[BC] lightning & grounding

[Alan Alsobrook]

With all due respect, but using 4) 3" .032 straps is better than most 
and widely accepted practice. Even with all the lighting I see here I've 
never seen a strike vaporize even a single 3" strap. As near as I can 
Quickly tell this morning. a single 3" .032 strap is approximately 
equivalent to a #4 solid conductor. Except that it has a lower 
inductance and much larger surface area to dissipate heat. With 4 of 
them that should be equivalent to a 0 ga wire. With the added heat 
dissipation, it should easily handle as much current as a 00ga solid 
wire with out a failure. Considering the damage caused by the strike. I 
doubt a 0000 gauge wire would have survived.

Anyone over here ever used 1/8 strap for grounding towers?

Clive Warner wrote:
> ** I decided to check this out. First, I noted that in the most amusing
> 'massive strike' story, the earthing strips were only 0.032" thick! Thirty
> thou copper is fine for handling RF but totally inadequate for proper
> grounding, and the installer should have known better. In other words that
> tower was improperly and inadequately grounded. Lucky that the strike did
> not go through the rebar in the foundation and explode the base of the
> tower.
> The correct way to do it is to use one-eighth strap, not wimpy 0.032 stuff.

-- 
Alan Alsobrook CSRE AMD CBNT
St. Augustine Fl. 32086 904-829-8885
aalso at Bellsouth.net