WXforum.net
Weather Station Hardware => Ambient Weather and Ecowitt and other Fine Offset clones => Topic started by: Shvedi on November 17, 2019, 10:38:54 AM
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More than 6 months has past since this topic: http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=36581.0 (http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=36581.0).
Are there any news from Ecowitt? I realize you can set alarm on ecowitt.net but in ecowitt.com can't buy lighting detector yet.
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Its very nearly ready.
I hope to start testing it soon, thunder and lightning permitting!
I'll post when there is more to reveal!
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Will this display on the Ecowitt dashboard?
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Its certainly my expectation that this will be so.
The GW-1000 will read it so I expect that the on-line dashboard ecowitt.net will show the data.
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Any news on the lightning detector?
Very cool gadget has me curious
How is the ws80 working?
Snowy rainy climate here. Curious as freezing rain coated anemetr other day
Can this be used also with the non ultrasonic anemometer? Console and on ecowitt.net?
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No its still in development in Shenzen, though I don't think it will be too long before it goes out for wider testing.
Here is a snip from Ecowitt.net for one of the test units to wet your appetites
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As I mentioned before I promise I will share what I can when possible or Lucy will.
As for the WS80, its been great. We have seen some cold temperatures down to -5C but no issues or drops so far in performance.
The production version will be sold with a heated plate embedded which folks can connect up via long extension cables to power the heater. They are also looking at developing other alternatives for powering the heater plate. So in theory the ultrasonic anemometer will be suitable for all climates. My test unit has the heater embedded in the design but no cable and its not possible to retrofit so I have been watching the performance closely.
I meant to add that you can have both traditional anemometer and the ultra-sonic if you want, but you must choose on the console settings or GW1000 which array you want to take data from and upload etc
I have 1 Console and 2 GW1000 so I have the capability to mix and match what I want to monitor.
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It's getting into the thunderstorm season here in Melbourne and was wondering if any of the Lightning units are available to purchase yet? I'd love to test this out during our summer. During Jan/Feb we tend to get quite a few thunderstorms.
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Unfortunately not.
Its very much still in development in the Lab.
We were expecting some prototypes out for field tests in December but this was delayed due to an issue identified.
Watch this space though as there will be posts when there is progress.
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Can't wait, thanks for the update.
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I can confirm that the first prototype of the lightning sensor is ready, and I think to start the first tests in next days
Mauro
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Great news, I'll certainly first in line when they start selling them to the public. We get lots of thunderstorms here in Melbourne.
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Just had news that the test devices are winging their way across the world so will let you all know when we have some more information.
I shall look forward to testing this...just hope I have some thunder storms soon to test with!
Its been rather a quiet winter season so far!
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Move to Southern Australia we've had quite a few in the last week alone.
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From what I have seen of the news you poor guys are being roasted alive at the moment.
Its one thing to have record temperatures but another when the place is alight all around as well.
Lightning must be last thing you want with all the bush tinder dry!
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Yeah true, we've had lot's of dry lightning here in Victoria in the past week. Hopefully will improve over the next week.
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The first image of the final prototype, same cabinet oh wh31/32 sensor
Mauro
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Some extra data on the lightning detector that I know you are all keen to see.
The Chipset is based on the AS3935
Here is the datasheet for those keen to understand the detail!
http://www.embeddedadventures.com/datasheets/AS3935_Datasheet_EN_v2.pdf
A summary of some of the chips features:
Lightning sensor warns of lightning storm activity within a radius of 40km
Distance estimation to the head of the storm down to 1km in 14 steps
Detects both cloud-to-ground and intra-cloud (cloud-to-cloud) flashes
Embedded man-made disturber rejection algorithm
Obviously this might vary slightly from the spec sheet of the lightning detector as made by Ecowitt
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Another data sheet from Ecowitt on the AS3935
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I don't think it differs much from that I have already posted, but I have included it for completeness.
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The first image of the final prototype, same cabinet oh wh31/32 sensor
Mauro
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Does the lightning symbol flash white, when lightning is detected? Is white the only cabinet color or is black an option?
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The first image of the final prototype, same cabinet oh wh31/32 sensor
Mauro
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Does the lightning symbol flash white, when lightning is detected? Is white the only cabinet color or is black an option?
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No, but there is a red LED which long-flashes to indicate lightning, as well as a short flash to show it's sending the transmission.
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This is defiantly something I would be interested in!
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Is white the only cabinet color or is black an option?
Nothing a rattle can can't fix. I myself have painted some IP cameras from white to black. Just be sure to remove all electronics before painting. Then let it dry well to vent off all VOCs before reassembly.
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Do you reckon that all the Fine Offset models will get the lighting sensor at the same time as Ecowitt. For example will Tycon, Misol & Ambient lightning sensors come out at the same time?
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Do you reckon that all the Fine Offset models will get the lighting sensor at the same time as Ecowitt. For example will Tycon, Misol & Ambient lightning sensors come out at the same time?
Definitely not. Just going by past examples; PM2.5, soil, GW1000, WS80, WS68, WH40.
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Do you reckon that all the Fine Offset models will get the lighting sensor at the same time as Ecowitt. For example will Tycon, Misol & Ambient lightning sensors come out at the same time?
Its extremely unlikely that the other rebranding folks will get the new sensors immediately.
That said I doubt it will be a long delay, more than likely simply a delay to agree manufacture costs for these folks since they will be doing everything in bulk.
The key point though is since most of the rebranders (excepting AmbientWeather) just use the stock firmware there is no reason why you cannot mix and match as long as you use the correct frequency for your console or GW1000 and sensors.
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OK, so the moment has arrived...
I have the WH57 in my hands.
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As you can see and as expected its the same size package as a normal temp/hygro sensor (wh31)
It does have a LED underneath the lightning symbol that flashes red when it transmits.
I don't know if this will also indicate a strike at the time of writing this.
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The sensor appears to have some settings that users can control. As of now I have chose to leave them default as I received it.
The GW1000 systems in my house have all seen it automatically and added it whilst the HP2551 so far has not.
I am in dialog with Ecowitt but I believe that the firmware is not yet completed that allows the integration of this sensor.
We have been discussing a lightning symbol flashing on the console display for a set period to indicate lightning activity in the detection area.
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Mine is already set up with output on my home page. :D
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Any detections yet?
Weather is looking fairly calm at the moment in Southern UK so I am betting we will have no thunderstorms for ages!
I shall be curious to see if there are any false detections as I know that's the real issue with detectors
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Any detections yet?
Weather is looking fairly calm at the moment in Southern UK so I am betting we will have no thunderstorms for ages!
I shall be curious to see if there are any false detections as I know that's the real issue with detectors
From my testing, it seems there is something in place to avoid false positives. I also have a Strike Alert HD3000. If I put them both side-by-side and hold a TV remote in front of them, then press a button, the HD3000 triggers an alarm, and the Ecowitt LED flashes, but nothing registers via the dashboard. If you hold the TV remote button down for a long period of time, the Ecowitt will eventually register a strike. So, it's definitely trying to filter out unwanted noise.
Hopefully, they'll be a chance for some convective weather next week, in the form of showery troughs moving in from the W/NW - dragging cold air aloft.
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Mine also in test from one hour ago ;)
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Mauro
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mauro63,
Do we know from Ecowitt if it can be used laying down? Would that inhibit its ability to determine distance? or to detect as well?
Also where did you get that clear globe? Is that from Ecowitt too as an accessory? Or is that something you improvised?
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Since the WH57 Lightning sensor is the same size as a WH31 / WH32 I would think that a RS-00001 or other radiation shield might be sufficient to protect it from the elements. That globe though does make it look sort of interesting. It has a certain wow factor to it. I'm not sure though yet how I totally feel about it because I have some questions about how it works, especially laying down. I also wonder if that globe makes it hotter in the summer and how that would affect the electronics.
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mauro63,
Do we know from Ecowitt if it can be used laying down? Would that inhibit its ability to determine distance? or to detect as well?
Also where did you get that clear globe? Is that from Ecowitt too as an accessory? Or is that something you improvised?
Hi Galfert, the little aerial inside the sensor has a little directivity, so I decided to put the sensor outside on horizontal position, at the moment the upper of the sensor is pointed to the North
the globe, that is absolutely improvised and not good for next summer, so only for the first tests, but it's waterproof, give me the ability to rotate the sensor and I can see the position without unmounting it
sorry Galfert for my English :sad:
Mauro
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Hi,
the Ecowitt will eventually register a strike
are you allowed to show us how the lightning is shown in the Ecowitt-data string?
Especially the lightning_time - will this a unix-timestamp (1578667249) or just the ASCII-time yyyy-mm-dd+hh:mm:ss (2020-01-10+14:35:38)?
And - as far as I was able to read the count of lightning will be stored in a field called "lightning_num" and the distance probably in "lightning_dist".
Is this right so far?
I'm writing a program to connect a FOSHK-weather station to smarthome-systems via UDP and would like to prepare this already for the ligtning sensor (which I'll buy as soon as available).
Regards, Oliver
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Since the WH57 Lightning sensor is the same size as a WH31 / WH32 I would think that a RS-00001 or other radiation shield might be sufficient to protect it from the elements. That globe though does make it look sort of interesting. It has a certain wow factor to it. I'm not sure though yet how I totally feel about it because I have some questions about how it works, especially laying down. I also wonder if that globe makes it hotter in the summer and how that would affect the electronics.
Absolutely right, these tests are necessary about your questions, it's possible that the vertical position could be better, or not
the globe is absolutely for this start, the next step will be a white tube, horizontal or vertical, I don't know
the most important thing does NOT use metallic parts for bracket or other components near the sensor
Mauro
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Its clear from the settings that they expect a difference for indoors versus outdoors reception.
Whether that's for the interference algorithm is unknown.
I had not considered direction either.
Lots of questions to work through!
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Mine also in test from one hour ago ;)
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Mauro
I do not know much about radio frequencies/antenna design. If you added a faraday cage to the bottom half of the ball, would it block ground level interference and only detect radio waves from the sky?
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The sensor appears to have some settings that users can control. As of now I have chose to leave them default as I received it.
Maybe it would be a better design to set both buttons low for "low sensitivity" and both buttons high for "high sensitivity"? Up for "outdoor" and down for "indoor". If you are holding the sensor in your hand, the top part is pointing to the outdoors.
We have been discussing a lightning symbol flashing on the console display for a set period to indicate lightning activity in the detection area.
Are you referring to the "Lightning icon appears when then Dew Point exceeds 70 oF, which signifies conditions may be possible for lightning storms to form in the area."? Sounds like a good idea.
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The GW1000 systems in my house have all seen it automatically and added it whilst the HP2551 so far has not.
I am in dialog with Ecowitt but I believe that the firmware is not yet completed that allows the integration of this sensor.
We have been discussing a lightning symbol flashing on the console display for a set period to indicate lightning activity in the detection area.
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Could they add a "Closest" section? If the closest strike is 1mi and the last strike is 2mi, then the storm is moving away.
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The GW1000 systems in my house have all seen it automatically and added it whilst the HP2551 so far has not.
I am in dialog with Ecowitt but I believe that the firmware is not yet completed that allows the integration of this sensor.
We have been discussing a lightning symbol flashing on the console display for a set period to indicate lightning activity in the detection area.
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Could they add a "Closest" section? If the closest strike is 1mi and the last strike is 2mi, then the storm is moving away.
Good idea!
I will suggest that to Lucy.
It could be as simple as a arrow to show strikes getting closer or moving away
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The GW1000 systems in my house have all seen it automatically and added it whilst the HP2551 so far has not.
I am in dialog with Ecowitt but I believe that the firmware is not yet completed that allows the integration of this sensor.
We have been discussing a lightning symbol flashing on the console display for a set period to indicate lightning activity in the detection area.
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Could they add a "Closest" section? If the closest strike is 1mi and the last strike is 2mi, then the storm is moving away.
Good idea!
I will suggest that to Lucy.
It could be as simple as a arrow to show strikes getting closer or moving away
"Rain" could be removed from "Daily", "Weekly", etc.
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Quick question; on the GW-1000 app, how come I can see 'Day Wind Max' on that screenshot? I don't have that on mine.
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Quick question; on the GW-1000 app, how come I can see 'Day Wind Max' on that screenshot? I don't have that on mine.
I have Day Wind Max on my WS View. Perhaps you don't have the latest version of the app, or you don't have the latest firmware on the GW1000. My WS View app version on Android is 1.1.36. You can see your app version by going to device settings, Apps, and then finding WS View from the list of installed apps.
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I have the latest app and latest GW firmware - 1.5.5 - that's why I asked.
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The sensor appears to have some settings that users can control. As of now I have chose to leave them default as I received it.
Are you referring to the "Lightning icon appears when then Dew Point exceeds 70 oF, which signifies conditions may be possible for lightning storms to form in the area."?
Does it really do that?? T-storms can and do form at all various surface dew points, including below freezing. :roll:
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I have the latest app and latest GW firmware - 1.5.5 - that's why I asked.
Okay but what about your WS View app version?
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I have the latest app and latest GW firmware - 1.5.5 - that's why I asked.
1.1.36
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I have the latest app and latest GW firmware - 1.5.5 - that's why I asked.
1.1.36
I read that you said you had the latest version but I wanted to know if the latest meant the same or different from mine. Also I'm on Android. Are you also using Android or iOS? I don't have a real answer....I'm just trying to figure out differences that might lead to some revelation.
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The sensor appears to have some settings that users can control. As of now I have chose to leave them default as I received it.
Are you referring to the "Lightning icon appears when then Dew Point exceeds 70 oF, which signifies conditions may be possible for lightning storms to form in the area."?
Does it really do that?? T-storms can and do form at all various surface dew points, including below freezing. :roll:
It is on page 21 of the ws2000 manual:
https://p10.secure.hostingprod.com/@site.ambientweatherstore.com/ssl/Manuals/WS-2000.pdf
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The sensor appears to have some settings that users can control. As of now I have chose to leave them default as I received it.
Are you referring to the "Lightning icon appears when then Dew Point exceeds 70 oF, which signifies conditions may be possible for lightning storms to form in the area."?
Does it really do that?? T-storms can and do form at all various surface dew points, including below freezing. :roll:
It is on page 21 of the ws2000 manual:
https://p10.secure.hostingprod.com/@site.ambientweatherstore.com/ssl/Manuals/WS-2000.pdf
Correction ...page 22.
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That icon has already cause many to think that a lightning sensor is built in. Now that a real lightning sensor exists I wonder how many more people will be confused.
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The sensor appears to have some settings that users can control. As of now I have chose to leave them default as I received it.
Are you referring to the "Lightning icon appears when then Dew Point exceeds 70 oF, which signifies conditions may be possible for lightning storms to form in the area."?
Does it really do that?? T-storms can and do form at all various surface dew points, including below freezing. :roll:
It is on page 21 of the ws2000 manual:
https://p10.secure.hostingprod.com/@site.ambientweatherstore.com/ssl/Manuals/WS-2000.pdf
Correction ...page 22.
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That icon has already cause many to think that a lightning sensor is built in. Now that a real lightning sensor exists I wonder how many more people will be confused.
Wow. That's unbelievable... I can see it now, "Yes, little Johnny, you can go outside and play....my screen says it's only a dew point of 69F".
"Yes your Honor, I'm suing Ambient for $100 million because little Johnny was struck and killed by lighting and my screen said the dew point was only 69F".
Think it can't happen? Besides...it's just plain stupid.
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70 degrees, humidity 82%, NWS has tornado watch #3 in my area until 10pm tonight Central, severe weather in my area is rated a 3 out of 5 for happening in the next few hours...
