On Friday, October 23, 2015 at 11:42:21 PM UTC-4, Muggles wrote:
We now have battery back-up/surge protectors for our computers that's
supposed to protect from those sort of lightning issues.

Read specification numbers. How many joules does it claim to absorb? Hundreds? A destructive surge is hundreds of thousands of joules. That UPS could not have a smaller protector part. Yes it is a protector. It has just enough joules (near zero) so that advertising and salesmen can claim it has 100% protection. Subjective claims mean nothing. Numbers are esesntial for perspective.

Repeatedly noted is what a protector must connect: a low impedance (ie less than 10 foot) connection to single point earth ground. Does your UPS have that dedicated earthing wire?

From a paper presented in the Power Quality conference in 1990 called "Computer Network Power Protection Problems, Myths and Solutions"
Myth 2: "UPSes Provide Dependable Surge Protection."
Because a UPS costs far more than a surge protector, it
is commonly assumed to provide premium surge protection.
Essentially all micro-computer UPSes, lOOOvA and under,
are a combination of an inexpensive MOV surge suppresser
and a battery back-up power source. The MOV surge
protection is designed to protect the UPS circuitry, and
diverts incoming surges to ground like a common surge
protector. Once on ground, the surge will circumvent the
UPS and couple directly into any computer
datalines.
Another risk exposure with UPSes is the alternative power
path around the battery and inverter. So called standby
UPSes normally provide direct utility power to the
computer, with only the MOVs at the UPS power inlet as
surge protection, while on-line UPSes generally have a
bypass circuit to enable utility power to flow directly
to the load in the event of UPS failure. Both these
circuits provide paths to the protected load for
incoming surges. In the case of the standby UPS, the
path is direct, while for the on-line UPS, the surge
must pass through the transfer switch, but these
switches are often solid state components with modest
tolerance for high energy surges, so they may not
prevent a moderate to sever surge from passing
through them to the protected load.


Does not matter if incoming wires are overhead or underground. A Tech Note demonstrates building surge protection. Even the underground wire needs protection:
http://www.erico.com/public/library/...es/tncr002.pdf