Our car dead after lightning strike !

[Slider2732]

This poor old 2001 Ford Escort of ours was apparently struck by lightning yesterday, or at least very close to it.

The battery measured 0.03V today !

Here's what happened.
A very strong storm moved through at around 2pm yesterday, high winds, the whole thing. The sky was almost black.
About half an hour into it all, there was a zzzzing CRACK of a lightning bolt, the thunder sound happened right with it.
An unplugged CRT monitors' degauss coil made the familiar 'boing' noise, all our electric went off for about a minute.
A couple of minutes later, there was a large bang sound from the back garden area, sounding like an electrical transformer blowing.
Our car is in the driveway that's at the back of the garden.

We went out to the car this afternoon and my wife said 'it looks like the battery in the key fob has finally gone', so she opened the doors manually with the key.
Went to turn the ignition and absolutely nothing.
A note - she parks up in the same way every time, it was last used Tuesday afternoon, so no lights were left on or whatnot.

The big thing was when checking the battery - 0.03V
I brought a spare battery from in the house, that is used for solar projects. Then disconnected the car battery to try it.
It turned the engine over a few times but the car didn't start.  
I then put the battery to the car one, just to see if there had been plate damage or such and if it would charge at all.
The attached pic shows the voltage level after 10 seconds connected - 1.22V

I charged the spare battery for 1/2hr with an old laptop power supply (bit of a tip there, as long as you use a heatsink and the charging battery isn't much lower than cranking amperage.
Connected up (bypassing the car battery) and the engine turned over better a few times but didn't start.
So, I reconnected the 2.6A charger and left it for 1 1/2hrs. Disconnected the charger to try the car again.
Connected up and now, with the battery at 13.15V my wife turned the key.
There was a loud click noise, possibly a relay and then nothing at all. No electrics no nuffin.
No fuses seem to have gone, I checked all the main ones that are under the bonnet/hood.
We have no idea what's blown and why anything might blow, considering the battery was the same one and just had a bit more juice in it.

Any ideas gents ?

The theory is - that the car was either struck or the lightning blasted right next to it. The ions were stripped from the plates by the EMP blast.


Car battery voltage pic.
Sorry about the quality, it was going dark.

[Slider2732]

Many thanks to Chet for the phone call just now  
The solenoid and fusible link will be checked...once I find out where the link is of course. Hopefully its a plug in thing that a quick walk to the local spares place will sort out.
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Hmm, answers.com say this...and i've already checked that, but not for continuity.

Where is the fusible link in a 1998 Ford Escort?
Chevyguy77 Answered First
There is a 100 ampere fusible link in the engine compartment fuse block. It's right next to the battery. The top comes off to get to the fuses.

[muDped]

The Electronic Emissions Control Unit (ECU), otherwise known as
"The Computer" is probably massively damaged.  With damaged
semiconductor devices its normally small load on the battery
while at rest could become several amperes of discharge.

The electronic control system of the Escort is not particularly
robust and many have been rendered inoperative by electro-
magnetic fields far less intense than a lightning strike.  I had
a '93 Escort which was very much a problem.

With any luck a replacement ECU may get it running again.

Whenever a starting battery in an automobile is deep discharged
to that extent it rarely ever recovers fully.

[Slider2732]

Thanks Dumped.

The ECU is one area often heard about when fearmonger folks on the radio go on about EMP's.
The unplugged monitor going 'boing' is a good indicator of how close the first strike was.

A few years back we had the fizz BANG happen and it took out 2 arcade game machines and many other items that were found not working up to a couple of months afterward. Several CRT's ended up with huge screen discolorations that were never able to be fixed. A battery charger fried (go figure huh), a clock radio, several computer spares boards, RAM and more.
EMP's are pretty awful things !

The car did crank a few turns and I think perhaps the answer will be known tomorrow about the ECU.
I'm intending to get the car battery on charge first thing in the morning...with 2A of solar and just see how far back it climbs. If it looks OK, i'll then charge some more with the laptop power supply, or preferably with a hastily made actual MOSFET type charger.
But there's no real point if the ECU has gone or the battery is shot.
Total agreement though, 0.03V was a shock to see and I doubt we should trust it even if somehow the ECU survived.

The spare one was the one that used to be on the car, until it failed last winter.  


So, would you say there is merit in the thought of the ions all getting zapped off the plates ? I mean, is that even possible ?