No lightning icon on my WS-2000. I remember seeing that in the instructions.
Oops. Guess I might have to rely on the arm outside the window method to determine if there is a hazard. Never mind the ham radio and scanner equipment in front of me that will go off the moment a warning is issued. Surely this line of storms off to the west heading this way cannot be severe, even though its a nice band of red. My weather station has no lightning symbol so I'm perfectly safe! Time to go fly a kite with a key on the string!
(/sarcasm)
On a serious note, of course the storms are timed to arrive about a half hour before I'm supposed to head to work. That's just totally typical.
Edit: Central not Eastern on the time. Even with sarcasm, I feel the need to correct that. I'm in North Central Texas in case anyone is wondering where this is happening.
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As we speak, folks ahead of the cold front have dews in the upper 50's, lower 60's with obviously t-storms and tornadoes to boot, some possible strong and long tracked.
I guess some oblivious Ambient owners will be planning a picnic... #-o
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So where did you guys order it from? I don't see it on the ecowitt website...
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Ju got tu hav da connections mang.
It isn't out yet. This is pre production testing.
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Gotcha, gotcha. I'll wait a year. [tup]
Just kidding, hopefully its only a few months or so. Probably won't be ready for this spring's T-Storm season in TX though. But usually you can hear those coming like a freight train anyway.
Thanks for the info!
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Hi!
With reference to this post: https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=38193.msg396371#msg396371 (https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=38193.msg396371#msg396371) - could a tester post an Ecowitt-output line with lightning-sensor data please?
Thank you!
Oliver
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The sensor appears to have some settings that users can control. As of now I have chose to leave them default as I received it.
Are you referring to the "Lightning icon appears when then Dew Point exceeds 70 oF, which signifies conditions may be possible for lightning storms to form in the area."?
Does it really do that?? T-storms can and do form at all various surface dew points, including below freezing. :roll:
It is on page 21 of the ws2000 manual:
https://p10.secure.hostingprod.com/@site.ambientweatherstore.com/ssl/Manuals/WS-2000.pdf
Correction ...page 22.
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That icon has already cause many to think that a lightning sensor is built in. Now that a real lightning sensor exists I wonder how many more people will be confused.
I had an older version of the manual. It looks like the page numbers changed when they added info about the air quality sensor.
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Amazon were giving me a tiny discount last night, so I thought i'd try this - £9.80 sterling
https://warehamwx.co.uk/lychee/view.php?p=15791013414596
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nice screen and perfect for the lightning detector
Is there a Amazon link you can share?
Currently thinking of trying it in the roof space as that should be a good location
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I wonder if the lightning icon appears if lightning is detected when the dew point is below 70°F. It’s rare, but sometimes we have lightning during intense snowstorms. (Edit: Never mind, I see that it doesn’t)
The majority of our lighting occurs in the summer though, once the dew point hits 75°F we often see spontaneous thunderstorms pop up along the sea breeze boundary. I hope this is available for purchase before then.
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nice screen and perfect for the lightning detector
Is there a Amazon link you can share?
Currently thinking of trying it in the roof space as that should be a good location
Amazing how prices can vary over night: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B017ILZF6C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It was £12.80 last night (I had a £3 discount) but its up to £14.06.
I didn't feel like making something this time around, so I didn't mind paying for it. :-)
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Are there any clever scripters here?
Now that I have managed to get the lightning info to show on my website, I was wondering if there was a way to make a text alert show up on my site when a lightning strike occurs? I don't know enough to be able to accomplish that, unfortunately.
At the moment, I get Cumulus MX to process the webtags and upload them via a php file every 30 seconds.
$lightningdistance = "3.1";
$lightningtime = "13:05 - 16/01/2020";
$lightningstrikestoday = "1";
To show the data, i simply use:
<?php if ($lightningstrikestoday == 0) { echo "None"; } else { echo "$lightningstrikestoday"; }?>
Obviously, the value will only change if the web page is refreshed. It'd be cool to somehow show "Lightning detected within the vicinity in the last 5 minutes" on the web page without a refresh of the whole page itself.
It's probably a tall order, though. :)
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Hello Tina
you can simply create a simple css notification it doesn't need any jquery or anything complicated
if the timestamp is numerical i.e 20200117110240 or can be converted to single numerical number without dots and dashes etc
$lightningtime ='20200117110240';// timestamp year month day hour minutes seconds 2020 01 17 11 02 40
$lightningtimeago<600 = 15 minutes ago (600 seconds) you could set that to anything you wish
<div class=notifications> would be the appearance and positioning of the alerts
example
<?php if ($lightningtimeago == 0) { echo ""; } else if ($lightningtimeago<600){ echo "<div class='notifications'>".$lightningdistance."</div>; }?>
example of what appears on my site
if you need help let us know but don't expect anything overnight but do a search on google for css notifications and look for some ideas or inspiration how you would like it to appear here is a starter https://freshdesignweb.com/jquery-css-notification/
ps I like you new web design easy to read and informative
example of what appears on my site and disappears after 10 seconds and continues to appear every 2 minutes upto 15 minutes if no strikes within last 15 minutes nothing appears .
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Thank you Brian.
I'll have a look later when I am back at the computer.
Incidentally, I now have the lightning sensor showing on my consoles. An alarm gets triggered when lightning is detected, and an icon flashes. \:D/
Edit: I think it should be possible to get $lightningtime to show a pure numerical string, because I am already formatting it during the processing of the wetag
ie;
$lightningtime = "<#LightningTime format="HH:mm:ss - dd/MM/yyyy">";
Would need to be(?):
$lightningtime = "<#LightningTime format="yyyyMMddHHmmss">";
Edit: There we go.. it returns 20200117115825
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OK folks, first look at the firmware V1.5.9 for the HP2551 that provides support for the WH57 lightning sensor
This is still Beta at the moment
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As you can see they have taken a bite out of the extra humidity circle in order to accommodate the data and moved the soil moisture reading left
{edit} - Whats changed is the roundel now displays the circle depending on humidity, so 50% humidity would show half a circle.
Its early days yet so I cant say how this will go.
We did discuss the lightning icon flash for 30 minutes after a strike to follow the standard lightning safety convention of 30-30 but not certain if that was adopted. { It does indeed flash for 30 minutes! }
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there we are good to go then , just drop,an email if you need help or get stuck its really not that complex if you have timestamp to work off so i can give you a simple php script to get timeago from the timestamp of last strike .. im around sunday morning if you need help . but have a go yourself if you can get itworking then you can understand it better if it goes a bit pete tong for whatever reason.
as del boy would say “he who dares wins” or your case “she who dares wins”
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Thank you Brian.
I'll have a look later when I am back at the computer.
Incidentally, I now have the lightning sensor showing on my consoles. An alarm gets triggered when lightning is detected, and an icon flashes. \:D/
Edit: I think it should be possible to get $lightningtime to show a pure numerical string, because I am already formatting it during the processing of the wetag
ie;
$lightningtime = "<#LightningTime format="HH:mm:ss - dd/MM/yyyy">";
Would need to be(?):
$lightningtime = "<#LightningTime format="yyyyMMddHHmmss">";
Edit: There we go.. it returns 20200117115825
You could use two variables, one formatted for the code, one for display.
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Will this work with the HP2551?
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Can you set an audible alarm on the console when a strike is detected?
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Will this work with the HP2551?
Yes
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Can you set an audible alarm on the console when a strike is detected?
An alarm beeps by default, nothing to turn on. It'll beep for quite some time unless you hit a button to stop it. The icon also flashes.
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Just thought i'd drop a post in..
I picked up my first genuine lightning strike just a moment ago. It came in at 19.3 miles away. I waited for the ATD lightning radar to update, and sure enough, it appeared on the map, so I know it's the real deal. I did a measurement check too, and it's pretty much on the ball.
I'm impressed as it is filtering out any background noise. I had that issue on the WeatherFlow station, I kept on getting phantom strikes and then it wouldn't pick up real ones.
All good so far! 😁
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13 Strikes from heavy showers passing by today.
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Jealous, still waiting for a good storm to produce lots of strikes!
Got just one from Storm Ciara yesterday which was a let down!
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"hoping for bad weather".... :shock: LOL... that is crazy!
:grin: [tup]
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I have noticed a bug with the console firmware though. It doesn't always show the distance, just stays at 0.
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Damn, unfortunately I was away from home the one day we had strikes so I cant tell if my console displayed the distance correctly.
Its still showing a count of one and 2 days ago, but distance is zero so perhaps that did not work on mine either
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Another 9 lightning strikes recorded this morning. It seems a random process when it doesn't show the distance.
I also think that the lightning sound-alarm should have an option to be turned off/on. I have one console in my bedroom, and the beeping was driving me mad! As soon as it stopped, I was like 'ahhhhh' and then it started again! It goes for quite a long time too.
An even better option would be to allow the user to set a timeframe for when the sound is off/on. ie set audible lightning alarm on from 9am to midnight, off from midnight to 9am.
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Another 9 lightning strikes recorded this morning. It seems a random process when it doesn't show the distance.
I also think that the lightning sound-alarm should have an option to be turned off/on. I have one console in my bedroom, and the beeping was driving me mad! As soon as it stopped, I was like 'ahhhhh' and then it started again! It goes for quite a long time too.
An even better option would be to allow the user to set a timeframe for when the sound is off/on. ie set audible lightning alarm on from 9am to midnight, off from midnight to 9am.
Oh man, that can be annoying! I hope they come up with a selectable option for the alarm or I might have to reconsider getting one when they're available. I can probably sleep through the sound, but my wife.... it won't be a good morning for me!
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Oh wow that is bad. Besides the time window for audible alerts I would also like to be able to select a distance radius to be alerted to.
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We set the lightning alert to be 30 minutes based on the accepted 30/30 principle for lightning safety.
However I think that this should apply only to the icon and that the sound warning should be selectable as required and perhaps have day/night options
We can feed that back
I did not see any alerts today and I am not too far from Mapantz (bout 70 miles)
Did you find that the ecowitt.net showed the distance yet the console did not?
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Did you find that the ecowitt.net showed the distance yet the console did not?
Yep. ecowitt dashboard shows each strike distance fine, as does the API through CMX. It does it on both consoles, so there's a small bug in there somewhere. I think the count has a bug too, it should be resetting each day or something?! If by some chance I get lucky with Spanish plumes or massive MCS' during the Summer, the count might end up being big enough not to fit on the screen.
I also spotted something new; click the up/down arrows 4 times from the main screen - there's a new one there. Not sure how I missed it.
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I think the count has a bug too, it should be resetting each day or something?! If by some chance I get lucky with Spanish plumes or massive MCS' during the Summer, the count might end up being big enough not to fit on the screen.
Hmm, they did a fix to the issue I reported to NOT reset the last strike time at midnight, so it sounds like they erroneously included the strike count in that fix?
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Hmm, they did a fix to the issue I reported to NOT reset the last strike time at midnight, so it sounds like they erroneously included the strike count in that fix?
Hi Mark
This is on the console display.
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Oh yes, back to snoozing :-"
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Did you find that the ecowitt.net showed the distance yet the console did not?
Yep. ecowitt dashboard shows each strike distance fine, as does the API through CMX. It does it on both consoles, so there's a small bug in there somewhere. I think the count has a bug too, it should be resetting each day or something?! If by some chance I get lucky with Spanish plumes or massive MCS' during the Summer, the count might end up being big enough not to fit on the screen.
I also spotted something new; click the up/down arrows 4 times from the main screen - there's a new one there. Not sure how I missed it.
Oh well spotted in the new menu - I had not seen that and its something I have been asking for.
If you have multiple soil sensors you cannot easily see the data on the console and need to use either WS-View (GW1000) or ecowitt.net
I like this view as it sticks and shows all the extra sensor (temp/AQM/Soil and lightning) data in one view that stays until your return it to normal mode.
In terms of the strike count, I have only seen one so I cannot tell, but are you saying that its cumulative?
If I get a new strike today I was assuming that the last strike time/day would update to the latest measurement and that the strike count would update/reset and start counting the new strikes only
Will need to feed that back as well if so.
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my friend's station in Rieti (Italy) today has registered two strikes at about 20 km
the data is correct, radar image confirmed this ;)
I'm waiting to test :sad:
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Mauro
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I've been feeding back our findings around the beta HP2550/1 console firmware (1.5.9)
Lucy has taken on board the comments on the lightning detection and the engineer is working on updating the firmware so we will get a new one to test soon.
The new display for external sensors that Mapantz found will stay and is going to be improved for legibility
I've adjusted the sensitivity of my lightning sensor to 'high' to see if that improves its detection of any nearby strikes given we have the pleasure of 'Storm Dennis' currently!
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my friend's station in Rieti (Italy) today has registered two strikes at about 20 km
the data is correct, radar image confirmed this ;)
I'm waiting to test :sad:
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Mauro
What is that display from? I like it!
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A test firmware has removed the beeping from the console altogether now. :-(
I would have liked to have set a time for when the alarm sounds. The distance has been fixed.
Apparently, the lightning count will show -- after an hour if no more lightning is detected. Doesn't seem to be the case for me, as there was a strike detected 2 hours ago and it still shows 1.
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Maybe this would be a better design:
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
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Lightning detector is now listed on the ecowitt site.
http://www.ecowitt.com/wifi_weather/143.html
Also; Water leak sensor is now listed.
http://www.ecowitt.com/wifi_weather/144.html
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Good spot.
The manual for the lightning detector is here
http://www.ecowitt.com/upfile/202002/WH57%20Manual.pdf
and the water leak sensor here:
http://www.ecowitt.com/upfile/202002/WH55%20Manual.pdf
Please note any potential purchasers that the HP2551 firmware that supports the Lightning sensor has not yet been publicly released but I am sure it wont be long.
The GW1000 firmware is already supporting both the new sensors.
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I had asked Lucy to email me when the lightning detector was ready :thumbsup:
Ive asked her if this is suitable as an outdoor housing, She will run it by the engineer and get back to me.
http://www.ecowitt.com/Others/115.html
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The lighting sensor is in the same housing as the WH32 which is an outdoor sensor but not certified for waterproofness. It is recommended to use the RS-00001 radiation shield or other similar enclosure. Therefore I would say the same applies to the lightning sensor since it is the same exact size. But...the lighting sensor detects electrical discharge miles away. Why would you need to put it outdoor?
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I just thought it best to have it outside ???
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I just thought it best to have it outside ???
Well perhaps it would be less susceptible to interference. That would be the only reason I think. But in that case just put it outdoors but under roof of front porch or back porch or covered patio...etc.
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Lightning detector is now listed on the ecowitt site.
http://www.ecowitt.com/wifi_weather/143.html
Also; Water leak sensor is now listed.
http://www.ecowitt.com/wifi_weather/144.html
Any idea when they will show up on Amazon (US)?
I am wondering if there is going to be a delay getting these into that channel given the current COVID-19 issues. Seeing a couple other supply chains having issues along that line.
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Just waiting for Ambient to start selling them so it works with my WS-2000 display.
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The lightning detector in its 433Mhz version should be compatible with my Misol HP2550 station, right?
It would be an interesting addition for next spring. There are usually quite a few storms here.
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The lightning detector in its 433Mhz version should be compatible with my Misol HP2550 station, right?
It would be an interesting addition for next spring. There are usually quite a few storms here.
I've seen Misol sell 433 and 868 MHz versions. Just match what you currently have. The display console will show you what frequency you have.
- Gear Settings button
- other Gear button (x3)
- About Display on screen menu
- look for Frequency:
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The lightning detector in its 433Mhz version should be compatible with my Misol HP2550 station, right?
