Topic: Ventus 266 Weather Station w/Lightning Detection

[miraculon]

This Ventus outfit in the UK has a weather station that includes lightning detection. I spotted it on eBay.

=868&cHash=27bfecca26eaab61b682f462961dcbd1]http://www.ventusdesign.com/products/products-weatherstations/?tx_hmrventus_pi1[product]=868&cHash=27bfecca26eaab61b682f462961dcbd1

Here is the display as shown on Weather Spares website. Quite a bit of the display is dedicated to lightning.



I am wondering if they might have used the AMS AS3935 chip for the lightning detection.

Greg

[Weather Spares]

Give me a week and I will tell you - I supply them in the UK

I suspect the answer will be yes as it's housed in the outdoor sensor suite which is quite a slim unit.

[miraculon]

Thanks for the response. I'll look forward to your findings.
That is a very impressive display by the way. 

Greg

[Weather Spares]

I also run a Blitzortung station here in the UK - much like yourself.

We had some local strikes from a heavy shower about 5 miles away which both detected by both systems - the 266 was accurate to within a mile of the Blitz lightning network which I thought was impressive for a non-triangulated detector.

[miraculon]

I also run a Blitzortung station here in the UK - much like yourself.

We had some local strikes from a heavy shower about 5 miles away which both detected by both systems - the 266 was accurate to within a mile of the Blitz lightning network which I thought was impressive for a non-triangulated detector.

I remember your response to my post about the window comparator mod I made to my Green 6.8USB board. I added an AS3935 to my RED kit, but I have yet to experience close enough lightning to really check it out. I am glad to hear that the Ventus is working well. I made suggestions to both Accu-Rite and Davis (VP3) to add lightning detection. It looks like the Ventus beat them to it. It seems to be a well executed product.

Since you are a dealer, if you are willing to do a tear-down and post photos, I think that it would be of great interest here.

Greg

[Skywatch]

I also run a Blitzortung station here in the UK - much like yourself.

We had some local strikes from a heavy shower about 5 miles away which both detected by both systems - the 266 was accurate to within a mile of the Blitz lightning network which I thought was impressive for a non-triangulated detector.

I remember your response to my post about the window comparator mod I made to my Green 6.8USB board. I added an AS3935 to my RED kit, but I have yet to experience close enough lightning to really check it out. I am glad to hear that the Ventus is working well. I made suggestions to both Accu-Rite and Davis (VP3) to add lightning detection. It looks like the Ventus beat them to it. It seems to be a well executed product.

Since you are a dealer, if you are willing to do a tear-down and post photos, I think that it would be of great interest here.

Greg

Yes, but the way I see it now that Ventus has done it now everyone will try and do it. Davis has a reputation for making good things better 
 

[aeronautico]

Hello. I'm from Portugal and also bought a ventus w266. I have the meteorological station to 3 days. My question is how many symbols have for the weather forecast? 5 or 6? When I turn the station all symbols flash on the screen including snow but then that same symbol is not available. Not appear and only 5 symbols appear. Your Weather Station is also well? I would appreciate an answer because I do not know if the meteorological station is still or has some problem softwere.
thank you
Pedro

[Weather Spares]

Hi Pedro, I believe that I replied to you via Facebook and Email regarding this

To clarify for everyone else, if it's snowing outside when you setup the station you select precipitation as rain and the Ventus will realise that it's snow doe to the external low temperature.

[aeronautico]

Hello. Yes replied me on facebook and I appreciate that.
Best regards

[Weather Spares]

Sorry for the delay in this.

The outdoor sensor unit is quite tight for space, but tucked away in the bottom corner is the lightning detection, which very much looks like the AMS unit. I wasn't able to remove the PCB completely without causing damage, but here's the best pic I could get.

[miraculon]

Sorry for the delay in this.

The outdoor sensor unit is quite tight for space, but tucked away in the bottom corner is the lightning detection, which very much looks like the AMS unit. I wasn't able to remove the PCB completely without causing damage, but here's the best pic I could get.

Thanks! Very interesting that it is located in the outdoor sensor unit.

Greg

[Weather Spares]

To clarify more precisely it's located at the very bottom of the unit (picture it looking up into it. It also seems that they have removed a section of the PCB to reduce the shielding effect this may have.

It's a shame that they've not taken as much care with the temperature and humid sensors that are analogue and also in the same unit which suffers from slight heating in full sun.

[aeronautico]

Today there were lightnings here. The last was the 27km distance. This is the image of ventus w266.

[Weather Spares]

Excellent, glad to see it's working well for you

[aeronautico]

Yes it is. I hope for more lightning to see how far detects 

[miraculon]

aeronautico,

Thanks for posting the photos. I really like the display.

Greg

[Old Tele man]

Here's the Ventus W266 Users Manual: http://www.ventusdesign.com/uploads/tx_hmrventus/VENTUS_W266_user_manual.pdf