Hi all,
At my church, we are running an SQ7 with a GX4816. This morning, the church was struck by lightning, tripping breakers and messing up the wifi as well. I went in today so that we could test if the audio system was working, as last time it got struck by lightning, we had to change around the outlets the gear is plugged into. As of right now, the SQ7 will not link to the rack. We’ve tried redundant cables, and the surface is showing an Ethernet connection, however the two won’t link together. The I/O screen is just displaying as greyed out. The system is plugged into a SurgeX SEQ, which also isn’t sequencing the rack and amps properly anymore. The SQ7 was installed recently in November 2024, but the SurgeX is older by likely 10-15 years. Is there something that I’m missing? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Was the stage box on a UPS?
The stage box was on a SurgeX sx 1120 rt as part of the sequencer system, which was going straight into the wall. The console is on a UPS, I believe.
What are the network (SLink/GigaAce) port LEDs showing on both the console and the box? Are they reflecting a normal, established connection? Or are they reflecting something else?
I ask because when lightning strikes, it can damage equipment in far more ways than just the building’s regular power circuits. Honestly any wire can act as an antenna and pick up the energy from the strike and allow it to pass through and damage equipment. The longer the cable and the closer it is to the lightning, the more likely the cable is to absorb energy from the lightning.
It is very common for “low voltage” systems to be damaged like this from energy being transmitted through the network cables. It is very possible that the cable linking the console and the stage box picked up the electrical energy and damaged the console and/or the stage box.
Our church was struck by lightning a few years ago and it took out tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment. Almost all of it was damaged by a surge that wasn’t in the building’s main power system. Instead it came through almost every low voltage system (network, audio equipment, fire & alarm systems, etc, etc, etc) and damaged equipment attached to all of those systems.
If I remember correctly, neither LED was on. No red error light or orange link light. Just nothing. Another detail I forgot to mention was that on the I/O screen, the slink section said dsnake instead of gigaACE, which it normally says.
IMHO, that points to a hardware failure unfortunately. I would contact A&H official support for more assistance, but I think one or both of those devices is going to need to be repaired.
