Lost $900 on those cellular communicator cards that fried in a storm

Last month in Nashville I installed six of those cheap cellular communicator cards. Figured I was saving the customer money. Then a lightning storm hit on a Tuesday and three of them fried out completely. The boards had no surge protection built in, nothing. I ate the replacement cost and labor since it was only 2 weeks after install. Now I only use the name brand modules with proper transient protection. Anyone else get burned by budget parts that cant handle real weather?

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1 Comment

torres.grant28d ago

Man that stings. I learned the same lesson the hard way after a surge took out two boards in one week. Now I check for actual TVS diodes on the board before I even quote the job.