Lightning Strike

[guzzisteve]

Bang, fire detectors go off, lots of smoke in bedroom. Wife grabs dogs & says git up & get out, called 911. I go to garage & grab fire extinguisher & come back to find no fire anywhere. Cops come, Sir can you leave the house. I kept looking till the fireman ask me to go.

Anyway, my Cali2 parked in same corner of house the lightning hit, just below in the garage. I go for a ride over to a bike night and bike is charging close to 15V at speed, I turn on headlight & it's by 14V. Normally it's low around 13V at speed w/lights on. If I shut off headlight it goes into red zone at 15V.

Haven't looked at anything yet but WOW the static electricity did something. Needle on volt meter on dash used to be all the way to left when shut off & now it's all the way to the right when off.

Too much to do w/house now & contractors so I'll find out what improved my charge system later.

Hardy Board saved our house, any other siding would have been on fire. Down spout had 6" hole burnt w/lots of smaller holes where it hit. Wife was sleeping 3 foot from hit.

[ridingron]

Sounds like a little excitement around the ole homestead! Good to hear everyone is safe. Hope the insurance covers the damages.

[TN Mark]

Glad you’re both ok Steve. We also have Hardy board on our house. From everything I’ve seen, it’s NLA.
All the best to you getting the house and the bike restored.

[AJ Huff]

Wow! Glad you are OK!

-AJ

[Ncdan]

Bang, fire detectors go off, lots of smoke in bedroom. Wife grabs dogs & says git up & get out, called 911. I go to garage & grab fire extinguisher & come back to find no fire anywhere. Cops come, Sir can you leave the house. I kept looking till the fireman ask me to go.

Anyway, my Cali2 parked in same corner of house the lightning hit, just below in the garage. I go for a ride over to a bike night and bike is charging close to 15V at speed, I turn on headlight & it's by 14V. Normally it's low around 13V at speed w/lights on. If I shut off headlight it goes into red zone at 15V.

Haven't looked at anything yet but WOW the static electricity did something. Needle on volt meter on dash used to be all the way to left when shut off & now it's all the way to the right when off.

Too much to do w/house now & contractors so I'll find out what improved my charge system later.

Hardy Board saved our house, any other siding would have been on fire. Down spout had 6" hole burnt w/lots of smaller holes where it hit. Wife was sleeping 3 foot from hit.

Glad yall are ok Steve.

[leafman60]

Could that be a message from above???? Hmmmmm?

[Vagrant]

You got off lucky. It could have been much worse.
My old place was hit twice and the neighbors once. The varied and different damage was really strange.
Did you check it with a normal digital volt meter. Maybe it just fried the volt meter.

[SIR REAL ED]

WOW!!!

I'm glad no one was hurt!

[guzzisteve]

I thought maybe it flashed the rotor, so now works better. I have never worked on charging sys on that bike at 125Kmi. Changed loom, fuse box 15yrs ago. The diode board doesn't look burnt. Been thinking about changing brushes so it charges a bit better. Maybe damaged volt regulator. I'll start it today & check w/a meter.

[guzzisteve]

Could that be a message from above???? Hmmmmm?

That would be for my wife, JoAnn to be nicer to me. I been across the hall since the pneumonia visit in hospital.

[AirPirate]

It will never hit your house again...supposedly. Glad you guys are OK.

[cliffrod]

Glad to hear you & your wife are ok.  Hopefully the resolution of damage won’t be too problematic.

Soon after we moved to SC in 1980, lightning hit the barn while we were milking.  I was washing an udder and cow was likely touching metal stall so it seemed that we helped ground it….  All I remember is a tremendous boom that seemed to hit me on top of the head like a giant hammer.  Then Dad and hired man were holding me up by arms & dad repeatedly saying “put your feet down” after they had apparently picked me up off the floor.  My legs were fully bent.  Phone rang.  Mom said “that lightning is getting really close, maybe you should shut down until it passes.”  Dad said “yeah, Clint just got hit.  We’ll be right up.”  She was not impressed.  No trip to dr, I seemed ok so just back to work. 

[SIR REAL ED]

Glad to hear you & your wife are ok.  Hopefully the resolution of damage won’t be too problematic.

Soon after we moved to SC in 1980, lightning hit the barn while we were milking.  I was washing an udder and cow was likely touching metal stall so it seemed that we helped ground it….  All I remember is a tremendous boom that seemed to hit me on top of the head like a giant hammer.  Then Dad and hired man were holding me up by arms & dad repeatedly saying “put your feet down” after they had apparently picked me up off the floor.  My legs were fully bent.  Phone rang.  Mom said “that lightning is getting really close, maybe you should shut down until it passes.”  Dad said “yeah, Clint just got hit.  We’ll be right up.”  She was not impressed.  No trip to dr, I seemed ok so just back to work.

The good ole days when Dad's medical advice if you were injured was "Don't be a baby!  Just walk it off!"

One of my former co-workers says, when he was a child, his Dad's remedy for all illness was a tablespoon of Kerosene mixed with brown sugar!  He said it apparently worked.  He rarely got sick!

[SIR REAL ED]

Could that be a message from above???? Hmmmmm?

Obviously, a response from above to Moto Guzzi idolatry!

You have been warned!

[Bulldog9]

Lightning Strikes are crazy and do crazy things. Glad you and family are OK. Stuff is just Stuff.

[guzzisteve]

Right, crazy stuff. Still have to go get a clamp for the ground stake, JoAnn doesn't like the ViceGrip I put on it. Haven't looked at bike yet to see if it is really charging by 15V.

Update

Guage changed only. Bike charges 13.8 max and goes no higher. All is fine. Gauge now reads 15+ volts at max even with lights on.
Could be worse & be an ITI and not work.at all like speedo's & tach's

[rocker59]

We also have Hardy board on our house. From everything I’ve seen, it’s NLA.
 

https://www.jameshardie.com/product-catalog/?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=23706299753&utm_content=195924520058+e_&utm_term=hardie%20board&ad=802906987627&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23706299753&gbraid=0AAAAABcb7UuSK3Jg3yQIRnp6uiLw6b00O&gclid=Cj0KCQjw39zSBhDhARIsANammDsY4DF1Zo8bjpPbzCHdguqMQynOIuFbXxZJl1FKJHSscpfDur4HzwUaAoo-EALw_wcB

[guzzisteve]

Right Mike, we've had 2 Hardie contractors come in so far.