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need new Router & check your coax ground line!

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KenZ71

Senior Member
TLDR - check your Coax ground line where it enters the house. Now I need a new standalone Router. The ranker charts only show the highend Router / WiFi all in one whizbang gizmos.

The gory details
Had some crazy lighting storms the past couple days. Was hearing loud electrical popping sounds near my coms closet but everything still worked and no indication of damage until last night.

Was standing in front of the modem, router, NAS, etc last night during the lighting storm when I saw flashes (still not sure if it was lighting outside or arcs inside) then the Mikrotik router went dark and modem lights started blinking like a disco ball. Nothing else was damaged, no swollen power supplies or burnt cables - Ethernet, coax and power all look good. Tested all outlets with a ground fault tester.

This morning in the daylight was checking the coax ground - it was connected to a metal screw that holds conduit to my stone siding. Rerouted that with a #6 copper wire to the electrical ground rod that is driven 8 feet into the earth. Yes I know it is 8 feet - I watched the guy drive it in last fall when the panel was replaced. Also as a belt & suspenders approach now the COAX line inside the house goes to the Cyber Power UPS before touching the modem.

I'll be using Spectrum's rented Router for a few weeks while I make sure all is good. More lighting storms in the forecast.
 
If you live in an area that gets dry, make sure the ground around the ground rod does not get too dry. If you loose the appliance ground and or neutral connection coming into the house you can have some funky operation of your lighting and appliances.
 
If you live in an area that gets dry, make sure the ground around the ground rod does not get too dry. If you loose the appliance ground and or neutral connection coming into the house you can have some funky operation of your lighting and appliances.
Good to know but not much of a concern here.

What's the goto basic Router w/o Wifi this days?

Mikrotik hEX RB750Gr3?​


Or maybe an EdgeRouter?
 
Don't waste your time with RPi DIY router. It will jump over $200 and cause more headache for no reason.

If you are familiar with Mikrotik's RouterOS, get another Mikrotik. Other sub $100 options are Ubiquiti ER-X and TP-Link ER605. If you want more performance for about $50 more - Ubiquiti ER-4 or TP-Link ER7206. Some of TP-Link SafeStream router features are available only with Omada controller. See specifications for more details. But I would say get another Mikrotik, if you were happy with what you had before. Cheap and capable little devices.
 
I have had a couple of Mikrotik routers. I would recommend them over an Edgerouter. Maybe the GUI of the ER looks a bit more fancy but with Mikrotik, at least you can do everything through the GUI.
 
This morning in the daylight was checking the coax ground - it was connected to a metal screw that holds conduit to my stone siding. Rerouted that with a #6 copper wire to the electrical ground rod that is driven 8 feet into the earth. Yes I know it is 8 feet - I watched the guy drive it in last fall when the panel was replaced. Also as a belt & suspenders approach now the COAX line inside the house goes to the Cyber Power UPS before touching the modem.

Not sure what the code specifies in your area...

Best common practice in my area is to have the ground at the demarc, and there we have the meter, panel, cable and telco all together on the earth grounding rod...

code here is similar for guidance...

 

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