Grounding is essential to protect from lightning strikes.
Lighting towers, like antennas and other tall exterior structures, are at risk of lightning strikes. If the tower is the tallest point in the vicinity, or if it presents the easiest path to the ground for electrical current from a storm cloud, it may be struck during a thunderstorm. Grounding a lighting tower provides an easy path for current to pass down into the soil instead of damaging the equipment on the tower or jumping to nearby structures. Setting up a proper ground for your lighting tower is a simple job that does require some physical strength.
Instructions
1. Hammer an 8-foot-long grounding rod into the soil close to your lighting tower. These rods are sometimes solid copper but more often copper-coated steel. They provide an easy path for electrical current that will then be dissipated in the soil rather than the structure. It is possible to buy these grounding rods in lengths less than 8 feet, but local building codes may prohibit the use of rods shorter than 8 feet.
2. Run a bare copper wire from the top of the lighting tower to the grounding rod. The wire should run as straight as possible down to the grounding rod.
3. Dig out the dirt around the top few inches of the grounding rod, then clamp the grounding wire tightly to it. It may be possible to solder the wire on, but achieving high enough temperatures is tricky due to the high heat absorption of the soil around the rod.
4. Bury the clamped grounding rod.
5. Spread conductive grease on any joins between metal parts, especially where two different metals meet. This will maintain their conductivity over time and wear.
Tips Warnings
It is not possible to completely protect equipment from lightning damage. A direct strike is likely to destroy the lighting on a lighting tower or any other electronics mounted on it. Grounding the structure will, however, protect it from strikes hitting close by. Ideally, all structures in the area should have lightning rods installed.
Tags: ground, lighting, towers, lighting tower, easy path, electrical current, from lightning, grounding wire, into soil, lightning strikes, protect from, than feet