[Slider2732]

Thank you  

Was talking about it with my wife and she confirmed that all went as normal, before we realised that the key fob battery wasn't the reason why the locks didn't unlock. The battery is likely fine of course in the keyfob.
She jumped in, put the key in after closing the door and went to turn the key in the ignition barrel...nothing at all happened, not even the dashboard lights.
She also said she checked everything, as an instinct...car in Park, no lights on, the radio automatically switches off anyway etc.
Also, after opening the door to shout over to me, as I was walking toward the car, noticed there was no 'ding ding ding' alert of the door being open.

Looking around, I can't see a strike point for the first or second lightning bolt. There is a transformer across the street up on a pole, but there's no way of knowing if that has been hit once or 1000 times lol. It's rusted.
OG+E electricity vans and a cherry picker have been around a few times today though, up and down the streets.

[Peterae]

It's much more likely something is leaky, a semiconductor circuit somewhere, Radio, any other electronic circuit including ECU, if something draws a constant current because of a fault, over time it would flatten the battery.

What you need to do is monitor the current being drained from the battery with everything switched off, i bet you will see a current drain, then it's a matter of taking fuses out until it stops, then find out what the fuse feeds and bingo that should tell you whats wrong.

So charge the battery, connect the earth terminal, and put a current meter in series with the battery and positive terminal, do not try and start it with the meter in, you could also put a 12V car bulb in series with the meter also to protect the meter from a large current draw and short.

You are looking for a constant current drain from the battery  

It sounds like it had 12 hours standing after the event to slowly drain the battery.

[Slider2732]

Good points, thanks Peter.
Will do.

It did indeed sit for a while. It has a coolant problem and makes a dieseling tappety sound when it warms up. The driving range is about 5 miles.
Long story, but culminating in a good home service, with radiator flushing, fan tests and more, then being stopped at the thermostat. 2 of the 3 bolts rounded and the 3rd is practically inaccessible anyway. The oil pan isn't a nice square box thing, it has bolts all over the place in daft places. Otherwise the strainer would have been replaced and the contents of the pan examined.
Oh, for your British self, the Escort model over here in the USA is more like a Mondeo really, for size and shape.

[evolvingape]

The ECU is one area often heard about when fearmonger folks on the radio go on about EMP's.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/an-inexpensive-fix-to-prevent-armageddon/5377338

Well-known physicist Michio Kaku and other members of the American Physical Society asked Congress to appropriate $100 million to harden the country's electrical grid against solar flares.  As shown below, such an event is actually the most likely Armageddon-type event faced by humanity.

Congress refused.

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2013/11/07/national-geographic-shows-the-very-real-threat-of-an-electrical-attack-on-the-us

EMP attacks on the grid are the largest terror threat we actually face today with the capability to end life as we know it.

Why is the grid not being hardened? that is the big question!

[e2matrix]

Sorry to hear about the car problems Slider.   A battery that has 12 or 13 volts may not turn over an engine if it doesn't have a good charge.   Voltage won't really tell you how well charged it is.   Autozone and stores like that will load test one for you free.   Beside fusible links I'd remove the cables from the battery, clean them well and reattach them using some of that battery goo they sell in little packets to keep corrosion down.   I've had numerous cars not start with a good battery and the only problem was the connection between the battery and cable.  I have been known to pound several notches in the lead of the battery terminal/cable terminal so you are driving a notch into them where they meet thus insuring at least some definite solid contact.   It's got me going a few times when nothing else worked as a lot of times the bolts and nuts on battery cables are corroded and rounded off making it difficult to tighten them down properly.   Also you need a good 10 Amp charger at least on a dead battery for probably 10 or 15 hours to bring it up to full charge if it is salvageable.   A car with a dead ECU should still be able to start (at least some will).   If you don't have any lights like brake or headlights then you still have a battery, fuse or cable problem as those things are not controlled by the ECU.

[Chet K]

e2Matrix
Quote
If you don't have any lights like brake or headlights then you still have a battery, fuse or cable problem as those things are not controlled by the ECU.
---------------------------------------------
True Dat  


I will try to help Mark a bit more with diagnostics on this [grabbing the schematic] tonight.

I think as Peter has stated something has drawn the battery to zilch ,I hope its just a coincidence with the storm and sitting a few days or bad connections or grounds.

an ECM will be too much to deal with as well as the key fob issue [reprogramming ]..

thx
Chet
PS
e2 I do like this link you have posted elsewhere
http://news.sciencemag.org/chemistry/2014/05/static-electricity-defies-simple-explanation

[Slider2732]

Cheers fellas

Some looking around last night at alternator specs surprised me a bit. 40A output is on the low side  
Mind you, have never really needed to know, even with fixing up cars as a hobby in the 1990's.

