Near our house a lightning stroke....and obviously the electric cable.

Now wife told me that all the lighting outside is dead. Today Mr. Electric came and told that all the expensive LED bulbs I put in are dead (they were turned on). The only normal "energy save" gas filled bulb survived.

He told that the LEDs are more sensitive, but around us, all the TVs + similar devices are broken as well. Lucky we don't have a TV.

My question: is there a kind of overvoltage protection that is fast enough to catch it when the lightning strikes? These LCD bulbs aren't cheap.

A "surge suppressor" will clamp down high voltage caused by lightning strikes affecting the mains. You can find in the Home Pro kind of places as well as local electric shops. You would probably want the "whole house" variety vs. the ones that are built into extension strips.

BUT - a direct or near direct lightning strike will take out sensitive electronics whether "protected" or not and whether plugged in or not.

Several recent threads on surge protection.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/812868-power-surges/

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/799674-surge-protector-or-similar-device-advice-for-a-moron-on-all-things-electrical/

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/812207-air-con-circuit-board-fried-surge-protection/

But as steve notes, nothing is going to save you from a direct hit to the cables

We have a pair of cheap Chinese 3W LED bulbs (they were on offer in Amorn) which have been on all night, every night, for 3 years. They have lived through a direct hit to the roof and numerous other surges some of which have taken out their more expensive brothers. Low cost doesn't always mean cheap and unreliable, but there's no way to tell

Lightning surges can come in on phone and cable TV/Internet lines as well as power lines...not easy to cover all the possibilities. If your TV or internet goes into a cable box or router, they will fry rather than the TV or computer as long as they are unplugged from line power source.

Does anybody know: does the transformer in the power cable used by most laptops serve as a barrier to surges?

Your laptop power brick will fry like any other power supply if it gets a big surge, whether anything gets through to kill the lappie itself is pure luck.

Of course, you have access to the best protection available, unplug from the wall and use 3G or WiFi

By the way, there was another youngster killed last week (only reported in Thai press and now I can't find the link) listening on headphones with his phone plugged in and charging. The lightning strike fried the poor lad's charger, phone and brain

Your laptop power brick will fry like any other power supply if it gets a big surge, whether anything gets through to kill the lappie itself is pure luck.

Of course, you have access to the best protection available, unplug from the wall and use 3G or WiFi

By the way, there was another youngster killed last week (only reported in Thai press and now I can't find the link) listening on headphones with his phone plugged in and charging. The lightning strike fried the poor lad's charger, phone and brain

I just bought some BlueTooth earphones and really like not being tied to a source device. Never considered the possibility of a deadly surge through standard earphones but I guess continuity is continuity.

The world sure is a dangerous place.