Grounding a Searchlight Signal

[MoPac_Eagle]

I have put up a 15-foot searchlight pole with a ladder (both made of aluminum) and was wondering how to ground them if lighting was to strike them. It will house a single GRS Searchlight head with a mechanism inside. If anyone has any documents or has signals of their own I would love to hear what you did. If you need more information let me know.
Thank you in advance,
Luke Welte

 

[CGW101c]

How is it mounted to the ground? If there are bolts in a concrete base it may already be grounded. Another option is to go to the big box hardware store and get a grounding rod (a 6 or 8 foot copper rod). Pound it into the ground and tie a grounding strap or a wire (8 AWG should do) to the signal base or mast. Does it have a pointy finial at the top? I think those are there to dissipate static charge and not just decoration but I could be wrong on that. I have one if you need it.

 

[CGW101c]

A 108 page paper on the FRA website on lightning and railroad signals. I haven’t read it yet, but if I find anything interesting I’ll let you know.

 

[MoPac_Eagle]

I poured a concrete pad and put four 1 inch bolts into that. The signal is bolted down with two nuts to each bolt. It has a flat aluminum cap similar to this one.

Thank you for your help and sorry it to me so long to respond.

 

[Bill Anderson]

In 1975, when I was living in Sacramento, I went on a road trip with my parents and younger sister, who were living in Santa Rosa at the time, to visit relatives in Colorado and Iowa. I noticed that every farm house in Iowa had lightning rods. I later saw why as one evening I witnessed a spectacular thunderstorm move in at sunset. You seldom see that up here in the Puget Sound Region of the PNW.