Don't remember seeing any at Brownwood. Must have stopped installing South of 466A.

Right, but it can be a life altering event if you have major damage. First you need to deal with your insurance company. Many people who were hit by lightning have related experiences where the insurance doesn't want to pay for all the damage and its a major job getting through that phase. Secondly, there aren't contractors and repair people just waiting on the side-lines to re-build your home. Typically it can take up to 1 to 2 years to rebuild. Finally, the insurance company is not going to be able to replace your personal family belongings. Pictures, furniture, files, etc., will be gone forever.

They are there, just need to look.

Your statement of “We have data to show many strikes happening to homes near golf courses “

I would think the villages lightning study group has Exact numbers, than the use of “Many”

Next the pictures you posted I don’t see any golf courses? Are they close, a mile, more than 5 miles? Data that would give a better idea than a general golf course strikes.

Data is not definitive, but interesting? Unsure how to interpret.

Date of the pictures would also peek interest in your meetings, if that what the group is seeking

We were at the large Brownwood Medical Center the other day. We were on an upper floor able to look at another section of the building at roof level. There were clearly lightning rods and the associated cabling all along the roof.

I dont understand WHY the builder put a gas line in the roof when there are tons of STRIKES here that can cause fires !!!! Do you kno why it is built that way? IF I knew this 2 years ago before I bought I would NOT have bought here at all...........

The key is 'properly installed', aluminum got a bad rep when it was allowed for house wiring and then it was not properly installed. I worked in the electrical power industry, and they use aluminum cable all the time with very specialized antioxidants and compression connections and even these fail occasionally. So I will agree with you if aluminum conductors are properly installed these would be acceptable, but my first preference would be copper.

When a house with a lightning protection system is hit by lightning, isn't there evidence that the lighting travelled through the cables and caused no damage? To me, that would be data worth seeing to prove the value of an LPS system. But, I have never seen such data.

I wanted to point out that lightning is unpredictable so you can't say my neighbor has a system or I have large trees near my home or I live near a lake or pond or things like that because lightning strikes do not work that way.

Yesterday was the first time I saw all the lightning strikes that we tracked marked on a map and while lightning is unpredictable, there may be some patterns with the strikes here in the Villages. My first observation was several were near golf courses such as the recent one in Osceola Hills and St. Charles. There are other's as well that were hit over the years. I'm not an expert in this area and I'm not saying because you live near a golf course or a pond or whatever you are more susceptible, but it's something I personally would like to investigate just for curiosity. When I do more research and can talk facts, we can consider sharing the data if its helpful.

The Villages Lightning Study Group makes presentations on the facts of lightning and lightning and surge protection systems, dispelling the myths so Villagers who are interested can get the information and make an informed decision. We haven't done any analysis on the data but now that we have more data, as I mentioned it would be interesting to take a deeper look and see if we can learn anything from the confirmed strikes.

Thanks for the pictures

AC or DC?
 

Technically, lightning is DC, just electrons moving in one direction from source to ground. However, because lightning is an extremely short and powerful pulse of DC current, it creates a very strong electromagnetic field that contains a very broad spectrum of 'radio' waves. That's why you can hear lightning on an AM radio. So, that 'radio' energy doesn't just travel cleanly on a wire to ground, it surrounds the wire for some distance, and can impact nearby electronics.

Quotes?
 

Let’s hear some of the quotes. I have no idea what an average Designer house here would cost, to get a lightning protection system.

Danny with A-1 installed ours in December 2023 for $2500. The home is a 2100 square-foot designer.

I agree. Danny — A1 Lightning. Has done hundreds of TV homes; also
does commercial buildings in the area. He did mine according to the CODE. Get it down right with a pro; minimal impact to the roof. No leaks when done right. The rods are ugly, no way around it, but the dragonflies like to rest on the points.

Neither
 

Alternating and Direct currents are man made. Frequency from AC is key to its manufacture where you have copper moving through a magnetic field without any contact between the two. Direct current is called that because you have brushes that touch a broken commutator before current is dispensed for use. Both can have benefits, but DC is considered safer.

Lightning is not manufactured by either method. It can go cloud to cloud or cloud to ground. It’s static electricity caused by electron build up and discharge once conditions are correct.

I would believe lightning does not fall under either condition of AC or DC. Voltage can be up to 1 billion volts and carry up to 7 gigajoules of current potential.