Dave - AB7E wrote:
> Having just had the induced surge from a lightning strike fry the controller
> for my PST-61D rotator (blown PC board traces at the connector for the
> control cable even with surge suppressors across the cable lines), I wonder
> if a truly isolated system using a few feet of relatively inexpensive plastic
> fiber optic cable wouldn't be the best approach for control lines. It
> wouldn't avoid issues of differential ground voltages since you'd still need
> power for the actual drivers, but at least it would help keep control line
> surges out of the controller boxes. The driver transistors themselves at the
> antenna end of the fiber optic cable could be socketed for easy replacement.
>
> Just a thought ...
>
Glass fiber isn't all that expensive in long lengths, and has much lower
loss (plastic fiber is 1dB/ft), so you could put the drivers up on the
tower, and just run isolated AC power up there.
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