Wiring techniques and lightning.

[SailingHarmonie]

With the understanding that nobody can really predict anything about lightning...

It is very common practice when presented with a longer than needed cable to coil it neatly and tuck it into an out of sight place. Normally, this presents no issues, and I have never heard a recommendation against it.

But...

It seems to someone with a college physics understanding (not an electrical engineer!) of what would happen in a close-by lightning strike, a coil of wire seems to me to be the worst possible arrangement. If you wanted to design a device to capture a voltage spike from the EMP of a nearby lightning strike, this is exactly what you would do!

Probably not THAT important with coaxial cables, but certainly is seems worth the effort to shorten data cables to the minimum needed for a straight run? Or am I over-thinking this?

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by SailingHarmonie

With the understanding that nobody can really predict anything about lightning...

It is very common practice when presented with a longer than needed cable to coil it neatly and tuck it into an out of sight place. Normally, this presents no issues, and I have never heard a recommendation against it.

But...

It seems to someone with a college physics understanding (not an electrical engineer!) of what would happen in a close-by lightning strike, a coil of wire seems to me to be the worst possible arrangement. If you wanted to design a device to capture a voltage spike from the EMP of a nearby lightning strike, this is exactly what you would do!

Probably not THAT important with coaxial cables, but certainly is seems worth the effort to shorten data cables to the minimum needed for a straight run? Or am I over-thinking this?

No, you are not overthinking this. Also loops in shielding is a concern for data cables.