Summer Storms and Power Cuts: How to Protect Your Network Equipment

Summer storms on Pelješac and Korčula arrive quickly and pass just as quickly. Sometimes they leave nothing but fresh air behind; sometimes they leave a dead network, a burnt-out switch and guests at reception asking why the Wi-Fi is down.

Most of these failures are not bad luck, and most can be prevented. In this post, we explain how storms and power cuts damage network equipment and what you can do to keep your property running when the sky turns dark.

How does a storm damage equipment?

A direct lightning strike on a building is rare. Far more often, the damage is done by a power surge: a short but strong spike in voltage that reaches your equipment through its cables.

• Through the power grid: a nearby strike or a fault in the grid can reach every device through the outlets.
• Through telecom and antenna cables: the provider’s line, the satellite dish cable or the TV antenna cable.
• Through long outdoor network cables: cables to outdoor access points, cameras or another building act like antennas and pick up surges from their surroundings.

Then there are ordinary power cuts. A device that shuts down abruptly can lose its settings, and when the power returns, not every device comes back on its own.

UPS: the first line of defense

An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) bridges short power cuts and smooths out voltage fluctuations. For the network, a small UPS is enough if you connect what matters most: the router, the main switch, the firewall and the camera recorder.

• Choose the UPS based on the power draw of the connected devices and how long it needs to keep them running.
• Batteries lose capacity over time. Test the UPS at least once a year and replace the battery when it no longer holds.
• A UPS does not protect against surges that arrive through network or antenna cables. That takes dedicated protection.

Surge protection and grounding

Surge protection is installed at several levels: in the building’s distribution board, next to sensitive devices and on cables that come in from outside. To work, it has to be properly grounded.

• Electrical installation: surge protection in the distribution board and the lightning protection system are installed and inspected by a licensed electrician.
• Outdoor network cables: surge protectors for network cables, connected to ground, are fitted at the ends of long cables to outdoor equipment.
• Antennas and mounts: satellite dishes, Starlink and outdoor access points are mounted on grounded brackets, and antenna cables get their own surge protection.

Leave the electrical installation to an electrician; we make sure your network equipment is connected to it correctly.

Fiber between buildings

If your property has several buildings, a reception separate from the accommodation units or equipment spread across a campsite, consider fiber-optic cable between them. Optical fiber does not conduct electricity, so a surge in one building cannot travel to another. Fiber also allows longer distances and higher speeds. We cover this in Fiber-Optic Internet: Benefits and Challenges of Deployment.

After the storm: back up and running fast

Even the best-protected network sometimes goes down. What matters is how quickly it comes back.

• Devices should be set up to restart on their own, in the right order, after a power cut.
• Configuration backups make it possible to replace a damaged device in minutes.
• Spare parts for key devices, such as a PoE injector or a small switch, shorten downtime from days to hours.
• Continuous monitoring of network devices reveals a device that did not come back, often before guests notice.

We can help

We will review your network and propose protection that fits your property: from a UPS for key devices to fiber between buildings. With proactive maintenance, we continuously monitor your network devices, so after a storm we often know about a failure before you call us.

If you are getting your property ready for the new season, see our pre-season network checklist as well. For a quote, tell us about your property in a short questionnaire and you will hear from us within 2 business days.