but the strike that did the most damage to phones, computers, etc, was one that didn't hit us, but hit - oh maybe half a mile away. Very shortly after that lighting strike, a hydro transformer one block down the street from us blew up. I mean - BLEW UP - just like something out of that Stephen King movie "The Green Mile" when everything blows up at the end when they electrocute the innocent man. Looked just like that, and never saw anything like it before in real life in my whole life.
Well that power surge a split second after - fried all sorts of electronics. Yes, long story, but that's when I learned the hard way that even if you use the surge protectors and arrestors that your insurance company recommends, well guess what, they usually don't know jack. I also learned a lot about "fine print" and "having it in writing". Long story there too.
4) Lighting rods might be illegal in your area - check for sure. We had to install a "grounding plate" according to our local building code. Our code is very specific about the size of plate, type of wire to be used, the depth at which you have to bury the plate, and so forth. Double check your local codes as I imagine they vary considerably, but just don't take advice off the internet.
5) Contrary to my earlier advice, I found one retail product that usually gives some protection are UPS (uninteruptable power supplies) that are usually used for computers. They will usually fry and cook before your computer does, and I use them for radios, TVs, just about everything.
6) Your real danger anymore is not always lightning, but your plain old electrical service itself. Up here in times of peak useage for electrical power, I am sure Ontario Hydro "plays games" with the the voltage or something to that effect. Power off your plug in your house or place of work is not always consistent, so a good, high quality UPS that maintains a clean and stable pwoer supply throughout the day is, IMO, just as important as a good lighting arrestor.
Sorry for the long, long rambling post, but don't take chances with lighting, and don't go cheap, because if you do, you'll pay for it in the long run.
joe