By 11.00am, after an hour on solar it was showing 10.5V.
It then got swapped to the laptop power supply and now is showing 12.59V, when disconnected for a few minutes (In that time the power supply was moved onto cold concrete and 2 large PC heatsinks were put on top of it).
Initially it spiked up to 14.5V, similar to when charging batts with a Berdini or suchlike, then quickly dropped to begin its proper charging.
Ideally, the voltage will now sit somewhere around there, while some amps go on...but yes, 2.6A would take a week probably. So perhaps our less than gentile and cuss worded neighbour may jump start the car later.
The other neighbours have a Prius...daren't ask them LOL. But, this Escort is begging to be converted to electric !

First though, getting the electrics to work while it's petrol powered !
The spare battery is now at 13.10V so will be used when connecting to the car for tests, while the car battery carries on.


@EvolvingApe - quite agree, the grid is a mess and needs to be protected.
I tend to stay quiet but daily media includes Ground Zero etc.
Fearmonger was because it hasn't happened yet, probably the wrong word to use.
And, here's something related from a couple of years back. I'd just entered Walmart during a storm, my wife was parking and as she did so, told me later that a lightning bolt struck a transformer nearby, sparks flying everywhere. The lights and power inside went out and the only light was from whatever was coming through the skylights. Everybody froze, unsure what to do, simply standing there silent. 20 seconds elapsed, not a word, not a sound. Then the lights came back on and people started moving again...surreal. Imagine a pause button on life as you walk through the store.

[Slider2732]

Update:

'Ding ding ding'  
That's the sound of the car door being open...we have power.

I followed the advice of putting the current meter in line and there was a zero reading.
So, next cleaned up and pulled/reinserted all the fuses. Nothing seems to have gone, but in 13 years there may well be contacts needing to have oxides scraped.
Went underneath and checked any wires leading to the starter.
In the classic 'dunno what it was' tradition I then swapped to a small square 12V Radio Shack battery UB1250, 5Ah.
With the door open, I put the key in the ignition and one of the worlds most annoying sounds became music to the ears.
Turned the key a couple of notches and heard the familiar vacuum type noises and switching, with the binnacle lights coming on.

Next to get some real charge into the car battery and see if the ECU works. $168 when priced online, pretty spendy if it's gone.
I think the spare one does have troubles and simply baulked and faded or something when tried last night. Doesn't make much sense, since it turned the engine over half healthily yesterday.

Oh and, built a charger with a large transformer that I thought was 12-0-12, but hoped for 15V. Properly soldered a heavy duty FWBR on it, good quality smoothing cap and a good mains cable with properly done electrical tape for the join.
Plugged in, took a reading, 47V !!!   it's an audio amp transformer.

[Peterae]

Goog luck Slider, fingers crossed for you 

[Slider2732]

Thanks Peter
The batt is sitting at around 12.6V. The idea is to keep on charging until a dusk test...about 8.30pm, 3 hours from now.

Failing a start up and it being a low battery condition sound from the engine -
Have just wired up another charger idea and this one outputs 17.5V @ 4.8A
Much better.


Update: 7pm, 12.8V, it's finally moving off that 12.6V sitting area.
Quite fascinating in a way, i've never started from zero on a lead acid, though have rejuved with alum before now.

[evolvingape]

It is not just EMP attack that needs to be considered:

http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2014/07/25/all-signs-point-to-a-coming-emp-attack-upon-the-united-states/

On June 9th, Israel National News Arutz Sheva reported that for the first time in history, a terrorist attack on the electric power grid has blacked-out an entire nation by taking down the grid. This was a beta test for what is coming to the United States.

The attack on Yemen's grid was brought to my attention by Dr. Peter Pry, a former CIA Intelligence Officer who has written and lectured extensively on the topic of threats to the U.S. power grid. Pry stated that he believed that this attack was a portend for what is coming to the United States. Remember Pry is CIA, and will always be CIA. So let's look at this as just another Operation Northwoods. This was a beta test for what is coming to the U.S. and what I have been told is that the military has prepared to survive this coming event. And we should all be saying thanks as the future UN occupation troops would have free reign if the military were to be totally taken down in such an attack.

In the Wall Street Journal, FERC chairman John Wellinghoff stated that a similar attack would "Destroy nine interconnection substations and a transformer manufacturer and the entire United States grid would be down for at least 18 months, probably longer."

