<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Hi Jay,<div><br></div><div>An interesting quandary<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans'; font-size: medium; white-space: normal; "> indeed. My thoughts are to build a grid of radials with short ground rods at the ends, extending in all directions from the equipment. This approach does not use anything but wire, short ground rods and ground connectors so there is no equipment to fail or replace. </span></span></div><div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans'; font-size: medium; white-space: normal; ">You have very low conductivity on the ice so static builds up. What you are trying to do is increase conductivity by equalizing (neutralize) the potential in the area around the communications gear. This is not really a grounding system but an effort to force all electrons to neutral in the immediate area. You want as many radials as possible in all directions from the comm gear. Make the radials as long as is practical but don't sacrifice number of radials for length, i.e. more is better. If you can leave materials behind, grow the radial network each time you have opportunity to bring in more material. </span></span></div><div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans'; font-size: medium; white-space: normal; ">For SURE you want to bond all equipment together and test these bonds with a megohm meter to make sure they are potentially the same. Then attach the equipment stack to your radial system and megohm that bond. Use as wide a copper material as you can carry in.</span></span></div><div><br></div><div>If your problem is human contact, make sure you discharge to the radial network and bond yourself before touching any equipment. You can use a static wrist strap. A surge suppressor is useless if it has no ground reference to conduct to so I would not pursue that approach. </div><div><br></div><div>Example of radial system for RF purposes: <a href="http://harvesting.com/tower/photos/radials.jpg">http://harvesting.com/tower/photos/radials.jpg</a></div><div><br></div><div>That's my best guess on a solution. Let me know if you try this.</div><div><br></div><div><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Lucida Sans'; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; "><div><div>Kindest Regards,</div><div><br></div><div>Larry Crutcher</div><div>Starlight Solar</div><div>(928) 941-1660</div><div>Renewable Energy Products, Service and Installation</div><div><br></div><div>Mailing Address (NO SHIPPING):</div><div>11881 S Fortuna Rd.</div><div>#210</div><div>Yuma, AZ 85367</div><div><br></div></div><div>Shipping and retail store (NO MAIL):</div><div>2998 Shari Ave </div><div>Yuma, AZ 85365</div></span></div></div></div></div></div><div><br></div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> </div><br><div><div>On Jul 22, 2009, at 7:13 AM, jason pozner wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div class="gmail_quote"><br>Hey all,<br> <br> I am trying to figure out how to mitigate problems found with a 12v 500w simple DC system without a ground. This system is at 14,500' on Denali (Mt McKinly). We experienced a somewhat "festive" fireworks display on the 4th of July as static current from a storm seemed to travel through one of the antennae, and energized some radio equipment. There is no grounded conductor, as there is no grounding electrode, as there is no ground to put it in. The camp is situated on about 500' of glacial ice. The conductivity of the ice is questionable, and to make the puzzle a bit more fun the camp is raised and taken down at the beginning and end of every climbing season (Apr-July), though the site is the same. The loads are primarily for communications for search and rescue purposes, and reliability, and simplicity are paramount. I have been exploring the avenue of a surge arrestorsThanks, and was wondering if any of you could make a recommendation on a product that can either be reset or cheap enough to have a few replacements on hand. Everything is flown in or carried to the site, and repair/replacement needs to be simple enough so non-technical minded personnel can perform and re-set the system.<br> <br> Thanks,<br> <br> Jay Pozner<br> Nunatak Alternative Energy Solutions<br> Crested Butte, CO<br> (970) 349-3432<br> <a href="mailto:nunatakenergy@gmail.com" target="_blank">nunatakenergy@gmail.com</a><br> <br> <br></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Nunatak Alternative Energy Solutions<br>Jay Pozner and Lena Wilensky<br>(970)349-3432<br><a href="http://www.nunatakenergy.com" target="_blank">www.nunatakenergy.com</a><br> </div><br> _______________________________________________<br>List sponsored by Home Power magazine<br><br>List Address: <a href="mailto:RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org">RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a><br><br>Options & settings:<br><a href="http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org">http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org</a><br><br>List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org<br><br>List rules & etiquette:<br>www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm<br><br>Check out participant bios:<br>www.members.re-wrenches.org<br><br></blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>