It would be an interesting addition for next spring. There are usually quite a few storms here.
I've seen Misol sell 433 and 868 MHz versions. Just match what you currently have. The display console will show you what frequency you have.
- Gear button
- other Gear button (x3)
- About Display on screen menu
- look for Frequency:
433 MHz [tup]
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I am interested in a WH57, Will this possibly be available through Ambient soon. I have never purchased directly from Ecowitt. If purchased from Ecowitt will this be a direct ship from overseas or shipped from a US warehouse?
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I am interested in a WH57, Will this possibly be available through Ambient soon. I have never purchased directly from Ecowitt. If purchased from Ecowitt will this be a direct ship from overseas or shipped from a US warehouse?
If you have an Ambient branded console (like your ObserverIP) then you can't use anything but Ambient branded sensors. If you bought the WH57 from Ecowitt then it will only show up on your Ecowitt GW1000.
No telling when Ambient will carry the new stuff from Fine Offset. They may or may not ever carry a particular item. Resellers of Fine Offset stuff choose what they want to sell. No reseller of Fine Offset stuff has ever had a complete catalog. The exception is Ecowitt as they have everything. Because Ecowitt is Fine Offset. The Ecowitt brand was created as a subsidiary of Fine Offset as a consumer facing brand. Fine Offset does not deal directly with the consumer, as they are just the manufacturer.
The GW1000 has been out for over a year. Ambient still doesn't sell it. It is my favorite piece of equipment from Fine Offset. Without it I had to rely on the terrible ObserverIP. I can do so much more with the GW1000. It has allowed me to simultaneously run Cumulus MX, Meteobridge, Weather-Display and WeeWX. The soil sensor is another part that has been out for over a year and Ambient doesn't have it either. But the WS80 is relatively new and Ambient started carrying it almost as soon as it came out. So you never know what Ambient will do.
Ambient is the only reseller that has implemented a strategy where you can't use any other sensors but the ones they sell. If you had a Froggit or a Misol console, they would not complain about using an Ecowitt sensor, as long as the frequency matched.
If you order directly from Ecowitt then it ships from China. If you order on Amazon then it might come from an Amazon warehouse or it might come from China. If on Amazon it says that 2 day shipping (Prime) is available then it is sitting in a warehouse in your country (as Ecowitt shows up on multiple Amazon sites; US, UK...)
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I put my order in yesterday. I'm a little concerned there where no shipping options etc. I hope it all goes well, or they will contact me if there are issues.
I am in the US.
Scott
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I am interested in a WH57, Will this possibly be available through Ambient soon. I have never purchased directly from Ecowitt. If purchased from Ecowitt will this be a direct ship from overseas or shipped from a US warehouse?
If you have an Ambient branded console (like your ObserverIP) then you can't use anything but Ambient branded sensors. If you bought the WH57 from Ecowitt then it will only show up on your Ecowitt GW1000.
No telling when Ambient will carry the new stuff from Fine Offset. They may or may not ever carry a particular item. Resellers of Fine Offset stuff choose what they want to sell. No reseller of Fine Offset stuff has ever had a complete catalog. The exception is Ecowitt as they have everything. Because Ecowitt is Fine Offset. The Ecowitt brand was created as a subsidiary of Fine Offset as a consumer facing brand. Fine Offset does not deal directly with the consumer, as they are just the manufacturer.
The GW1000 has been out for over a year. Ambient still doesn't sell it. It is my favorite piece of equipment from Fine Offset. Without it I had to rely on the terrible ObserverIP. I can do so much more with the GW1000. It has allowed me to simultaneously run Cumulus MX, Meteobridge, Weather-Display and WeeWX. The soil sensor is another part that has been out for over a year and Ambient doesn't have it either. But the WS80 is relatively new and Ambient started carrying it almost as soon as it came out. So you never know what Ambient will do.
Ambient is the only reseller that has implemented a strategy where you can't use any other sensors but the ones they sell. If you had a Froggit or a Misol console, they would not complain about using an Ecowitt sensor, as long as the frequency matched.
If you order directly from Ecowitt then it ships from China. If you order on Amazon then it might come from an Amazon warehouse or it might come from China. If on Amazon it says that 2 day shipping (Prime) is available then it is sitting in a warehouse in your country (as Ecowitt shows up on multiple Amazon sites; US, UK...)
I have purchased a GW1000 per your suggestion a few months ago and am quite happy with it. My IP observer only sends to WU. Everything else goes through the GW1000 and Ambient.
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I put my order in yesterday. I'm a little concerned there where no shipping options etc. I hope it all goes well, or they will contact me if there are issues.
It says on the advert. If you don't specify it will come by normal post. If you prefer to pay for courier/expedited, you probably still have time to email Lucy and ask her to amend your order. I got her to swap to a different item once. As it hadn't been packed it was no problem.
Shipping Information:
Note: The list price is for Regular Mail shipping service(estimated delivery time: 3-5 weeks). For express mail shipping service, please send your address to us firstly for the final price. Thank you.
We're not be responsible for any tax might be generated in your country or customs.
We'll send you a tracking number for you to track the shipping status of your order within 2-3 weeks after you placed your order.
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Ordered the lightning detector. Ships from China. I am sure that the Corona Virus may cause delays. They stated 3-5 weeks for delivery. Until then I will use a Franklin device. I will fly a kite with a key attached.
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Did you get a order confirmation?
I also ordered this (and some other stuff) last saturday but till now I did not get any confirmation.
Regards, Oliver
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Ordered the lightning detector. Ships from China. I am sure that the Corona Virus may cause delays. They stated 3-5 weeks for delivery. Until then I will use a Franklin device. I will fly a kite with a key attached.
Or maybe not. I ordered the bird spike on February 18 and received it in 14 days with normal shipping.
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Did you get a order confirmation?
I also ordered this (and some other stuff) last saturday but till now I did not get any confirmation.
Regards, Oliver
Yes, I did. Try sending them note on the contact link on the order page.
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Received a message from Ecowitt that the sensor has been shipped.
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I recently received and set up an HP3501, and have been talking to Lucy about the lightning sensor. She said the firmware update supporting the lightning detector should be available within a month for the HP3501 and HP2551 receivers and that the lightning detector “could” hit Amazon US by April. We shall see. The Coronavirus issue could cause some delays.
As for enclosures, I’m planning on rigging up a small enclosure out of PVC fittings similar to what Boltek used to include with their LD-250 and 350 lightning detectors. I’ve played with various lightning detectors over the years and found they seem to perform best when installed up high with the anemometer. I’m planning on installing the lightning detector on the same mast as the rest of the weather station.
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For those in the UK, the screen I bought for my lightning detector has dropped in price significantly: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B017ILZF6C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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Received the lightning sensor today. [tup]
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Installation was easy... My display console and the GW-1000 picked it up immediately.
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Received the lightning sensor today. [tup]
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Installation was easy... My display console and the GW-1000 picked it up immediately.
Can you link me to where you purchased that? I just got this email from Ambient Weather
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
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Received the lightning sensor today. [tup]
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Installation was easy... My display console and the GW-1000 picked it up immediately.
Can you link me to where you purchased that? I just got this email from Ambient Weather
You have an Ambient WS-2000. You can't buy this from anywhere but from Ambient as it will otherwise not be compatible. Ecowitt also sells this and theirs works for other Ecowitt and other Fine Offset clones....but not Ambient. Ambient consoles require Ambient sensors. Therefore you have to wait till Ambient starts selling it...soon.
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Received the lightning sensor today. [tup]
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Installation was easy... My display console and the GW-1000 picked it up immediately.
Can you link me to where you purchased that? I just got this email from Ambient Weather
You have an Ambient WS-2000. You can't buy this from anywhere but from Ambient as it will otherwise not be compatible. Ecowitt also sells this and theirs works for other Ecowitt and other Fine Offset clones....but not Ambient. Ambient consoles require Ambient sensors. Therefore you have to wait till Ambient starts selling it...soon.
I guess that I will need one for Ambient and one for Ecowitt.
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Received the lightning sensor today. [tup]
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Installation was easy... My display console and the GW-1000 picked it up immediately.
Can you link me to where you purchased that? I just got this email from Ambient Weather
You have an Ambient WS-2000. You can't buy this from anywhere but from Ambient as it will otherwise not be compatible. Ecowitt also sells this and theirs works for other Ecowitt and other Fine Offset clones....but not Ambient. Ambient consoles require Ambient sensors. Therefore you have to wait till Ambient starts selling it...soon.
I guess that I will need one for Ambient and one for Ecowitt.
No, you won't. The Ambient sensors all work on Ecowitt consoles. You only need Ambient version sensors ....as longs as your Ecowitt console is 915MHz, which I know it is.
The reason for this is because Ambient doesn't want to support any sensor that they didn't sell. They are also trying to protect their brand and future sales. If you buy into an Ambient station, then you can only expand it with Ambient sensors.
Ecowitt doesn't care. Because ultimately their parent company Fine Offset is making a profit either way.
Other Fine Offset sellers like Froggit, Misol, Pantech...etc. just don't have the leverage that Ambient has on Fine Offset to make special consoles and sensors just for them. It is possible too that it isn't much of a concern for these other reseller because it often cost more in shipping and import fees to buy from Ecowitt than to buy from Froggit, Misol...etc. This is all just speculation on my part. But it just seems logical.
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Received the lightning sensor today. [tup]
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Installation was easy... My display console and the GW-1000 picked it up immediately.
Can you link me to where you purchased that? I just got this email from Ambient Weather
You have an Ambient WS-2000. You can't buy this from anywhere but from Ambient as it will otherwise not be compatible. Ecowitt also sells this and theirs works for other Ecowitt and other Fine Offset clones....but not Ambient. Ambient consoles require Ambient sensors. Therefore you have to wait till Ambient starts selling it...soon.
I guess that I will need one for Ambient and one for Ecowitt.
No, you won't. The Ambient sensors all work on Ecowitt consoles. You only need Ambient version sensors ....as longs as your Ecowitt is 915MHz, which I know it is.
The reason for this is because Ambient doesn't want to support any sensor that they didn't sell. They are also trying to protect their brand and future sales. If you buy into an Ambient station, then you can only expand it with Ambient sensors.
Ecowitt doesn't care. Because ultimately their parent company Fine Offset is making a profit either way.
Other Fine Offset sellers like Froggit, Misol, Pantech...etc. just don't have the leverage that Ambient has on Fine Offset. It is possible too that it isn't much of a concern for these other reseller because it often cost more in shipping and import fees to buy from Ecowitt than to buy from Froggit, Misol...etc. This is all just speculation on my part. But it just seems logical.
Well, the Ecowitt is in the mail. I may sell it when the Ambient becomes available. It is coming from China so it should be here by Q2 when the Ambient unit comes on the market. #-o
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You could also just do what I do and not worry about the WS-2000 display not having this extra sensor data. Maybe it is good enough to just have this extra sensor data on the GW1000 and on Ecowitt.net. And if you have a Meteobridge or Weather-Display or Cumulus MX or WeeWx, you still can get all the sensors via the GW1000 and also provide them to any supporting service or template.
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You could also just do what I do and not worry about the WS-2000 display not having this extra sensor data. Maybe it is good enough to just have this extra sensor data on the GW1000 and on Ecowitt.net.
I have an Ambient WS-1401-IP and a GW1000. So one sensor is enough then. Thanks.
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Just out of interest, why do people buy Ambient, when it locks them into a brand like this? Before I knew this fact, I did try to buy from them, but because I live in NZ, they refused to supply me. That was lucky! :grin:
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Just out of interest, why do people buy Ambient, when it locks them into a brand like this? Before I knew this fact, I did try to buy from them, but because I live in NZ, they refused to supply me. That was lucky! :grin:
Because Ambient has excellent service. I am totally happy with their products, service, and support. Also their weather service is much better than WU.
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Just out of interest, why do people buy Ambient, when it locks them into a brand like this? Before I knew this fact, I did try to buy from them, but because I live in NZ, they refused to supply me. That was lucky! :grin:
Because Ambient has excellent service. I am totally happy with their products, service, and support. Also their weather service is much better than WU.
Fair enough.... can't argue with that. :-)
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I read many different opinions.
Where is the best place to place the lightning detector? :grin:
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Ideally outside in a protective case and as high as possible.
In my case I have mine inside the top of my roof eaves since that's obviously dry and as high as possible.
Also has the added benefit of being inside the house (reachable) and therefore closer to my console and GW1000/s
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Any suggestion of radiation and humidity protective cover for the lightning detector? :grin:
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You could use the following product from Ecowitt which is designed for this sensor package
http://www.ecowitt.com/Others/115.html
Otherwise there are other radiation screens that can be purchased from Amazon etc that fit the bill.
I believe that Mapantz has posted about a generic screen that can be purchased in the UK.
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B017ILZF6C/?coliid=I5NZPJ2RTRV1Q&colid=1LY1E6I3J8AYX&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
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My question is whether the lightning sensor will be affected by the humidity, because those products don't seem to be designed to be airtight, do they?
The last product is also in Amazon Spain, but right now with the quarantine it is difficult to request shipments.
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Products don't need to be airtight to be weather resistant. There is a manufacturing process called conformal coating and the use of dielectric grease. It protects PCB and the components on them and connection points. I don't know to what degree any particular sensor is designed. But I think with what I've seen of other Fine Offset clone sensors it seems that there is evidence of conformal coating and dielectric grease.
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Received yesterday, batteries in, set the dip switches, and it appeared on Ecowitt dashboard and app within 10 minutes. I should be able to test it this weekend. Storms a commin'.
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Hi,
I received WH57 along with GW1000 today. Whilst both units work fine, on ecowitt.net WH57 only shows the sensor on GW1000 tab, but not on HP2550 tab. However on HP2550 console display i can see WH57 just fine. Is this a limitation of the console? Is anyone experiencing the same issue? I'm using the latest flash and wifi firmwares on everything.
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Received yesterday, batteries in, set the dip switches, and it appeared on Ecowitt dashboard and app within 10 minutes. I should be able to test it this weekend. Storms a commin'.
That's about three weeks from Ecowitt website order if I remember correctly?
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Does anyone know if there is any resellers of this unit within the EU yet? Froggit doesn't have it it seems
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Received yesterday, batteries in, set the dip switches, and it appeared on Ecowitt dashboard and app within 10 minutes. I should be able to test it this weekend. Storms a commin'.
That's about three weeks from Ecowitt website order if I remember correctly?
Ordered on03/04/2020 Not bad shipping time considering what has been going on.
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Hi,
I received WH57 along with GW1000 today. Whilst both units work fine, on ecowitt.net WH57 only shows the sensor on GW1000 tab, but not on HP2550 tab. However on HP2550 console display i can see WH57 just fine. Is this a limitation of the console? Is anyone experiencing the same issue? I'm using the latest flash and wifi firmwares on everything.
Good spot!
No this appears to be normal and it looks like the current firmware for the HP2551 does not upload the lightning sensor data to ecowitt.net
I will query this with Lucy as I am sure it will be added as all other sensors supported on the console also upload.
OK update - I have confirmed that Ecowitt are working on the Wifi Firmware that will allow this extra sensor to upload to Ecowitt.net so it will happen. So watch this space...
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Thanks Mandrake
I knew you'll know the answer. :) I guess this will be fixed in the next FW release. Not a big deal anyway.
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I so much want this sensor for the summer. Maybe i should just take the chance and order it from china. I suppose that would work with my froggit branded GW1000 ?
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I so much want this sensor for the summer. Maybe i should just take the chance and order it from china. I suppose that would work with my froggit branded GW1000 ?
