LoL, yes, Lorex always seems to have a "deal" if pressed, and they think you may go elsewhere. I supposedly have a Lorex business acct rep, but he's never responded to any inquiry about products or pricing. I think he's actually vaporware. I just watch the Lorex site, check it a few times, and somehow like magic the item(s) I watch suddenly drop in price if I go to other sites and check prices. Funny how that works.
Not sure your garage camera is necessarily the culprit. Cable buried in conduit has more protection than cable exposed above ground. The biggest factor IMHO is UTP (unshielded twisted pair) cable. It offers no protection to common mode transients, such as you'd see with proximity lightning strikes. I had 100s of feet of UTP
cat5E strung through the house when I had the Q-See NVR, including multiple runs thru the attic. The cables acted like an antenna, so when a lightning bolt flashed overhead VERY close, the induced voltage on the camera cables was huge. I heard the arc inside the NVR, which was a very lout POP. I knew what that meant... magic smoke was let out. Electronics won't work without the magic smoke. Once it's out, parts no longer work LoL
One big caveat about cable in buried conduit: It is very difficult to keep ALL water OUT of the conduit. Eventually some will likely get in from somewhere. Once it does, your LAN cable sits immersed. Might be fine for a while, but eventually a crack in the jacket will allow moisture in the cable. It goes downhill from there. So, as odd as it may sound, it's best to use outdoor rated cable, and sometimes flooded jacket type even though it may be in conduit. I've had no problems (so far) with running Ubiquiti "Tough Cable" in buried conduit, or elsewhere. I now use it for internal runs in the house, attic, or anywhere outside. It is shielded cable, and greatly mitigates induced surges from lightning. It is not flooded type, so theoretically not for direct burial, but I have seen it used that way without problems.
If you have a bad camera, it is most likely the one which had the longest and HIGHEST run of cable...but there are a million variables, so you never know. Hopefully it was "just" the NVR bad. Most likely the POE ports took the hit, shorting the POE B+ power supply (+48v). Low voltage logic power (5, 3.3) probably ok since the unit was trying to power up, at least producing the Lorex Logo screen.
If you don't already have one, get a good AC power surge cube or strip (1000 joules or better). Use one on the NVR AND ALL other networked equipment. We have such bad lightning problems in our area, I had to install commercial panel surge protectors the main and sub breaker panels, plus I use quality surge strips on all electronics. POE surge protector devices are available as well, but implementing them on every camera would be costly. Shielded cable (STP) is the best investment I've made yet as to protection of the devices from EMP.
Sorry TonyR, have to disagree somewhat on buried cable being more susceptible to lightning. From an induced voltage standpoint, not so (assuming average to good ground conductivity). The higher the cable above ground, the more the induced voltage. It used to be well known that even handling UNCONNECTED bare conductors at heights well above ground (say 25 ft & up) incurred a significant risk of shock (even death) - from just static potential. The higher up, the higher the voltage. A 100 ft length of LAN cable stung 30 ft above ground will incur far higher charge than one at ground level. Buried cables will see even less.... BUT there is a caveat. IF lightning strikes the ground in proximity of the cable, massive ground currents can induce damaging voltage on the cable. If the cable has a weak spot in the jacket, and there is moisture present, you're now talking not only induced (inductive coupled) voltages, but direct leakage (conduction). The worst case scenario other than a direct strike to equipment is a ground strike near the utility service entrance ground rods. I have seen it happen more than once. Current flows from the ground
back into the house mains, searching for the path of least resistance - which is often electronic equipment. I've seen appliances, HVAC equipment, AV equipment, as well as security equipment damaged or destroyed by ground strikes. There is very little that can be done to mitigate these type hits, AFAIK. In my experience, most of the time, damage from lightning comes from large transients induced on the utility mains, which finds the weakest link in the home - almost always electronic devices. When it comes to lightning, there is one thing that helps more than anything else... DISTANCE! 1/R^2 rule applies. The big problem with buried cables and lignting tends to be where lightning finds entry point above ground, then reconnects with earth where the cable is buried. I've had to more than once dig up and replace MELTED 10 ga UF feeder cable to wells pumps. Lightning hit the cable above ground, then exited underground... usually a significant distance from the point of entry below ground. Lightning makes its own rules, does what it wants, when it wants, and how it wants. The problem with transients, whether on AC mains or on any type LV cable is the voltage spike may not be enough to damage the device immediately - so all appear well. But, it can "pinhole" semiconductors, making them far more likely to fail during the next transient, even a smaller one. So, a device which appears to have survived a major transient event may fail soon afterward for no apparent reason. I've seen it many times.
