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Old 05-17-2005, 08:34 PM   #3
Bill
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: The mountains of Scottsdale, AZ, and the beaches of Maine
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RockyMtnRay
The very safest place to be during any electrical storm is inside a car, an airplane...or any other large metal object like a TrailManor trailer. The reason is that if a large metal object is hit by lightning, the current is readily conducted around the interior by the extensive metal skin.
Ray is exacty right. For the electricians among us, the technical term for the metal frame around us is a "Faraday Cage", and there is a ton of info available on the web. But it does exacty what Ray says, conducting the current around and away from you.
Quote:
So, bottom line, about the best place you can be during an electrical storm is snugly inside your trailer.
or inside your car. Do NOT go outside and hide under a tree.

Quote:
The one thing you might want to do, though, is if you are connected to a campground electrical hookup, is switch off the breakers inside the power center and unplug any electrical appliances. Even though your trailer will likely survive a hit, its electrical system might not do very well if the power lines in/around the campground take direct hit from a lightning bolt.
True, and I would go one step further and go outside (if there is no lightning in the area yet) and pull the TM plug from the power pole. There are numerous stories - I can tell you a personal one - about a lightning strike in the back yard that fried all the electronics in the house, even though the house itself was not hit. So if lightning hits the campground 100 yards away, the jolt can hit your TM's electrical system if it is connected to the campground electrical distribution. Disconnect, and you are clean.

But to address your original question - your personal safety is not really at stake if you are in your TM, any more than if you were in your car. Another advantage of a TM over a canvas camper!

Bill
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