Yes it will work. Just make sure you get the correct frequency sensor for the DP1500 which is 868 MHz.
To other users with Ambient consoles, I just want to add that if you have an Ambient console you can't just match the frequency of 915MHz. For Ambient consoles you have to have an Ambient branded sensor.
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Just emailed froggit.de an hour ago about this sensor an already got an answer (wasn't expecting such a fast response).
Froggit will have the sensor in 6 - 7 weeks
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So glad this sensor came out and I ended up going with the ecowitt over the acurite atlas (I went through 2 of them with never ending false lightning strikes). I have been waiting on this to come out since last year. Anyone have any idea if I would get it faster waiting for amazon to get it straight from ecowitt? I'm in the US.
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It took me about 3 weeks to get it from China with all that was going on.
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Hi all,
so I am planning on buying a HP2551 with a WH57 Lightning Detection Sensor and a WH51 Soil Moisture Sensor directly from ecowitt.
As i looked at the description for the newest firmware update of HP2551 (V1.6.0) i was wondering, if the main display on the tft display no longer shows a separate section for lightning counts and distance as well as a section for the soil moisture sensor?
Is there anyone who could show me the main display of the HP2551 running V1.6.0?
Thanks so much in advance! [tup]
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Here's what it looks like. It was already posted couple of pages back. It hasn't changed from pre-release firmware.
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Thank you so much for your quick reply!
Does anybody know if the display will cycle through multiple WH51 Soil Moisture Sensors automatically? I would like to add two of these, one for my garden and one for my plants indoors and I would like to check the moisture at a glance!
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No problem. Since I only have one soil moisture sensor, I'm not 100% sure, but I think I remember only the first sensor is shown on the display and It won't cycle through all the sensors.
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At the moment the primary display on the HP2551/WS2000 does not cycle through the soil moisture sensors.
It just displays the first sensor in its list.
This is something that Ecowitt are looking at.
However there is a secondary display that you can select.
Its the UP/Down arrow button pressed 4 times when on the primary display mode.
See page example and this shows all additional sensors. In my case 8x Temp/Hygo sensors, 4x Soil, 1x PM2.5 and a Lightning sensor
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
This display settings is relatively new and is likely to be improved upon according to Lucy as they develop it.
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LOL, unrelated, but I love your freezer temp
Please tell me you don't have a rain sensor and anemometer in there
:lol:
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[tup]
It started as an experiment to see how effective at low temps the WH31 would be but then I realised it could be useful as its in my Garage Freezer where the kids keep their ice creams.
They can be kind of sloppy when closing the freezer door and so I have an alert if the temp goes too high on this one.
Very useful and has saved an unplanned defrost several times!
Not that I am too bothered about the ice creams its the rest of the food that's important.
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At the moment the primary display on the HP2551/WS2000 does not cycle through the soil moisture sensors.
It just displays the first sensor in its list.
This is something that Ecowitt are looking at.
However there is a secondary display that you can select.
Its the UP/Down arrow button pressed 4 times when on the primary display mode.
See page example and this shows all additional sensors. In my case 8x Temp/Hygo sensors, 4x Soil, 1x PM2.5 and a Lightning sensor
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
This display settings is relatively new and is likely to be improved upon according to Lucy as they develop it.
Thank you so much for your reply! ;)
Yeah i would be a great improvement if the moisture display would cycle through the different soil sensors aswell! :thumbsup:
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[tup]
It started as an experiment to see how effective at low temps the WH31 would be but then I realised it could be useful as its in my Garage Freezer where the kids keep their ice creams.
They can be kind of sloppy when closing the freezer door and so I have an alert if the temp goes too high on this one.
Very useful and has saved an unplanned defrost several times!
Not that I am too bothered about the ice creams its the rest of the food that's important.
You could use a rain gauge to detect if your ice maker is not working... :)
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3" of rain over night, more than we've had since the New Year up to now. With it came a couple of rumbles of thunder and as I wondered how far away it was, the thought struck me :shock:.... Ecowitt Lightening detector! [tup] Wish I had one! So today my order went off. \:D/
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868 MHz version from Ecowitt here. Just registered fine with my Froggit DP1500. No thunderstorms yet, so can't confirm proper functioning.
Ordered March 3 on Ecowitt website, arrived March 28 (Germany) as registered letter directly in my mailbox w/o tax or customs.
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Hi,
I received WH57 along with GW1000 today. Whilst both units work fine, on ecowitt.net WH57 only shows the sensor on GW1000 tab, but not on HP2550 tab. However on HP2550 console display i can see WH57 just fine. Is this a limitation of the console? Is anyone experiencing the same issue? I'm using the latest flash and wifi firmwares on everything.
Good spot!
No this appears to be normal and it looks like the current firmware for the HP2551 does not upload the lightning sensor data to ecowitt.net
I will query this with Lucy as I am sure it will be added as all other sensors supported on the console also upload.
OK update - I have confirmed that Ecowitt are working on the Wifi Firmware that will allow this extra sensor to upload to Ecowitt.net so it will happen. So watch this space...
Just to keep you all updated, with the new wifi firmware through ws tool, HP255X stations are now passing WH57 lightning sensor data to ecowitt.net. \:D/
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Curious I am not aware of the new wifi firmware being released yet and I am not seeing a new one as available.
I am running Easyweather 1.4.7 on my HP2550/1
What version does your console report via WSView
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Finally I received my lightning detector today. Despite the situation in Spain, quite quickly.
Console updated and recognized perfectly. Waiting for storms.
Curious I am not aware of the new wifi firmware being released yet and I am not seeing a new one as available.
I am running Easyweather 1.4.7 on my HP2550/1
What version does your console report via WSView
In my Misol HP2550
Console firmware 1.6.0
Wifi Firmware 1.4.8
Both updated today.
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Same as GeraltLK
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Slightly odd that different frequencies have been staggered as you'd assume that it would all be released together.
However good news is that 1.4.8 has been released for 866Mhz (A) for Ecowitt as well.
All updated OK.
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As I said, received and installed yesterday and today, the first lightnings detected :grin: :grin:
https://i.gyazo.com/f3536452b64dd440a252e02919873a25.jpg
One more:
https://i.gyazo.com/fc4a1e2590d9a4e697794eb3de6a03a1.png
[tup]
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Jelous! :) Since I bought my WH57, no lightnings. We simply don't have many thunder storms in the UK, only wind and very rare small tornados right Mandrake? :)
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As I said, received and installed yesterday and today, the first lightnings detected :grin: :grin:
https://i.gyazo.com/f3536452b64dd440a252e02919873a25.jpg
One more:
https://i.gyazo.com/fc4a1e2590d9a4e697794eb3de6a03a1.png
[tup]
I cannot see the lightnings on the WU page, but I have this current conditions page (see under "llamps"): http://www.atmos.cat/weatherlink/fitxes_ecowitt/7209617A134BDA3A0A6CEF78A67B21F6.htm
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Jelous! :) Since I bought my WH57, no lightnings. We simply don't have many thunder storms in the UK, only wind and very rare small tornados right Mandrake? :)
Well apparently according to the Met Office tornadoes (albeit small ones) are quite common in the UK.
I agree that we don't always get many thunder storms, and I must admit for my location we have had quite a lean period. Most storms seem to track through the English Channel or through the Thames valley and we get to watch or hear them in my location but miss the wrath! Last year I don't think we even got that, very quiet.
However as a weather watcher I am always hoping for a good storm, and statistically I suspect we will have a dry hot summer after the wet mild winter and that should breed some storms with any luck!
In any case I am ready with my WH57 lightning detector to catch any activity!
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As I said, received and installed yesterday and today, the first lightnings detected :grin: :grin:
https://i.gyazo.com/f3536452b64dd440a252e02919873a25.jpg
One more:
https://i.gyazo.com/fc4a1e2590d9a4e697794eb3de6a03a1.png
[tup]
I cannot see the lightnings on the WU page, but I have this current conditions page (see under "llamps"): http://www.atmos.cat/weatherlink/fitxes_ecowitt/7209617A134BDA3A0A6CEF78A67B21F6.htm
You can only see the lightnings on the ecowitt website
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I live in the Sierra Nevada Foothills and since installing my sensor I have counted between 3 and 15 counts per day from 2 to 31 KM away. At first, I thought that this was an aberration but living about 40 miles from Donner Summit and with weather fronts constantly moving through this last few weeks this seems very plausible. It is indoor and set to less sensitive. Are these sensors susceptible to RF from WiFi and radiation from computers? It is within 5 feet from my work desk. The data can be seen on my Ecowitt page.
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Has anyone asked Ecowitt when they will implement units to enable option for miles on the Lightning sensor?
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Has anyone asked Ecowitt when they will implement units to enable option for miles on the Lightning sensor?
(https://i.gyazo.com/1f1501dc9da46e5582ed2b3edde25db0.png)
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Hopefully It will be able to be changed on the web and Android app as well.
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Has anyone asked Ecowitt when they will implement units to enable option for miles on the Lightning sensor?
Good question and an obvious one that to my knowledge has not been asked yet.
And no, currently you cannot select a choice of units for the distance on either the console or Ecowitt.net
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I live in the Sierra Nevada Foothills and since installing my sensor I have counted between 3 and 15 counts per day from 2 to 31 KM away. At first, I thought that this was an aberration but living about 40 miles from Donner Summit and with weather fronts constantly moving through this last few weeks this seems very plausible. It is indoor and set to less sensitive. Are these sensors susceptible to RF from WiFi and radiation from computers? It is within 5 feet from my work desk. The data can be seen on my Ecowitt page.
Neither WiFi nor computers should cause false readings, as the sensor is detecting in the 500kHz range. Ecowitt uses the Franklin AS3935 Lightning Sensor, which I have built many lightning sensing systems from. In an attempt to squelch alerts from non-lightning electromagnetic pulse (such as large electrical appliances, overhead power lines, air conditioning units, etc) the Franklin detector has a set of onboard algorithms to inspect the electromagnetic pulses and disqualify the pulses that do not resemble lightning. These are called lightning disturbers. Your likeliest source of false readings would be these pulses that were not filtered out.
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I live in the Sierra Nevada Foothills and since installing my sensor I have counted between 3 and 15 counts per day from 2 to 31 KM away. At first, I thought that this was an aberration but living about 40 miles from Donner Summit and with weather fronts constantly moving through this last few weeks this seems very plausible. It is indoor and set to less sensitive. Are these sensors susceptible to RF from WiFi and radiation from computers? It is within 5 feet from my work desk. The data can be seen on my Ecowitt page.
Neither WiFi nor computers should cause false readings, as the sensor is detecting in the 500kHz range. Ecowitt uses the Franklin AS3935 Lightning Sensor, which I have built many lightning sensing systems from. In an attempt to squelch alerts from non-lightning electromagnetic pulse (such as large electrical appliances, overhead power lines, air conditioning units, etc) the Franklin detector has a set of onboard algorithms to inspect the electromagnetic pulses and disqualify the pulses that do not resemble lightning. These are called lightning disturbers. Your likeliest source of false readings would be these pulses that were not filtered out.
Thank you for your explanation. Very informative.
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Great sensor! But... the daily lightning counter resets at a wrong time, at least if the GW1000 is set to use UTC time (at 23:00 instead 0:00, see attachment, already written to support at Ecowitt).
It would be interesting if this is also the case for other timezones and DST settings...
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The Ecowitt sensor resets with all other data at midnight.
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Back in my younger days.
we used to keep a spare radio tuned to 1710 AM
it was an unused frequency and If you set it up so you could barely hear the long distant hiss of far away stations or just the tubes aglowing
It would tell you in advance if a storm was coming just by the static it would put out.
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Back in my younger days.
we used to keep a spare radio tuned to 1710 AM
it was an unused frequency and If you set it up so you could barely hear the long distant hiss of far away stations or just the tubes aglowing
It would tell you in advance if a storm was coming just by the static it would put out.
That method is still being used by lots of people.
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Can anyone tell me if the lightening detector shows up on any of the public weather sites we use apart from ecowitt.net ?
Thanks
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I am not aware of there being any ability to use the Lightning data publicly other than via Ecowitt.net and presumably soon AW.net
Perhaps in time the other weather services may accept the data but they all seem very tardy in taking in additional sensor data other than the basics.
For the specific services that do show lightning strikes I have no idea how these are currently fed and by what sensors to be honest
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Has anyone asked Ecowitt when they will implement units to enable option for miles on the Lightning sensor?
Good question and an obvious one that to my knowledge has not been asked yet.
And no, currently you cannot select a choice of units for the distance on either the console or Ecowitt.net
I have checked with Lucy and Ecowitt and they acknowledge the requirement and will add this to upcoming firmware development for the HP2550/1 and GW1000 in terms of distance units supported
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From Ecowitt support: the daily lightning count reset time is being fixed and they will release tomorrow a new firmware version.
Really great support!
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I've been using CMX to show the lightning data on my website. I have noticed a bug but i'm not sure why it would occur. I had to cut the power the other day, as I was installing some outdoor weatherproof electrical sockets. When the power comes back on, the lightning data acts strange. The console shows all 3 items dashed out. The GW-1000 app loses all lightning data, but the API is the weird one:
Last Strike 06:28 - 07/02/2106
Distance 158.4 mi
It always reverts to those values if the power is cut to the GW-1000.
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Answer from Ecowitt.
Ecowittweather Hi Roger, the firmware and app will all update to support the lightning distance unit changing in the future. Please wait for that.:)
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The lighting sensor is in the same housing as the WH32 which is an outdoor sensor but not certified for waterproofness. It is recommended to use the RS-00001 radiation shield or other similar enclosure. Therefore I would say the same applies to the lightning sensor since it is the same exact size. But...the lighting sensor detects electrical discharge miles away. Why would you need to put it outdoor?
I know I'm late to the party, but putting it outdoors should improve it's ability to detect stirkes. Also, putting it up above the roof should improve the distance it will pick up.
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1 hour ago in my town.
You can see the flash, the sensor detection and then the thunder.
[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/407645041[/vimeo]
117 in 1 hour
(https://i.gyazo.com/7f7086ff5e0f50b17c40f45da555d31d.jpg)
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I can tell by the new spacing that the update I got for my Ambient Weather console yesterday included the update for the (eventual) sensor.
Waiting patiently for it to come out, of course.
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Storms heading this way this evening. How I wish Ecowitt didn't completely remove the audible alarm!
I just wanted to be able to set times for the alarm. 8am - midnight on. Midnight to 8am off etc.
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You've noticed that ambientweather.net now shows a spot for lightning? =D>
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The lightning API bug has appeared again.
The last strike recorded was 2 days ago. The API keeps getting reset..
Last Sferic 06:28 - 07/02/2106
Distance 158.4 mi
It doesn't show it on the Ecowitt dashboard, but the GW-1000 app has everything dashed out. Drives me mad!
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My lightning detector has been up for a few weeks now and I am getting some erroneous reporting. In the last few days, it is reporting several strikes at 1km. The weather is clear and I have not heard any thunder.
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Have you tried adjusting your settings?
http://www.ecowitt.com/upfile/202002/WH57%20Manual.pdf
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Have you tried adjusting your settings?
http://www.ecowitt.com/upfile/202002/WH57%20Manual.pdf
All settings set to manual suggestions. Low sensitivity, long antenna, and outdoor. Manual states set to the outdoor setting and long antenna.
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I have the Acurite lightning sensor and I get a few intermittent false readings fairly often but when a thunderstorm storm is within approximately 50 miles or so there is no mistaking the huge increase in hits.
I wonder if Ecowitt is really any better than Acurite as far as accuracy. At least you have the ability to adjustment sensitivity.
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I'm really happy with the Ecowitt lightning sensor. Not a single false positive! Unlike that of the weatherflow station, that was going off several times a day, every day.
I spoke to Lucy the other day, about bringing back the lightning alarm, but in a different manner.
Regarding the original lightning alarm - I miss it now it has been
removed. I missed out out on some lightning detections because I wasn't
viewing the console. So, I propose an idea for it.
Can we have an optional alarm for it? My personal preference would be to
set a time for the alarm to be on and a time for it to be off. I'd quite
like to be able to set it to be on from 8am until say 1am, and then
it'll automatically shut off at 1am until 8am. If it were possible to do
that, I think it would be a great addition!
This was the reply:
your suggestion sounds good, however, we could not add it currently.
It may be listed as a future possible function, if more people require to.
We'll let you know then.:)
Anyone else agree?
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The time schedule for the lightning is a good suggestion. I have another suggestion to add also...
I suggest that the lighting alarm only fire off if a determined number of lightning strikes is detected within the last hour. That determined number of strikes should be something the user can determine and set....1 through 99. That way everyone can select their threshold that works for them.
I think having both this number of strikes threshold and schedule would be nice.
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Agreed that this would be a nice addition, however the feedback I have is at this time Ecowitt prefer not to add sound based alerts back to the Console firmware.
The route that they have taken is to use Ecowitt.net where you can set e-mail alerts for strike counts or distance.
I know its not quite the same thing but that's the decision for now.
They will revisit this in the future.
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In my experience (http://www.atmos.cat/perl?num=1586210510) the sound alarm is not needed since you hear clearly the thunders as the lightning is as near as within the 27 km range from the sensor, unless you are away, of course. Also, due to the system latency, you hear the thunder up 1 minute earlier than the system processes it.
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Extremely valid point that's hard to argue with!
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Still waiting for my unit to arrive. Just thinking about how they work.... I get the RF noise bit, but how do they calculate the distance? :-k
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Just thinking about how they work.... I get the RF noise bit, but how do they calculate the distance? :-k
Frequency signal attenuation or dissipation. It is a loss or extinction of flux energy. It can be graphed. There is some math calculations that can be applied and then arrive at the distance. It isn't perfect as triangulation is a better method, but that requires a network of dispersed sensors.
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If you take a peek at the datasheet for the chip that does the clever stuff they have a section that explains how it works.
http://www.embeddedadventures.com/datasheets/AS3935_Datasheet_EN_v2.pdf
Page 8, section 8
It reveals that the value displayed is not the distance of a single strike but the distance to the estimated leading edge of the storm to you.
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The information over past storms is indeed very valuable.
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guys,
did anyone checked what is effective range? So far im still waiting on first storm in area. Today were 2 hits around 40 km away but weren't picked by detector.
Next step would be changing sensitivity to high and to indoor (according to manual it should increase system's gain).
Wondering if someone has any observations.
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guys,
did anyone checked what is effective range? So far im still waiting on first storm in area. Today were 2 hits around 40 km away but weren't picked by detector.
Next step would be changing sensitivity to high and to indoor (according to manual it should increase system's gain).
Wondering if someone has any observations.
In my case, installed in a Stevenson screen about 25 meters from the next building in a very rural area, it detects nothing over about 30 km.
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i just switched sensitivity to high and to indoor, now lets wait for some storm...
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i just switched sensitivity to high and to indoor, now lets wait for some storm...
I did the same.
I noticed something going on.. I was picking up strikes out in the English channel (South) some 20 miles away. However, around 20 to 30 strikes occurred to the North and East of me within 15 miles and I only picked up 2.
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Maybe it's something with place where you have sensor?
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Placement matters.
The higher it is mounted, the further it will pick up.
If you mount it on a steel pole for example, the direction which the pole shields, will not pickup strikes.
If you mount it in the house, and the house happens to have foil lined sheathing or foil faced insulation, or metal roof, or aluminum siding you won't pick up strikes from very far if at all.
It should be mounted on a roof, in a PVC housing, and as far away from any metal obstacles as practical. Only nylon screws should be used to assemble the PVC housing.
Similar to this:
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
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The higher it is mounted, the further it will pick up.
Well, that's not true. It has a limit of 24 miles, so it's not going to pick up anything further than that. I have picked up sferics at 24 miles already, and that was while it was in the house before I mounted it.
My placement is at 10ft, upon a wooden post. There's nothing surrounding it apart from a few small branches of Wisteria about 5ft away, certainly nothing to block signal.
I'm just glad I don't get false positives throughout the day, like the weatherflow station gave me - which was mounted in the same place. I just find it weird that I could pick up strikes to the South and not from showers passing by to the North and East. If anything, there's less obstructions in those directions than there is to my South.
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I just find it weird that I could pick up strikes to the South and not from showers passing by to the North and East. If anything, there's less obstructions in those directions than there is to my South.
What if you rotated the sensor 180 degrees and kept it at the very same location?
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I just find it weird that I could pick up strikes to the South and not from showers passing by to the North and East. If anything, there's less obstructions in those directions than there is to my South.
What if you rotated the sensor 180 degrees and kept it at the very same location?
I could give that a try!
I'll just have to wait a year for the next shower. :lol:
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The radio waves released by storms are not particularly strong and you'd best think of them like ripples in a pond.
Anything metal or conductive nearby can cause reflections and absorption so finding the optimal location will be an art.
I too have yet to find the ideal spot/ settings.
I have only seen a few claps of thunder in my location (none really nearby) so far this year and no detections so its quite frustrating waiting to tune the detection!
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After first storm, sensor missed to pick like 80% of strikes that were in the range of 40 km. Still set on high sensivity. Was even not able to pick few strikes that were approx 5 km away.
Maybe it's due to placement (on tree, 4m above ground, 8-10 meters away from closest house) or just overall performance...
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Not sure if its related, but depending on console you use to view and data, you may get a count that reflects what the sensor "heard". But as far as distance in the reporting period you may only get the "last" distance.
This is kinda funny if you don't watch it all the time and maybe only the next morning look at the data. Its typical for a storm to move out of an area , so the last reported lightning is the going to be the furthest away.
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I know what you are referring to, but this is not a case. There was around 90 strikes in radius of 40 km from sensor and it picked only 11. No clue is it by design or its due to placement.
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Yeah, it does sound like a placement issue.
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The other factor to take into consideration is the range.
40Km is not really very far and well within the horizon range. So its quite possible to see lightning and hear thunder that is well outside that range and so miss its detection electronically.
It might be interesting to see if its possible to modify the lightning sensor with a longer antenna to improve reception as after all the sensor is looking for the tiny induced EM signal from lightning.
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Ambient Weather May 2020 Newsletter - Lightning Detector
https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Ambient-Weather-May-2020-Newsletter.html?soid=1126251500743&aid=-1Q_xbnPVa4
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The other factor to take into consideration is the range.
40Km is not really very far and well within the horizon range. So its quite possible to see lightning and hear thunder that is well outside that range and so miss its detection electronically.
It might be interesting to see if its possible to modify the lightning sensor with a longer antenna to improve reception as after all the sensor is looking for the tiny induced EM signal from lightning.
With them defining such a round number, I suspect it may be software limited as well?
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Got an alert today. 5 lightning strikes at 31 km.
Strange thing was that there were no storms close. Only some at the Norrh Sea.
But it picked up some strikes... That should be at 100 km away at least.
Its on indoor and high sensitivity.
Never had a false strike since i have the detector.
Could it be some strong positive lightning at sea?
Peter.
Edit: i Can see the thunderheads from here. Even if there far above sea.
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Mine is picking few false daily. I have it outside set to indoor and high sensitivity. When i had on outdoor setting it missed majority of strikes. Now waiting on another storm.
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Just ordered mine from Ecowitt.. Would have ordered it from Froggit, but they haven't gotten it yet, and i got impatient :lol: Also need one so that i can get to code it into my app.
Should this be placed as high as possible? I have the main sensor array on top of my roof. Maybe i could just place it there on side of the chimney or something
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yes, as its a radio receiver basically. As high as possible is best.
I have mine inside my roof at the apex so its sheltered and as high as possible.
I have not seen any false positives for some time and have detected storms some 25Km away correctly.
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yes, as its a radio receiver basically. As high as possible is best.
I have mine inside my roof at the apex so its sheltered and as high as possible.
I have not seen any false positives for some time and have detected storms some 25Km away correctly.
what are your setting? indoor, outdoor? Sensitivity?
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I currently have mine set to Indoors and High Sensitivity.
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So mine is going through local customs at the moment and I should have it in my hands shortly. I was going to mount it outside under a balcony to keep it out of the weather but that means it would have brick walls on two sides of it, we are also in a bit of a valley so the view would be limited. My other option is to mount it in the roof under the peak, the roof is terracotta tiles but is substantially higher, assuming this would be a better option? Only downside would be battery replacement as it means dragging out ladders etc, any idea how long they are lasting?
Cheers
Steve
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Why not do as I have and place in the loft then its easier to get at through any internal loft hatch you may have.
Roofing tiles will be no barrier to the radio burst from lightning.
In terms of battery it seems to be fairly long lived so far.
No battery deg since installed many months ago
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Why not do as I have and place in the loft then its easier to get at through any internal loft hatch you may have.
Roofing tiles will be no barrier to the radio burst from lightning.
In terms of battery it seems to be fairly long lived so far.
No battery deg since installed many months ago
Loft is where I meant, terminology is different here in Australia, so yep in the roof/loft. I still need a ladder to get up in there though ;) I'll try there and see how it goes.
Cheers
Steve
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Ambient has finally added their Lighting Detector to the website but looks like we have to wait till July to be able to purchase. :-(. https://www.ambientweather.com/amwh31l.html (https://www.ambientweather.com/amwh31l.html)
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They are calling it the WH31L #-o
They like to complicate matters. SMH.
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Just got my Ecowitt Lightning Detector today. Got it setup with my HP2551 console and GW1000. I've noticed that my meteobridge is not receiving lightning data from my GW1000. All devices are running the latest software. Could someone with a Meteobridge, GW1000 and a lightning detector check if theirs is working ?
Thanks
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Here's a screenshot of the live data.
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Hi
Not working:
https://forum.meteohub.de/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=14824 (https://forum.meteohub.de/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=14824)
Gert
Just got my Ecowitt Lightning Detector today. Got it setup with my HP2551 console and GW1000. I've noticed that my meteobridge is not receiving lightning data from my GW1000. All devices are running the latest software. Could someone with a Meteobridge, GW1000 and a lightning detector check if theirs is working ?
Thanks
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Thank you. I'll just have to wait until they fix it.
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Same issue here, my GW1000 picks up the Lightning Detection Sensor, but Meteobridge does not see it. All the latest firmware updates also. Hopefully a fix comes soon!
Ron
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They have known about this issue since April 29, roughly 40 DAYS and yet they have done NOTHING to resolve the issue. It's been 38 DAYS since they even addressed the issue, and all that inspiring communication said was "A remote login would be fine."
Face it folks, Meteobridge is fast becoming just another pile of abandonware. Meteobridge would like to thank all of the people that PAID THEM in exchange for nonexistent support.
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Today is the first day since rehoming my lightning detector that strikes are nearby - picking them up nicely now.
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My Sensor arrived today from Froggit Germany - 2 hours later the first Thunder in Northern Germany :grin:
The Sensor works very well, all values are plausible.
Further, I tried to trigger the sensor manually with my China High Voltage generator - it does not react to it, even not in highest sensitivity settings - very nice!
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
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I received the lightning sensor by Ecowitt last week and I am satisfied with it. I put it on my wardrobe in the bedroom on the first floor. It is a detached house, so there is no another floor above. Unfortunately, I have had only one T-storm in my neighborhood so far but no false signals were detected.
It caught even storm bolts on the edge of its range:
(https://meteoprognoza.pl/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/lightnings.jpg)
It works in the Indoormode with high sensitivity. Total number of 12 strikes seemed plausible when compared to the closest area on a map of lightning strikes provided by blitzortung.org
(https://meteoprognoza.pl/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/lightnings2.jpg)
(https://meteoprognoza.pl/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/lightnings3.jpg)
However, you suggest to hang it outdoors. The highest position the more counts should be registered?
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Works also well with the HP3501 console and other custom scripts / software, http://www.atmos.cat/perl?num=1586210510
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However, you suggest to hang it outdoors. The highest position the more counts should be registered?
If its working for you I would leave it where it is!
Yes, you can place outside but you will need to place it in a waterproof container or suitable protection.
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I would not place the sensor outside, even not covered in an extra box - the specs are very tight:
Workingtemperature: 0~50C(32~122F)
Keep it better in your house. I don´t belive that it will make a big difference reception wise.
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How long does it take to receive your order, I have been waiting since 4/09/20 and still stuck in limbo.
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Hi
Mine took 8 weeks.
Gert
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So far my GW1000/WH57 lightning data gets uploaded to ecowitt.net.
But for public visitors it would need to signup an account at ecowitt.net for getting this data displayed... hmm?
Is there currently any other public weather server/site which could display the WH57 data?
I ask because I mainly intend to use/administrate the Weewx/Belchertown skin, but I´m not successful yet to get the ligthing data into the Belchertown Skin, or any other Weewx Skin.
As workaround I could/would at least like to post a link to the lightning data... Any ideas/proposals?
I checked about PWS Dashboard which is already compatible to include/display the WH57 data, but the overall design and functionallity is not my favorite yet...
https://pwsdashboard.com/
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How long does it take to receive your order, I have been waiting since 4/09/20 and still stuck in limbo.
Ecowitt sent me the sensor around 10th May and I received it on June 1st. It was delivered by regular mail but I thing it was quite fast.
But for public visitors it would need to signup an account at ecowitt.net for getting this data displayed... hmm?
Yes, accounts on ecowitt.net are visible only for registered users.
Is there currently any other public weather server/site which could display the WH57 data?
I know it works now on PWS_Dashboard and maybe it will be soon possible also using Meteotemplate.
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Is there currently any other public weather server/site which could display the WH57 data?
If you use a Meteobridge with Ambientweather.net license (or better yet a WeatherBridge from Ambient) then you send lightning data to Ambientweather.net. Anyone can view Ambientweather.net without a login.
Meteobridge (WeatherBridge) requires a GW1000. A display console like the HP2551-C will not work. Most current Fine Offset clone stations (Ambient, Froggit, Misol,...etc.) can add a GW1000. Just match the frequency.
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I would not place the sensor outside, even not covered in an extra box - the specs are very tight:
Workingtemperature: 0~50C(32~122F)
Keep it better in your house. I don´t belive that it will make a big difference reception wise.
I'm currently waiting for the sensor to come on amazon.ca. I've been mulling over where to place it. I was thinking about the attic of my house or my shed. Both places are protected from precipitation, but not temperature. The temperature sounds limiting, however, its rare (but possible) to have lightning when the temperatures are below 0oC, so I would think placing it in either of these locations would be OK. My shed is more appealing because I can easily access it for battery changing. Has anyone reported or found out how long batter life is?
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I have a early model as I was a tester and its been in place since the first week of January 2020.
So far the battery life indicator has not changed from full bars, so its looking good for at least a years use if not two on a set of Alkaline batteries.
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I have a early model as I was a tester and its been in place since the first week of January 2020.
So far the battery life indicator has not changed from full bars, so its looking good for at least a years use if not two on a set of Alkaline batteries.
This is encouraging! So now I'll put in some Lithium batteries and place it in my attic then.
