[westom]

Originally Posted by jp2code

Item 4313 is one of the surge protectors I have.

So how does that little device stop what 3 miles of sky could not? That is what you (and others) are assuming. As ADTech so accurately noted:

If the shield is not properly grounded with a low impedance path to ground, the device will simply shunt the current to the shield and the current will find its own path to ground, most likely through your indoor electronics equipment.

What should be discussed in almost every paragraph? The only thing that does surge protection. Earth ground.

A surge protector does not do protection. Because protector and protection sound alike, then many just know they must be same. They are not.

Protection is where massive energy dissipates. If the post does not discuss where energy dissipates, then it is probably not providing an honest answer.

Protection means energy does not enter a building. If energy does enter and if that energy is sufficient to blow through protection already inside every appliance, then nothing inside will avert that damage. With or without an interior protector, you have same protection. Nothing inside does effective protection. Protection is always about where energy dissipates.

Best protector means nothing in series on a coax cable. How does it stop a surge but not stop radio signals? It doesn’t. Superior protectors are nothing but a direct wire connection. Anything that would 'filter' a surge simply diminishes data signals and does not stop any surge. Best protector per dollar is the single coax grounding block in http://www.cabletvamps.com/accessories.htm
Unfortunately that item is 300% overpriced. Same thing sells in Lowes for about $2.

And it still does not do protection. Its only purpose is to connect a surge within single digit feet of single point earth ground. No protector does protection. That ground block does what a protector does. Either massive energy dissipates harmlessly in single point ground. Or you have no effective protection.

In some cases, the more expensive TII210 or TII212 have purpose. But for most everyone, those do little more. And again, to be effective means a short, with no splices, with no sharp bends, etc wire that connects to protection. Earth ground.

Stop thinking a protector does protection. Too many hype a protector when advertising is their entire science. Learn from what even Franklin demonstrated in 1752. Protection was not about a lighting rod. Protection was about what that lightning rod connects to. Earth ground. Where does energy dissipate? But again the question you always ask. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground.