Buy all your VW California Accessories at the Club Shop Visit Shop

Are you safe in lightning storm with roof up ?

Bumble The Van

Bumble The Van

VIP Member
Messages
263
Location
Peak District
Vehicle
T6.1 Ocean 204 4 motion
A question that just randomly popped into my head just now is are you safe with the "faraday cage" effect if you are in your van with the roof up ? We visit the french alps a lot and quite often in summer there are amazing storms with thunder and lightening and i just wanted to know your thoughts ? I am not even sure roof is metal nowadays (we have an ocean my22 model )

Thank you for your inputs would love to know the answer :)
 
A question that just randomly popped into my head just now is are you safe with the "faraday cage" effect if you are in your van with the roof up ? We visit the french alps a lot and quite often in summer there are amazing storms with thunder and lightening and i just wanted to know your thoughts ? I am not even sure roof is metal nowadays (we have an ocean my22 model )

Thank you for your inputs would love to know the answer :)
The roof hasn’t changed, it’s metal, an aluminium alloy and it is connected to the body/chassis. So there should be no problems.
 
Regardless of the roof material, I’m pretty sure I would keep the roof down in a thunderstorm :)
 
In my opinion you should not keep the roof elevated in a lightning storm. I don't have a definitive answer so I am erring on the side of caution.

The faraday cage effect works when you are surrounded by a metal cage/structure which will conduct electricity over it's surface. You will only have a risk of a shock if you are touching these metal parts or are in contact with something electrical which could conduct electricity from the outside into the vehicle. In the roof, when elevated, the only metal connecting the roof to the van are the struts. These may or may not conduct the electricity - driving in a soft top car is generally regarded as not being safe as it is not a complete faraday cage. You need to avoid touching metal parts, this is less easy when up in the roof. Personally I'd lower the roof and ensure a complete faraday cage.

On a separate note - tyres are no protection. motorcyclists and people in convertibles have been killed by lightning.
 
Regardless of the roof material, I’m pretty sure I would keep the roof down in a thunderstorm :)
My roof is up and there is a Grand Daddy of a thunderstorm at the moment + the rain.:thumb

I’ll let you know how I get on. No news then I was probably wrong or the Internet/mobile phone system is down.;)
 
It wouldn't worry me having the roof up, there's still more of a cage than on most big motorhomes. Less risk than being in a caravan with a tv arial / satellite dish up.

Just be sensible & don't park at the top of the highest hill you can find.

Ideally you want to be close, but not too close to something taller & metallic that will get hit in preference to you.

Has anyone actually died directly from a lightning strike on a motorbike ? I cant find a case but a few where the driver has died in a subsequent crash, I suppose having your crash helmet blown to bits might make you get a bit of a wobble on.
 
In my opinion you should not keep the roof elevated in a lightning storm. I don't have a definitive answer so I am erring on the side of caution.

The faraday cage effect works when you are surrounded by a metal cage/structure which will conduct electricity over it's surface. You will only have a risk of a shock if you are touching these metal parts or are in contact with something electrical which could conduct electricity from the outside into the vehicle. In the roof, when elevated, the only metal connecting the roof to the van are the struts. These may or may not conduct the electricity - driving in a soft top car is generally regarded as not being safe as it is not a complete faraday cage. You need to avoid touching metal parts, this is less easy when up in the roof. Personally I'd lower the roof and ensure a complete faraday cage.

On a separate note - tyres are no protection. motorcyclists and people in convertibles have been killed by lightning.
I would tend to agree, always and preferred a metal roof over a plastic pop top or a plastic motorhome.
Having been in an alpine bivi under a thunderstorm that wasn't forecast at 3500m I have a health respect for them.
Appears its taken sersoiuly by some motorhome manufacturers https://www.carthago.com/en/carthago-dna/body-concept/
 
Last edited:
My roof is up and there is a Grand Daddy of a thunderstorm at the moment + the rain.:thumb

I’ll let you know how I get on. No news then I was probably wrong or the Internet/mobile phone system is down.;)
I need closure
 

How to survive a lightning strike?​

Clothing​

Before I go into the details of surviving a lightning strike based no wearing the right garment or taking the right protective pose, let’s take a small test. Assuming that you’re caught in a big open field in the middle of a violent thunderstorm, which of the following garments do you think is more likely to keep you safe? Your options are:

a. A raincoat

b. A superhero costume

c. Medieval metallic armor

d. Normal daily wear (e.g., jeans and a t-shirt)

What’s your guess? If you answered medieval metallic armor, then you’re correct! Yes, this might surprise many, but contrary to popular wisdom, metallic armor would actually be the safest bet.

THIS IS THE RIGHT CHOICE
 
For your reassurance.. I quote from this article:

According to one estimate, you are 40 times more likely to be killed by an aeroplane crashing into your home.

And you can rest peacefully in your beds tonight, knowing that you are 100 times more likely to be murdered than hit by a lightning bolt.
 
For your reassurance.. I quote from this article:

According to one estimate, you are 40 times more likely to be killed by an aeroplane crashing into your home.

And you can rest peacefully in your beds tonight, knowing that you are 100 times more likely to be murdered than hit by a lightning bolt.
A suit of armour and a sword would help in the latter case too!!
 
For your reassurance.. I quote from this article:

According to one estimate, you are 40 times more likely to be killed by an aeroplane crashing into your home.

And you can rest peacefully in your beds tonight, knowing that you are 100 times more likely to be murdered than hit by a lightning bolt.
If you are in a storm, lightning is more likely than murder.
 
Cars do very strange things when struck by lightning :)

It was my second time, first was in the open hanging off a nylon rope. Not a happy experience.

The car was a late 80's BMW 735. M62 Manchester, main strike hit a gantry which showered bits of glass on to the road, secondary was on my car.

The cruise control kept going, fortunate for it helped me escape the pile-up behind, and when I eventually stopped 3 miles later it was because random lights were blinking on and off on the instrument panel but mostly the rear windows were going up and down by themselves!

Most alarming though was the blackened bonnet. However what I thought were scorch marks were not, it was a film of plastic-like substance that just wiped off, apparently a condensation of evaporated tarmac.

I drove another 200 miles, eventually the lights stopped blinking and the windows stopped going up and down, sadly though they did this by staying down.

Typically BMW had a check list for lightning and high energy strikes.

Oh, and it's not the rubber tyres that insulate you, Even a faraday cage has to go to earth and it's the steel bracing in the tyres that provide that function. Otherwise they would probably just melt.
 
Something in the back of my mind tells me vehicle tyres contain so much carbon they are good conductors of electricity so don't insulate you from the ground. In the 'good old days' when car sickness was (not) caused by static electricity you could buy carbon strips fixed to the back of the vehicle which just touched the ground and so provided an earth. Urban myth had it the strips were made from old tyres. No doubt whoever was making money didn't want the truth to come out. The real danger was stepping out of the vehicle just as lightning struck and thereby providing an easy route to earth for the charge via your body. In other words, if you want to succumb to a lightning strike you really have to work at it.
 
Dare I say it but you’re worrying about nothing - you’ve got more chance of being struck by lightning
 
Back
Top