[tup]
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I just gave PWS_Dashboard a chance now and after some miracle it started to collect data - including the WH57 lightning sensor data...
https://www.fitzbek-wetter.de/pwsWDxx/index.php
https://pwsdashboard.com/
Starting to understand the concept, I like it.
So far PWS-Dashboard seems to be the only solutution to summarize the GW1000/DP1500 Data, including external Sensors at one place (except an non public ecowitt.net account)
There are still some bugs and (German) translation errors, but will play a little bit with it now.
Regards,
Matthias
Is there currently any other public weather server/site which could display the WH57 data?
If you use a Meteobridge with Ambientweather.net license (or better yet a WeatherBridge from Ambient) then you send lightning data to Ambientweather.net. Anyone can view Ambientweather.net without a login.
Meteobridge (WeatherBridge) requires a GW1000. A display console like the HP2551-C will not work. Most current Fine Offset clone stations (Ambient, Froggit, Misol,...etc.) can add a GW1000. Just match the frequency.
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So far PWS-Dashboard seems to be the only solutution to summarize the GW1000/DP1500 Data, including external Sensors at one place (except an non public ecowitt.net account)
As I said, Meteotemplate has plugins to show data from PM2.5 and soil sensor as well as additional temp/humidity sensor. The only missing thing is to present lightnings but I know that this module is being refined soon. Here it is my website on Meteotemplate with extra sensor readings http://pogodaslesin.beep.pl/template/indexDesktop.php (http://pogodaslesin.beep.pl/template/indexDesktop.php)
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Lightning detector doing overtime today! Although I haven't heard any, it's detecting discharges from cells to my North and Northwest. I'd advise anyone with a detector to mount it outside, somewhere high, but not out of reach for maintenance.
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Froggit have now put the lightning detector on Amazon UK at a hefty price of £80 in total!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Froggit-Flash-Detector-Radio-Sensor/dp/B08B414F2G/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=Froggit&qid=1592412137&s=outdoors&search-type=ss&sr=1-6
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Agreed that this would be a nice addition, however the feedback I have is at this time Ecowitt prefer not to add sound based alerts back to the Console firmware.
The route that they have taken is to use Ecowitt.net where you can set e-mail alerts for strike counts or distance.
I know its not quite the same thing but that's the decision for now.
They will revisit this in the future.
I just got my Ecowitt lightning sensor and it's showing up on the Ecowitt.net website, but when I try to turn on email alerts, there is no option to select the lightning sensor from the drop down. I have a long list of temp, humidity, and wind options, but that's it. Am I looking in the wrong spot? Using an HP3501. (Checked the LCD console and there wasn't a lightning option that I could see, either.)
Edit - looks like it had to have some data before the option to set an alert showed up. Strange, but I'll take it.
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My first detector was bad. Triggering all the time. I had it set to Outdoor, Long Antenna. Tried all the sensitivity settings but kept on triggering.
Just got a replacement. Great service from Ecowitt. Confusing as to why the switches are all set to up when shipped. The implication is all up is the default, but that contradicts the manual.
Hopefully, this one will work correctly.
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I've had mine for a week now and I've had several storms come through, with strikes well within 40k and I'm not picking up a single strike. I've tried indoor and high. Outdoor and high. Inside my house, outside my house. In the attic. Not sure if his unit is just defective.
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Well, I had a storm come through tonight, rather fierce , and lengthy.
Recorded 429 strikes.
Its actually a believable number for this type of storm and the area.
Now I just wish it actually recorded the "minimum" strike distance
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I ordered another one from Amazon. Mine is definitely defective. I had hundreds, if not over 1,000 strikes today inside of 25 miles and I only recorded 3.
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My new one is working much better. Storm went through last night and I saw over 2000 strikes. Weather on our local news was showing tons of strikes so I think this is close. Today I see 3 false positives so far. I have it set to indoors and the default sensitivity. I will reduce the sensitivity. Anyone know the difference between Indoor default sensitivity and outdoor low sensitivity? Or the difference between default and high sensitivity?
My first one must have been a very early model. Had a lightening bolt on the front but still said Temp, Humidity sensor. New one has the lightening bolt and the writing for lightening.
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I have my lightning detector places on the attic.
High sensitivity and indoor settings. It picks up strikes that are over 40 kms away.
Although the distance is false most of the time.
Much storms in the area today.
So a lot of lightning picking up bij the detector.
Should i change it to medium sensitivity. So it doesn't pick up strikes that are over 40 km away.
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I have my lightning detector places on the attic.
High sensitivity and indoor settings. It picks up strikes that are over 40 kms away.
Although the distance is false most of the time.
Much storms in the area today.
So a lot of lightning picking up bij the detector.
Should i change it to medium sensitivity. So it doesn't pick up strikes that are over 40 km away.
I have had the same kind of issue.
Storms were firing across France two days ago and I was picking up strikes around 110KM's away. I know they're not false positives as there was a lot of electrical activity. However, it registers the strikes at around 15 - 20 miles away, which is a tad misleading.
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I have my lightning detector places on the attic.
High sensitivity and indoor settings. It picks up strikes that are over 40 kms away.
Although the distance is false most of the time.
Much storms in the area today.
So a lot of lightning picking up bij the detector.
Should i change it to medium sensitivity. So it doesn't pick up strikes that are over 40 km away.
I have had the same kind of issue.
Storms were firing across France two days ago and I was picking up strikes around 110KM's away. I know they're not false positives as there was a lot of electrical activity. However, it registers the strikes at around 15 - 20 miles away, which is a tad misleading.
Hi Mapantz
Which settings do you have on your lightning sensor?
High sens + indoor?
I think im gonna try medium sensitivity, and see how that works out.
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Finally arrived, took 79 days, but of course I am out of town. My wife says she will set it up. Looking forward to see how it works.
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I have concluded that the sensors are slightly directional from my tests.
My location is not great for southerly lightning as I have a hillside climbing above my location for another 50-100 metres
To my North is great as I am on the side of the North Downs and means I can see right across London and towards the Chiltern Hills
So for me it all depends on the location of the storms though I have detected strikes to my south so it is possible.
In Mapantz case I know that the location is coastal and so it does not surprise me that the detector 'sees' lighting on the French coast that is fairly normal for medium wave broadcasts that the lightning sensor is tuned for. You can easily double radio range over a stretch of sea especially if high pressure is about.
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After several thunderstorms, detector under a wooden roof, default settings, indoor switch, working perfectly and very accurate. Incredible features for that price.
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My new one is working very well with the indoor setting and default sensitivity. Unit is placed in a second floor bedroom window. When I asked Lucy, AKA Ecowitt, they said default sensitivity is between high and medium.
Still not clear what the outdoors setting does but during my single outdoor test it seemed like the outdoor setting picked up more noise/false positives. Would need to do more testing to be sure but I'm happy with Indoors/default sensitivity.
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I've had my Lightning Sensor from Ecowitt (Mine was shipped from China, but now available on Amazon (US)), for about two weeks now. I left the settings as factory default and placed it on a table indoors next to my sliding doors leading onto my balcony (Balcony is approximately 12 feet off the ground and faces East and our storms usually come from the Southwest). My house is in a valley and so far the sensor looks like it is running perfectly! Here are my results so far: Zero false hits; Largest distance has been 37 KM or 23 miles; the closest strike has been 1.6 KM or 1 mile. Fingers crossed!
Ron
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Mine has only showed 1 hit, I will be home this weekend to check the settings. I think I need to move it outside. I had the house remodeled and I do remember adding insulation to the siding that had a foil, so basically it is a ferridite cage.
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That foil may not be ferrous. Maybe take a magnet to check.
Rich K.
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That foil may not be ferrous. Maybe take a magnet to check.
Rich K.
It doesn't have to be ferrous to block / interfere / attenuate radio signals. Aluminium will also do a great job of blocking / interfering / attenuating radio signals.
Once the material is electrically conductive; it will cause all of the above.
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I just got my ambient sensor today and put it outside, hanging under my deck, a little over 3 feet from the ground. It's inside a 2 inch PVC pipe with holes in it for ventilation and a cap on top.
I set it for outdoors and left the sensitivity in the default position.
Is there any guidance that says the sensor needs to be higher in terms of reception? The higher the better?
Also I live in a 2 story house and wonder if it will pose any interference problems, considering my sensor is essentially near the bottom of the back side of the house? I could put it inside on the window or wall upstairs, but I did see they recommend to put it outside.
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Its a radio receiver in effect and its looking for the burst of static generated by Lightning.
In my experience in testing the higher that you place it the better the range in detection and so on.
I have not suffered from false positives and have my sensor set to maximum sensitivity and outside mode.
I keep mine inside but hanging from the inside roof apex (loft space) of my home, so its as high as I can get it.
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Its a radio receiver in effect and its looking for the burst of static generated by Lightning.
In my experience in testing the higher that you place it the better the range in detection and so on.
I have not suffered from false positives and have my sensor set to maximum sensitivity and outside mode.
I keep mine inside but hanging from the inside roof apex (loft space) of my home, so its as high as I can get it.
So it sounds like if you were me you'd rather have it high in the home, in a window or on an exterior wall rather than near the bottom side of the deck outside.
I do have an attic with access to the bottom side of the roof, but it's not climate controlled so I was a bit worried about the heat affecting the sensor long term.
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Yes, my loft space can be very cold in winter and ferocious in summer, but I have not seen any issue in my sensor so far!
I would be cautious of placing by a window as many windows will have metal components (even PVC windows have steel frames) and you may have a metal lintel over the window. These would all have some degree of impact on the receiver. Walls if brick will have steel ties in them between the cavity etc
So if you can place it in your roof space which will mostly be wood and perhaps clay tiles (unless you have a metal roof which is not common) this should give you a fairly good chance at detection.
Failing that then on the porch as you suggest will also work but you may find that the house screens you from detections further away in that direction.
No solution is perfect. I have noticed that storms to my South are not so well detected but then I have a chain of downland rising above my house made of chalk and sandstone/Iron stone.
The perfect solution would be up a mast 100 feet above surroundings and you'd probably be in luck in attracting the lightning in then!
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I have been getting what I think are false positives with my lightning detector. I have tried placing it in a RS-00001 radiation shield in the middle of my backyard, on the front porch, and inside my house. I have the settings set to Outdoor, Long Antenna, and I have tried Sensitivity Default, Mid, and Low. The results are all the same. I am getting lightning strikes showing up consistently 15-17 miles away throughout the last few days of testing. The weather these last few days has been sunny with humidity well below 80% except at night. Do I have a faulty unit? Or am I picking up something in my area that is setting it off that isn't lightning?
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Have you checked a lightning detection map to see if strikes are recorded in your area?
If these are false positives, then probably the first step will be to switch the detector to inside mode. That increases the rejection rate.
If this still gives you false positives then reduce the sensitivity.
At the end of the day the device is a simple radio receiver with an algorithm to look for lightning static and the smarts to filter out man made electrical static.
It will never be perfect and if you live somewhere that has a particular level of man made static then its possible this is fooling the detector.
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Have you checked a lightning detection map to see if strikes are recorded in your area?
If these are false positives, then probably the first step will be to switch the detector to inside mode. That increases the rejection rate.
If this still gives you false positives then reduce the sensitivity.
At the end of the day the device is a simple radio receiver with an algorithm to look for lightning static and the smarts to filter out man made electrical static.
It will never be perfect and if you live somewhere that has a particular level of man made static then its possible this is fooling the detector.
Yes I have checked lightning maps and there has been no activity in the Pacific Northwest.
According to the manual, inside mode makes it have a higher gain and more sensitive. It doesn't say anything about it increasing the rejection rate. Is this true?
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Ever since my lightning detector arrived every storm has been a miss, every forecast a bust, this thing is like garlic warding off vampires (thunderstorms) lol. It picked up one loud rumble of thunder from a dying storm but no thunderstorms here since then.
It is picking up interference from 11-12 miles out rather consistently, usually registering 1-2 “strikes” each day. Not going to fiddle with the settings just yet, but at least I know it works. I have it outside hanging in a tree, with a little plastic bag for rain protection.
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Ever since my lightning detector arrived every storm has been a miss, every forecast a bust, this thing is like garlic warding off vampires (thunderstorms) lol. It picked up one loud rumble of thunder from a dying storm but no thunderstorms here since then.
It is picking up interference from 11-12 miles out rather consistently, usually registering 1-2 “strikes” each day. Not going to fiddle with the settings just yet, but at least I know it works. I have it outside hanging in a tree, with a little plastic bag for rain protection.
This has been my experience with it as well. I have it about 15' up in a tree set to "Outdoor, long antenna, and the lowest sensitivity" - and still getting false readings. At this point I think I am going to try switching to the short antenna and see if that makes a difference? At this point the thing is almost looking like a bust to me.
EDIT: I set it to indoor and default sensitivity, I'll update if anything is better/worse. The annoying thing about all of this is the waiting :lol:
EDIT2: Didn't solve it, I am thinking I'll have to lower it out of the tree tomorrow and lower the sensitivity to medium and use the indoor setting again. At this point I'm getting a little frustrated, even though this was never meant to be an accurate device, it's bugging me so I want to get it working just right lol
EDIT3: From reading the manual it states that "Indoor" kicks up the gain, but folks here have said it also does more rejection of false strikes, which is true? I have already tried it on "outdoor, long antenna, low sensitivity" - and still get about 9-10 false strikes daily. Maybe this thing is just a dud?
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SE Portland Oregon area. Lightning season passed before I got the detector. Default settings, all down. Second story room. No false detections (zero). Prob won't see any activity until mid/late September..
Lightning detector has been up about two weeks.
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SE Portland Oregon area. Lightning season passed before I got the detector. Default settings, all down. Second story room. No false detections (zero). Prob won't see any activity until mid/late September..
Lightning detector has been up about two weeks.
I'm about 30 miles north of you and getting false alerts. I'll give indoor mode a try.
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
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I believe one could also missunderstand the Dipswitch settings from the manual.
Enclosed the one which gives me good readings now and no further false detections which I had also before.
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Where is the best place to mount the Ecowitt WH57 Lightning Detector Sensor? The instructions say inside or outside but there isnt much discussion of the ideal location??
If I put it outside is it ok to get wet or does the heat bother it? I was thinking about putting it in a La Crosse Technology 925-1418 Sensor Protection Shield but if it works just as well inside the home no need to expose it to the outdoor elements.
Any experienced thoughts would be great!!
Thank You!!
Chuck
Current Equipment Purchased July 2020
Ecowitt GW1002 Includes:
GW1000 WiFi Gateway with Indoor Temp, Humidity, & Barometric Sensor
WS68 WIFI Solar Powered Anemometer (Cups), UV, & Light Sensor
WH40 Self-Emptying Rain Collector
WH32 WiFi Outdoor Temp & Humidity Sensor
Ecowitt WH57 lightning
Ecowitt WH31 Indoor Temp & Humidity Sensor x2
Ecowitt WH41 WiFi Solar Outdoor PM 2.5 Air Quality Sensor x2
Ecowitt WH32 Outdoor Temp & Humidity Sensor Total of 2
La Crosse Technology 925-1418 Sensor Protection Shield x2 for WH32
Ecowitt WH51 Soil Moisture x2 (on order)
Ecowitt WH55 Water Leak Detection Sensor x2 (on order)
Ecowitt HP2551-C Weather Station Display Console (on order)
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I placed mine inside and behind a rooflight^ on the window board. Protected, dry and warm :grin:
I beliefe it does not really matters if placed inside or outside as the middle wave frequency and related measured lightning interference (strike count) will not be really damped by a wall or roof - as long the Dipswitches are set to the right position to prevent false positives it works fine according to my experiance. So I personally prefer to expose the WH57 not to outdoor conditions.
Matthias
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Height of the lightning detector doesn't really matter when you're picking up 500 KHz ground waves from lightning bolts that reach up a few thousand feet into the sky. The altitude of the bolts themselves makes the height of the receiver family minor. What does matter is locating it free and clear of any metal objects in all directions and any electrical equipment.
I simply drove a 4 ft wooden stake into the ground behind some bushes, hung the lightning detector on that, and covered it with an inverted plastic jar from some antibacterial wipes for some direct rain protection. It's located about 20 ft from my house with a clear view through a window towards the console.
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I believe one could also missunderstand the Dipswitch settings from the manual.
Enclosed the one which gives me good readings now and no further false detections which I had also before.
I agree the illustrations are easily mis-understood. The positions marked in black in the drawings are where the white toggles need to be :)
Also, mine shipped w/ all the dip switches at the top, so obviously even their factory is confused by their own instructions.
Mine's definitely picking up lightning, though often fairly late. Has to come well within the 40km radius. And it's also picking up a fake strike every hour or so.
Here's an example of what mine looks like
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Height of the lightning detector doesn't really matter when you're picking up 500 KHz ground waves from lightning bolts that reach up a few thousand feet into the sky. The altitude of the bolts themselves makes the height of the receiver family minor. What does matter is locating it free and clear of any metal objects in all directions and any electrical equipment.
I simply drove a 4 ft wooden stake into the ground behind some bushes, hung the lightning detector on that, and covered it with an inverted plastic jar from some antibacterial wipes for some direct rain protection. It's located about 20 ft from my house with a clear view through a window towards the console.
finally someone who understands the frequency these work at . mine albeit different brand same component is at the heart and is buried in the ground horizontally and yep been there since 2018 in a sealed food bag within a plastic food container with one small hole drilled sealed with silicon see below !! aprox 2 foot give or take a few inches . height has absolutely no impact in quality or distance of signal reception only advantage would be getting away from localized noise within your property below or surrounding .if you are fortunate to live near the sea front then you can detect perhaps distant strikes if the noise floor is relatively low . any suggestion of high pressure and any other troposphere ducting ,temperature inversions has no effect at these frequencies .
mine which is a weatherflow variant is still on the same duracells 18 months on and fwiw it took me 6-7 months finding the optimized position for detection and removal of false lightning biggest culprits locally for me were hot water combi boilers and neighbors arc welder has he is a keen diy welder in his garage..tip i attached/soldered a thin solid 1 metre length of copper wire to the negative battery terminal and attached other end to a brass rod banged down into the earth at 4 feet... seems overkill but any ham radio enthusiast will know how good grounding practices has its worth .
as you can see the results last couple of years speak for themselves G7LIJ\TA not qrv
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Anybody know when the WH57 Lightning detector is going to be on amazon.ca (Canada)? Lucy said should be mid-July but have been checking multiple times a day since last week like a crazy person and haven't seen it.
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It's now on Amazon Canada, and as expected priced at a premium $99 CAD or about $74 USD. Happy Capitalism!
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0897BV8QK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_iSgfFbWS5GCK3
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It's now on Amazon Canada, and as expected priced at a premium $99 CAD or about $74 USD. Happy Capitalism!
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0897BV8QK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_iSgfFbWS5GCK3
Holy cow, I paid $34 USD for it! Now I am curious why it's so much more in CA
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Height of the lightning detector doesn't really matter when you're picking up 500 KHz ground waves from lightning bolts that reach up a few thousand feet into the sky. The altitude of the bolts themselves makes the height of the receiver family minor. What does matter is locating it free and clear of any metal objects in all directions and any electrical equipment.
I simply drove a 4 ft wooden stake into the ground behind some bushes, hung the lightning detector on that, and covered it with an inverted plastic jar from some antibacterial wipes for some direct rain protection. It's located about 20 ft from my house with a clear view through a window towards the console.
finally someone who understands the frequency these work at . mine albeit different brand same component is at the heart and is buried in the ground horizontally and yep been there since 2018 in a sealed food bag within a plastic food container with one small hole drilled sealed with silicon see below !! aprox 2 foot give or take a few inches . height has absolutely no impact in quality or distance of signal reception only advantage would be getting away from localized noise within your property below or surrounding .if you are fortunate to live near the sea front then you can detect perhaps distant strikes if the noise floor is relatively low . any suggestion of high pressure and any other troposphere ducting ,temperature inversions has no effect at these frequencies .
mine which is a weatherflow variant is still on the same duracells 18 months on and fwiw it took me 6-7 months finding the optimized position for detection and removal of false lightning biggest culprits locally for me were hot water combi boilers and neighbors arc welder has he is a keen diy welder in his garage..tip i attached/soldered a thin solid 1 metre length of copper wire to the negative battery terminal and attached other end to a brass rod banged down into the earth at 4 feet... seems overkill but any ham radio enthusiast will know how good grounding practices has its worth .
as you can see the results last couple of years speak for themselves G7LIJ\TA not qrv
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I'm an amateur radio operator, and I agree with you that solid grounding at those frequencies is key. Lower noise floor, and stronger detection on strikes, it's a win win
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I am also a Radio Amateur, and strongly agree that grounding the device will immeasurably improve reception. This does require some mods though!
However I stand by my posts that suggest placing the receiver in your roof space away from electrical noise is the best course of action for most folks who don't want mod the receiver.
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I am also a Radio Amateur, and strongly agree that grounding the device will immeasurably improve reception. This does require some mods though!
However I stand by my posts that suggest placing the receiver in your roof space away from electrical noise is the best course of action for most folks who don't want mod the receiver.
Agreed, because at those frequencies height doesn't matter at all, but noise does, and if it means getting it up and away from local sources of noise to get rid of false strikes then that is all you can do unless you want to go crazy with mods, etc. I have mine inside now and it seems to have calmed down a bit, but I will probably ground it to my ground bus and see if that makes any difference. It can go both ways as well, if you ground to your ground bus it very well could pick up stray emissions from other sources. Grounding is a very annoying and irritating thing that plagues amateurs lol
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Thankfully it was a mistake. The price is now $49 CAD!
It's now on Amazon Canada, and as expected priced at a premium $99 CAD or about $74 USD. Happy Capitalism!
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0897BV8QK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_iSgfFbWS5GCK3
Holy cow, I paid $34 USD for it! Now I am curious why it's so much more in CA
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I purchased a WH31L a week ago and installed it in the attic. I have the dip switches set for indoor, long antenna, and default sensitivity. I haven't had any false detections.
Yesterday and early this morning there was thunderstorm activity 70 miles from my location and the detector picked it up. I used a live lightning map to compare the strike count and distance. The count seemed to be accurate but, the distance was off by 55 miles.
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Late yesterday we had our first thunderstorms since installing my new Ecowitt weather station with WH57 lightning detector. It worked like a charm and detected strikes as far away as 25 miles. The count and distances matched lightning maps perfectly and the alerts worked as set up with a very prompt email with each strike within the alert distance parameter. So far, no false detections.
I didn't want to expose the detector to the high temperatures in my attic so it is mounted outside at the top of a pole about fourteen feet from the ground and away from any "noise" sources. I have it in a La Crosse solar radiation shield to provide protection from the elements.
On the alert settings, does anyone know if it is possible to configure Ecowitt.net to send alerts to more than one email address? I tried to add more than one to the email field using a comma, semicolon and space between the addresses but they weren't accepted, it appears only to permit one email address to receive alerts. Since my wife and I may be in two different areas of our small farm when a storm is developing, I'd like for her to get the email alerts as well when lightning distance is within the set parameters.
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Hi LazyDogFarms,
Without knowing what email program you are using (and there are a bunch) , you might want to check if you can set up a rule to forward to the other phone email address (while still keeping the email on the current phone).
Not a great solution, but might work
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I purchased a WH31L a week ago and installed it in the attic. I have the dip switches set for indoor, long antenna, and default sensitivity. I haven't had any false detections.
Yesterday and early this morning there was thunderstorm activity 70 miles from my location and the detector picked it up. I used a live lightning map to compare the strike count and distance. The count seemed to be accurate but, the distance was off by 55 miles.
As I understand it, the detector will also pick up cloud to cloud. I understand this may not have been the case, but I've always given the distance measurement a huge grain of salt. I also complain about the fact that the sensor only returns the distance of the "last" strike. So if you had a few within the recording period, you only get the distance of the last strike.
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On the alert settings, does anyone know if it is possible to configure Ecowitt.net to send alerts to more than one email address? I tried to add more than one to the email field using a comma, semicolon and space between the addresses but they weren't accepted, it appears only to permit one email address to receive alerts. Since my wife and I may be in two different areas of our small farm when a storm is developing, I'd like for her to get the email alerts as well when lightning distance is within the set parameters.
This is pretty easy to set up if you use a cloud email address like Gmail. Simply have Ecowitt.net send email to the primary email address. Then that email account applies a rule to messages that match the criteria you want to then be forwarded to some other email address. Having the service process and do the forwarding is better than setting this up on a local computer which may or may not be running or it may or not have Internet access at any given point and becomes a weak point. It is thus better to have the email server be the one that does the forwarding.
Here are the steps to set this up in Gmail. Start with the incoming email from Ecowitt.net. (If you use some other email service; Yahoo, Hotmail...etc. the premise is very similar).
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As I understand it, the detector will also pick up cloud to cloud. I understand this may not have been the case, but I've always given the distance measurement a huge grain of salt. I also complain about the fact that the sensor only returns the distance of the "last" strike. So if you had a few within the recording period, you only get the distance of the last strike.
The nice thing about having a GW1000 is it sends all my lightning data to Ecowitt, and I've found they delineate both the number of strikes and the distance both on the daily graph and in the data tables. It will only report one distance per 5 minutes, but it's helpful that they delineate it every five minutes so that you can get some kind of idea the distance of the strikes.
This is a photo from my data on Friday when I had over 300 strikes recorded, to give you some idea:
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Yep, I was just saying that it reports only the distance of the "last" strike in the reporting period.
Be nice to have at a minimum, the closest strike, last strike, and maybe furthest strike.
In a perfect world, the distances for all strikes... but... that may be asking a bit much
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Thanks for the email suggestions and I'm well acquainted with setting up forwarding rules and such so I can set that up as a "work-around" if Ecowitt can't support a second email address from their end. I'd prefer not to do it with email forwarding but that may be the only way to accomplish my need to have more than one person receiving the alert.
7/21/2020 UPDATE:
Lucy at Ecowitt confirmed that Ecowitt.net currently only supports sending alerts to one email address. So for alerts to multiple people, either the email forwarding work-around OR forwarding to an email-to-text message gateway (to receive the alert via text message) would be the best options.
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Got my detector today and I'm very impressed with it. I was going to mount it in my attic of my two storey home, but decided to mount it in a bedroom closet on the second floor, near the ceiling. Within two hours of putting it up, a thunderstorm rolled through. It's extremely sensitive (default settings, dip switches all down) the red light turns on within milliseconds of the lightning being seen with my eyes. The lightning hasn't even stopped and the light is on. Very nice sensor.
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Thunderstorm rolling in right now and I wasn’t getting any strikes. Just put all of the switches in the down position (they were all up) and now this thing is lighting up. Got to it just in time, it’s about to pour.
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I had 154 strikes this evening recorded here in central New Jersey, and I haven't had any false alarms since I put it in about two weeks ago.
My installation is on a four foot high wooden stake covered by an inverted opaque plastic jar for environmental protection. Location is 20 feet away from the house where it can be see seen through the window from the console. Dip switch settings are all down except for the number 3 which is up for maximum sensitivity.
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I had 154 strikes this evening recorded here in central New Jersey, and I haven't had any false alarms since I put it in about two weeks ago.
My installation is on a four foot high wooden stake covered by an inverted opaque plastic jar for environmental protection. Location is 20 feet away from the house where it can be see seen through the window from the console. Dip switch settings are all down except for the number 3 which is up for maximum sensitivity.
I have mine set to maximum sensitivity as well, just on the inside of the roof on my small front porch. I've never picked up any false alarms. Last week we had a storm roll through and my LD picked up 312 hits. The other day, just 29 on a much smaller storm. So far it seems to work great.
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Registered 22 strikes here, there was way more than that in reality and it looked to me like the device flashed more than 22 times. I’ll be setting it to maximum sensitivity when the rain stops.
Another chance for storms tomorrow, hopefully that actually happens, I had to wait weeks for this little test run.
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Is there anyway to reset the count and distance on the lightning detector? I'm using GW1000 and no console.
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Just reboot the GW1000 [tup]
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I have to say that I am exceedingly disappointed in the WH57. I have other AS3935 lightning detectors, as well as equipment from Vaisala, and the WH57 is triggering left and right regardless of it's location or settings of the DIP switches. It claims that I have had 49 strikes today alone, while my other AS3935's and my Viasala equipment are all silent.
It's not that hard to implement proper thresholds and rejection of "disturbers" in the AS39395, so I'm a bit stumped how the WH57 is such a dog.
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I recently tried to trigger false positives by myelf, using the lighting of a high voltage generator I own.
The WH57 did not react or recognized one single false positive.
Then another day, I had to replace a defective blinking LED Bulb. Not the blinking released any false alarm, but when I plugged of the bulb during the 230V/lamp was switched on.
What I want to say... if I would recognize again any false positives, I would first check my electrical house installations and devices for any possible triggers like defective spark protections of e.g. hair dryers, brushed motors/machines, other cheap 110V/230V AC devices, etc.
Matthias
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I recently tried to trigger false positives by myelf, using the lighting of a high voltage generator I own.
The WH57 did not react or recognized one single false positive.
Then another day, I had to replace a defective blinking LED Bulb. Not the blinking released any false alarm, but when I plugged of the bulb during the 230V/lamp was switched on.
What I want to say... if I would recognize again any false positives, I would first check my electrical house installations and devices for any possible triggers like defective spark protections of e.g. hair dryers, brushed motors/machines, other cheap 110V/230V AC devices, etc.
Matthias
I'm a ham radio operator and an RF engineer, so I am no stranger to dealing with RF interference. I already checked for interference in my house by using the ultimate trick of turning off the main breaker coming into the house. WH57 still singing like a canary, all other AS3935 equipment silent. I also have a lab full of top line RF engineering equipment, there is no noise from my house or any neighboring houses. I can trigger false positives all day long with the Lightning Emulator Board from Franklin, which causes all AS3935 equipment to trigger as expected.
I either got a dud or the firmware is just not very well written.
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kd7eir,
Seems to me like you are pretty qualified and you should request a replacement unit. Then let us all know you thoughts after you get the replacement.
I do have one question for you though...Do you think that nearby overhead power lines can be a trigger and that these overhead lines can be different for different areas? I realize that this question probably falls out of your expertise. But it is just a feeler question as to what you think, not what you know.
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kd7eir,
Seems to me like you are pretty qualified and you should request a replacement unit. Then let us all know you thought after you get the replacement.
I do have one question for you though...Do you think that nearby overhead power lines can be a trigger and that these overhead lines can be different for different areas? I realize that this question probably falls out of your expertise. But it is just a feeler question as to what you think, not what you know.
Hi,
All utilities in my neighborhood are underground, so there is no worry about interference from overhead lines. You are correct that overhead lines could definitely be a source of false triggers or "disturbers" with the AS3935 though.
I will get a replacement unit and see how that works out.
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I am sure that you must have a dud!
My personal experience is that if anything I miss a lot of strikes.
As i write this I just heard a peal of thunder and mapping shows it was within range of my receiver but it was not detected and I have mine set to maximum.
This does not bother me too much as I know that the further away strikes are less likely to be detected and in any case not every strike gets a hit.
