Equipment designed for 120 volts or less doesn't do well at 5,000,000 volts which is considered average for lightning. I do have a surge protector supplied by the same folks who sold me the operator. I did read on one forum about a guy who had several PC boards toasted on his operator until he removed the ground rod connection. Could it cause a problem? Wondering about a lightning strike running through that plate so close to the primary line. I am guessing that ground plate is no more than 1 to 2 feet away from that high voltage primary- just wondering if I should pull it out and not use it. Have not backfilled it yet.Īlso called for another locate and found the primary power line (5000v) was very close to my operator and gate post- I think this line is 4' or more deep. So I dug a trench 30" deep and put in a ground plate. Says the remote will lose range without it. The inspector came out and said code does not require a ground rod. Proper steps to take depend on your setup and the engineering that went into the electronics. The strike could hit the earth miles away and still induce thousands of volts onto those copper wires connected to your equipment. I would drive it as deep as possible next to your deepest footer. You would have found the power cable when digging? Otherwise the trench Is an option. Your handle implies you have a bit of experience with gates- any advice is appreciated.īTW, I am not in a particularly lightning prone area.Ĭould you not drive the rod next to your post footing. Laying it in a 30" deep trench would be a lot safer. So I am now thinking about using a ground plate rather than a rod. I have great concern about driving a ground rod in this area, even with a locate- if the rod bends or diverts there is a 5000 volt penalty. At this time I can do whatever to the pad. I am getting ready to pour the pad for the operator. The operator is a pad mounted swing arm type with underground plastic conduit to the keypads, posts, and photo eyes. yes, single swing gate on a 6圆" steel post, with a rebar cage around it and a #6 wire to the cage- this is all poured and the wire is the only point accessible. If you need more protection advice let me know. I assume you are installing a single swing gate? The ground in itself will not protect all accessories. In this case I would suggest just digging the trench as Willie B suggested but also weld the rod or rebar to the cage so that it points away from your gate operator.
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