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/15212#.U9L5Y0CGf0m

U.S. Risks National Blackout From Small-Scale Attack
Federal Analysis Says Sabotage of Nine Key Substations Is Sufficient for Broad Outage

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304020104579433670284061220

[Slider2732]

@evolvingape - indeed, there's been a lot of talk on various forums and alternative news about the U.N. and the border...things like new U.N. vehicles being seen but presumed to have been made in the USA and being shipped elsewhere. Israel bombing the U.N. school gets one wondering.  
So many people are on the '3 days of supplies' thing. My wife and I were quite shocked that with the simple car problem, we ran out of all sorts of stuff. Silly things like toilet roll and cat food, where we would normally just jump in the car.  
We had a power outtage the other week where plans went into action, though much rustier and peacemeal than wished for. Such as, if the power went right now (night time), where's a charged flashlight ?
The idea now is to switch off power to the house for an evening one day next week...and do a drill run.


@All
It's RUNNING !!!!  
Mr. Occam's shaving implement would say that lights were left on or similar, but, we're just so relieved that it's up and running.
The batt really just seemed to flatten to nothing with the close by strike and we'll have to keep an eye on it.
It was at 12.89V by 8.30pm, dropping to 12.64V when removed from the charger.
I shot a quick vid of it's first start and thanked you guys

[muDped]

Well, that is very good news indeed!  So, apart from the battery
being very, very flat, there was no harm done by the bolt.

Could it be that by the battery being essentially dead at the time
of the strike it actually prevented any damages?

Stranger things have happened...

I have a retired Navy friend/shipmate in Florida who wasn't quite
as fortunate.  His Dad's RV was parked in his back yard and a
lightning strike several yards from it completely smoked every
piece of electronics in it including the vehicle's computer.

Maybe disconnecting the battery would have made a difference?

[Slider2732]

That's something i'd not thought of...a short somewhere, temporary, such as a piece of wire that had been run over on parking perhaps. The flat battery condition would possibly lead to an immediate soak of energy like a huge capacitor with the lightning striking. The result would be no residual charge (due to the wire short), but having protected the electronics.
An aside - the wire may have caused the bolt to strike where it did ! transforming the car into a 1.5 Ton Earthing point !
The car doesn't have one of those popular earthing straps dangling from the back and, I get zapped by the door when I step out and have ground contact...happens all the time.
Feasibly, when checking the electrics I moved several bits of driveway gumf out of the way, one being that wire.
Caveat, no such wire was seen lol

Heck, I like the theory though


What if....
That's a solution to the problems as outlined by evolving ape ?
Crap rubbish batteries that everyone sends in for recycling are taken to grid substations and used as big soakers for a possible EMP attack.
The R+D would be simple and cheap. Use a substation that had been decommisioned yet is made active for the test. Zap the thing and see what happens. Zap it afterward in the same way with no battery soaker bank.
if the substation blows only when no huge cap system is in place, then we've potentially helped in efforts to harden the grid !

[AlaskaStar]

Failed diodes in the alternator will drain a battery down effortlessly.

Without the ability to hear the door chime telling me that the key is in the ignition or that the lights were left on, I am forced to habit myself into checking every switch and knob to ensure every thing is powered off before exiting the vehicle. Coming back from a hiking trip into the mountains to realize that I left the headlamps on and that I will need to walk 80 miles to get home and come back with a charged battery is no fun. Been there and got serious blisters on my feet that taught me to pay attention.

-Chris

[e2matrix]

Slider just as followup to the last poster I've had alternators go out and the car will keep running for a while on just the battery.   It would be good to check to make sure you are seeing a higher voltage across the battery when the car is running at say ...  1500 RPM or so than when it is turned off.   

[AlaskaStar]

To check alrernator output- start with your "base voltage" which is after the car has sat a few hours with everything powered off, and then compare with the car running at idle, and with the engine at about 1500 to 2500 RPM. If your voltage is less than your base voltage for any of this, it means your alternator is suffering.

If your alternator is putting out good voltage, you can still have failed and "leaky" diodes even with good voltage out from the alternator. To test, start again with the car at rest for a couple hours and check your base voltage. On that model of car there is a 100amp "MegaFuse" located on the lower side of the fuse box under the hood and has two studs going through it with nuts. One side goes to the battery and the other leads to the alternator. This gives you a means to disconnect the alternator without crawling under the car or snaking your hand around the backside of the intake plenum to get access.

Disconnect the alternator side and place your digital amp meter in series between the alternator wire and the fuse leading to the battery. With the key off and engine not running this should show 0.000 amps flow. Anything on the gauge at all above 0.000 amps means you have a leaky diode pack in the alternator.

But don't despair! Just put a big diode inline where you have your meter between the alternator and battery to stop current leakage, thus you are not changing a perfectly otherwise good alternator for no reason.

-Chris

[ion]

To check alrernator output- start with your "base voltage" which is after the car has sat a few hours with everything powered off, and then compare with the car running at idle, and with the engine at about 1500 to 2500 RPM. If your voltage is less than your base voltage for any of this, it means your alternator is suffering.

If your alternator is putting out good voltage, you can still have failed and "leaky" diodes even with good voltage out from the alternator. To test, start again with the car at rest for a couple hours and check your base voltage. On that model of car there is a 100amp "MegaFuse" located on the lower side of the fuse box under the hood and has two studs going through it with nuts. One side goes to the battery and the other leads to the alternator. This gives you a means to disconnect the alternator without crawling under the car or snaking your hand around the backside of the intake plenum to get access.

Disconnect the alternator side and place your digital amp meter in series between the alternator wire and the fuse leading to the battery. With the key off and engine not running this should show 0.000 amps flow. Anything on the gauge at all above 0.000 amps means you have a leaky diode pack in the alternator.

But don't despair! Just put a big diode inline where you have your meter between the alternator and battery to stop current leakage, thus you are not changing a perfectly otherwise good alternator for no reason.

-Chris

Chris:
Your troubleshooting suggestions are very good, and the idea of putting the extra diode to prevent back feed of current is a great suggestion and will get one by if there should be a leaky diode.

The only caveat would be if more than one diode is leaky, they are on their way to failure and will begin to load down the alternator windings and put a very slight drag on the engine. They will probably heat up and fail eventually leading to a complete short of one of the alternator windings, and a larger drag on the engine and possible destruction of the alternator winding.

When confronted with this problem on my 1976 VW transporter (bus) the alternator was difficult to remove. When I did get it out some of the diodes were bad, so I removed all the diodes, then just brought out the three phase AC windings and put a three phase discrete diode bridge on a heat sink on the firewall, easy to maintain, but probably will never fail again because I over sized everything (diode voltage and current ratings and size of heat sink).

Mounting those diodes as manufacturers do onto the already hot aluminum frame of the alternator  keeps the alternator replacement business a sure revenue generator.

[AlaskaStar]

Thank you.

On the model of car in question, the alternator is stuffed into a hard to reach location, and my suggestion will only work for a while. That particular alternator has the diodes not just crammed into the case, but also crimped and the wire leads are a tad more than exceptionally short. The regulator for this alternator is $155 USD but the whole alternator remanufactured retail is $169 USD. The regulator on this alternator is very robust and will handle almost anything short of an AC voltage on the voltage sense wire. Once it experiences AC on this... It really goes to shit in a hurry.

I have 2 of those VW Synchro/ Transporter vans with the 1.9L water cooled German clusterfuck engineering examples. I genuinely sympathize with anyone who was ever blessed with the misfortune to have to repair one of these for any reason at all.

-Chris

[Slider2732]

Thanks for all the extra info  


The car is doing fine now, no further troubles and yet, along with that, there's the confusion of it all still.
My wife turns everything off and always makes sure, as a habit, visual checks. I don't drive..have got a UK license, but not for the USA.
Saying all that, there's nothing really to turn off besides making sure the indicators aren't on or the lights. The radio switches off automatically and it's got no fancy navigation devices or anything. Parking up is at the back of the house, where there are no bright lights.
There are a couple of electrical niggles. The interior light would come on randomly a couple of years ago. That got fixed with a swift click to the off position !
Also, for about 6 months now, the passenger side electric window has worked intermittently, that one seems rain related.

I've tested the battery for leakage and it's zero. I was actually surprised it read zero, but probably because it doesn't have an analog clock or such that would need to be powered all the time.
Hmm, that doesn't make sense for the door locks though does it ?
Edit - it probably does because it was measured on the 10A scale and the resolution will be ~5mA. Nearly every meter I have blows the mA scale just by looking at it.

Will take a battery reading to make sure tomorrow and will report back if it seems low.

[AlaskaStar]

Rake test the battery.

To perform a rake test, remove the battery from the vehicle, put it in your kitchen sink and wash all the crap off the outside of it with dish soap and water. Allow to completely dry.

Connect your volt meter to the positive terminal and the. On the 0-5V setting drag the negative meter lead across the top of the battery slowly toward the negative terminal. If it spikes by much of anything it will occur over the top of the plastic divider of the cells, denoting an actual bad cell.

Then reverse the sequence- with the meter on the negative terminal and rake the positive terminal across the top of the battery from the negative terminal toward the positive terminal.

To clarify: raking the te lead across the top of the batter denotes that you are literally dragging the contact across the plastic casing of the top of the battery and lookin for voltage. It will be there in amounts small enough to power a pocket watch. ABS plastic is porous and conductive.

-Chris