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This device is not worth the money, I have purchased 3 of them now. I do realize I am in a valley, at one location, so it will not pick up all strikes. At another location which is not in a valley same issue. These report false positives at 3 different locations and do not pick up real strikes. It will pick up some storms, but not all storms.
I am disappointed, but oh well!
What should I have to expect from a $40.00 device.
I wanted to track, I have 17 locations, but not wasting anymore money on something that does not work...
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This same chip is used in Acurite Atlas stations (and elsewhere) and their users have the same things to say about this chip. It works for some but many false positives for many others. It seems like this is just the nature of the beast.
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I think its hard to pinpoint exactly what the issues are. I've had my WH57 for about 2 weeks now, and whenever there is a storm or dark clouds (had 3 so far) the thing blinks like a Christmas tree (default settings, dips all down mounted in a bedroom closet near the ceiling, indoors). In between, its silent. For those who think they have a defective unit, I would say that it would be defective if you see lightning and it doesn't pick it up, compared to false positives. False positives could be environmental interference, and beyond your home settings.
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I wonder if more humid climates are less susceptible to false positives (or the other way around)? Just a hunch. Anyone know how this chip works to know if these environmental factors could be why some people are delighted and others aren't?
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I am sure that you must have a dud!
My personal experience is that if anything I miss a lot of strikes.
As i write this I just heard a peal of thunder and mapping shows it was within range of my receiver but it was not detected and I have mine set to maximum.
This does not bother me too much as I know that the further away strikes are less likely to be detected and in any case not every strike gets a hit.
Same experience here, it definitely under reports the number of lightning strikes, even the close ones. Not a deal breaker for me, during a storm it’d have to report hundreds (or thousands) of strikes, which might become excessive.
My WH57 arrived with all of the switches up and I’d left it like that for about a week or so, I was receiving false positives everyday, yet next to nothing from actual lightning/thunder. Then I changed the settings and voila, working as intended with no false positives whatsoever.
1: Down
2: Down
3: Up
4: Down
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Yeah but everyone surely knows it is:
↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A or up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A
:grin:
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I posted this in another thread w/o responce. Forgive me if this has been addressed in this thread, but I'm not going to read 300 plus post.
I'm having issue with signal drift. I've tried everything thinkable and nojoy. Most of the time my ws-2000 shows 0 or 1 bar of signal strength. My gw1000 (ws-view app) always shows full signal. In the pic below the sensor is less than 20 feet with a clean straight shot, no obstructions.
Anybody else having this issue?
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Try turning the lightning receiver on its side to see if that helps (signal polarisation)
Its quite possible that you have something in your house that is upsetting the signal.
If you are getting one bar that means the console is decoding 1 in 5 packets. This does not mean any loss of data, just that the data path is having some trouble and indicative of interference.
As long as you have at least one bar then the data is getting through to the station console.
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I posted this in another thread w/o responce. Forgive me if this has been addressed in this thread, but I'm not going to read 300 plus post.
I'm having issue with signal drift. I've tried everything thinkable and nojoy. Most of the time my ws-2000 shows 0 or 1 bar of signal strength. My gw1000 (ws-view app) always shows full signal. In the pic below the sensor is less than 20 feet with a clean straight shot, no obstructions.
Anybody else having this issue?
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No. But I was wondering how to trigger a false positive. We probably wont be getting any lightning until mid-late September. Would like to see if it does work before the warranty is out. This is all I ever see on the console or AW.net (No Report Yet). Thanks Lee
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If you want false positive lightning then try turning on a brush motor appliance or tool. Not all of these will necessarily have brush motors as some fancy ones use brushless motors.
- blender
- power drill
- circular sander
- hair dryer
I don't know if these will be filtered as false positive or not....but worth a try.
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I have yet to find anything in my house, from Arc / MIG welders to large air compressors, bunch of motor stuff , generators, that will trigger a false positive.
I don't have Van de Graaff Generator so no idea on that :)
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Try turning the lightning receiver on its side to see if that helps (signal polarisation)
Its quite possible that you have something in your house that is upsetting the signal.
If you are getting one bar that means the console is decoding 1 in 5 packets. This does not mean any loss of data, just that the data path is having some trouble and indicative of interference.
As long as you have at least one bar then the data is getting through to the station console.
Thanks for the reply.
Will give that a try. None of my other sensors have an issue with signal strength, all at full most all the time. Is the lighting sensor different than others with the type signal?
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I had a weatherflow station and that would constantly register false lightning several times a day, every day. I haven't had that issue with the Ecowitt lightning sensor at all. I did trigger it purposely to test it when I got it, by pressing buttons on a TV remote right next to the sensor.
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I just bought my first WH57 and just wondered if anyone had any tips on the best place to put it?
I'm in suburban area in Melbourne, Australia. If anyone has any tips for the settings as well that would be great.
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Lots of hints already in this thread if you scroll up, but generally away from any other electrical equipment, within sight of the console, and if possible, protected by plastic from direct rain. Elevation isn’t important for 500 KHz ground waves.
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Just curious if any of you are getting false positives? I have mine set up as down, down, up down. It's mounted indoors. During a thunderstorm it works pretty well, sometimes registering couple hundred strikes, however sometimes when there's even clouds in the sky but no visible lightning or audible thunder, I get one to three strikes registered which is always at the same distance. Could very well be external interference, but one is to rule out any other errors with the device.
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I've never gotten false positives and we've had a few thunderstorms since I last posted here.
If anything, there've been a couple times that I've heard thunder and the detector missed it, but that's about it.
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My detector is going nuts as storm approach!
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Although it is in the Blitzortung area, the info in the link might prove useful for identifying noise sources that can affect your lightning detector. I have an AS3935 interfaced to my older Blitzortung RED unit. Same hardware, but different software and presentation. I do see spurious responses, but after tweaking the settings, it works fairly well. There are probably more software "knobs" that I can play with as opposed to the WS-2000 et al.
See this for suggestions: https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=20439.0 (https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=20439.0)
One idea is to take a portable AM radio and tune it to a non-station frequency near the lower end of the radio band. If you hear noise on the radio and it increases or decreases based on location, you might be able to identify the offending noise source.
Greg H.
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I have had the WH57 for a few weeks now. The first one I received (purchased through Amazon) had continuous false positives - averaging close to one per hour (approximate). I tried every switch setting. It was hanging in a wooden shed with no electrical wiring. I ordered another WH57 from Amazon, and returned the first one as defective. The new one arrived and has been performing well. I am using default settings and there have been no apparent false positives (at least when storms are not present in the area).
Note: both of the WH57 units arrived with all the switches in the UP position despite the instructions describing DOWN as the default position.
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thanks for this information. Its really hard to pinpoint this out, it could be as simple as my neighbor turning on his plasma TV or it could be defective? An to be honest, I don't know what the definition of defective is in this case. Something that registers nothing (which is not the case) or something that registers many false strikes (which could be intereference that you don't see?). For now, I just lowered the sensitivity to default (all down) from a high setting. As mine is showing 1-3 spikes a day at the same distance with the high setting. I'm ok with it missing some strikes (which it does), but this is by design. Even under the most optimal conditions and settings, its designed to register at most 60% of the strikes. This number drops as the sensitivity changes (according to the technical document).
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Ended up recording 300 strikes today, and I only heard 3 rumbles of thunder. :-(
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Ditto, 175 today so far and 265 yesterday I think.
Been watching Windy most of the day and its been like light bulbs going off all around so I am confident that these were not false positives.
Some were close by and you could hear the constant thunder and some much further away but its been impressive in its recording for me.
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My one month old detector is now missing nearby storms and strikes. Last recorded strike Aug10 and two storms rolled by last three days.
Battery indicator shows full so device is working and connected. Will find out how Amazon handles replacement shortly.
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I'm going to be replacing my WH57. Since moving it to a different location, I've actually been able to stop getting the occasional false positives, however, it has been reporting a low battery alert at 0% (which is strange) as the unit is not even 3.5 weeks old and had new batteries. Even more strange is that the battery status is full bars, I checked the batteries with a volt meter and it was 1.55 volts, each. I even changed to new batteries, re-registered the device and deleted the notification and re-made it, and still getting the low battery alert. Unless this is a server error, I'm not sure. Either way, I decided to exchange it before my 30 day amazon return period for another one.
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Hi!
reporting a low battery alert at 0%
Where do you see these 0%?
There's obviously a firmware bug with the HP2551C regarding the WH57. Ecowitt will fix this by an update.
Regards, Oliver
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It's an email alert that I see the 0%. Can you confirm that this is a bug I'll hold off on the replacement if that's the case? It did start happening when I got my hp 2551.
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... that's what Lucy told me ...
And for sure, the HP2551 only reports a "0" for wh57batt while sending in Ecowitt-format.
With WS View (and by custom server/Ecowitt format) via GW1000 the battery level will be reported correct.
Regards, Oliver
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OK thanks Oliver. Do you have the HP-2551-C and WH57? What issues are you noticing? The same as me?
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Hi!
I own a GW1000 and a WH57.
But a FOSHKplugin-user reported exactly this problem. The battery-level was reported as critical - even with brand new batteries.
So I investigated and my program did everything right. But the HP2551C sent a "0" for wh57batt.
I've asked Lucy and she told me that this is a firmware bug which will be fixed by an update.
Regards, Oliver
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Great! I will wait for the update! I will just remove the battery level alert until the firmware update comes up
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There is already a new beta version v1.5.3.1 for the HP2551C - but I don't know the changelog yet and therefore don't know whether the bug has already been fixed there.
Oliver
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Hi @Autofill,
Lucy just sent me an update for the HP2551C regarding the WH57-battery-level-problem.
Interestingly, it is not about the WIFI firmware but the device firmware, which has to be imported via SD card.
Even more interesting is that the version number v1.6.7 is significantly higher than the last public version (v1.6.4).
Unfortunately, I can't try this out here because I don't have an HP2551C.
Perhaps you should email Lucy to send you the firmware update too.
The beta WIFI firmware for the HP2551C has already been updated again. The version level for this is now v1.3.2.
Regards, Oliver
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Thanks for the update! Will email Lucy now and post an update.
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Lots of hints already in this thread if you scroll up, but generally away from any other electrical equipment, within sight of the console, and if possible, protected by plastic from direct rain. Elevation isn’t important for 500 KHz ground waves.
Thank you for the hints.
Question: Does this WH57 lightning detector fit into the Ecowitt RS-00001 shield?
(I quickly browsed through this topic but didn't see this - sorry if asked and replied earlier)
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Well here it is!
https://twitter.com/ecowittweather/status/1295639726410498049?s=19
Thanks for the update! Will email Lucy now and post an update.
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Hi!
Have you already installed the update? Everything ok so far? Problem solved?
BTW:
Firmware update for HP2551/HP2553 - V1.6.7
Mainly Updates for V1.6.7:
1. Supports to display the WH45 PM2.5, PM10 and CO2 3-in-1 sensor data on the main interface.
2. Supports to upload the WH45 and WN34 sensor data to ecowitt.net.
3. Fix the battery issue for the WH55 and WH57 to upload to ecowitt.net.
Has Ecowitt still not decided on a name for the WH34 / WN34? Or are these two different products?
Regards, Oliver
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Lots of hints already in this thread if you scroll up, but generally away from any other electrical equipment, within sight of the console, and if possible, protected by plastic from direct rain. Elevation isn’t important for 500 KHz ground waves.
Thank you for the hints.
Question: Does this WH57 lightning detector fit into the Ecowitt RS-00001 shield?
(I quickly browsed through this topic but didn't see this - sorry if asked and replied earlier)
Yes it does!
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Hi!
Have you already installed the update? Everything ok so far? Problem solved?
BTW:
Firmware update for HP2551/HP2553 - V1.6.7
Mainly Updates for V1.6.7:
1. Supports to display the WH45 PM2.5, PM10 and CO2 3-in-1 sensor data on the main interface.
2. Supports to upload the WH45 and WN34 sensor data to ecowitt.net.
3. Fix the battery issue for the WH55 and WH57 to upload to ecowitt.net.
Has Ecowitt still not decided on a name for the WH34 / WN34? Or are these two different products?
Regards, Oliver
The correct part name is WH34. The other part name with an N is a typo that showed up in the firmware release notes.
https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=37373.msg406569#msg406569
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I installed it over an hour ago and I haven't received the same notification after I recreated it. So I would say yes, the issue is solved! Thanks Oliver, for bringing this to my attention.
Hi!
Have you already installed the update? Everything ok so far? Problem solved?
BTW:
Firmware update for HP2551/HP2553 - V1.6.7
Mainly Updates for V1.6.7:
1. Supports to display the WH45 PM2.5, PM10 and CO2 3-in-1 sensor data on the main interface.
2. Supports to upload the WH45 and WN34 sensor data to ecowitt.net.
3. Fix the battery issue for the WH55 and WH57 to upload to ecowitt.net.
Has Ecowitt still not decided on a name for the WH34 / WN34? Or are these two different products?
Regards, Oliver
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So, I'm still dealing with this 3 strikes per day false positives. One thing I've been able to observe is that every time I change my dip switches, the distance changes. I'm wondering if this is indicative that the source of this is indeed in close proximity to the detector or if its just defective. Right now, I've moved my WH57 from my home and placed it in my shed which is about 40 ft or more away from my home and other homes.
If this works, I plan on mounting it outside using the RS0001 shield (or something similar) and keep it outside, permanently. The operating conditions from this detector is 0 to 50oC. Where I live (Canada), temperatures can range from -30 to +30oC in a year. I wonder if the reported operating temperature is not a hardware limitation because lightning below 0 oC is rare.
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Its more likely to do with electronics and dew points and AA cells that perform poorly below 0C
If you make sure the sensor is well sealed from damp and perhaps use Lithium AA cells there should be little issues.
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thanks, Mandrake. Ideally, I would want the lightning sensor inside, but I'm battling these false positives inside (and now outside).
However, I think I may have found the problem, but need some information. With regards to dip switch setting #2, the instructions say do not change it:
"Dip switch 2, default setting is for long antenna, as this is the antenna used inside. Please do not make any change with this dip switch setting"
Even Ambient's sensor (WH31) has a similar description for dip switch #2 and design:
"Do not change this setting. The long antenna option (default) is the only configuration available."
Basically, from these descriptions, its saying that both sensors utilize the long antenna and there is no short antenna. Having said that, if you change the setting to short, it shouldn't work because there is no short antenna in these devices and you shouldn't register anything. You basically turn off the antenna when putting the dip switch to short.
In my troubleshooting, I changed the dip setting to short antenna and left it. Lo and behold, it registered some false positives, which, is not only bizarre, but I believe this proves that the issue could be inherent to the device and its not interference or lightning that is causing the false positives.
If this is true, that the short antenna setting will render the device null, then I believe this probably warrants a replacement.
To confirm, I have to ask if any of you ever gotten strikes registered during a storm with the short antenna setting?
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thanks, Mandrake. Ideally, I would want the lightning sensor inside, but I'm battling these false positives inside (and now outside).
Why you don‘t simply change the switch settings, make the sensor less sensitive, until the false positive disappear?
This sensor according to my opinion is not at all an expensive or precise device. It just puts strikes and distances more or less accurate into a time line.
My current switch settings:
https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=38193.msg410216#msg410216
No false positives since weeks, but strikes during the past thunder storm counted.
I use the sensor indoor. I don‘t believe that in makes any sense or provide any advantages to place it outside.
Matthias
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Indeed, that has been investigated, i.e different dip switch settings, different location (outside, inside). Bottom line, I bought another WH57 and will be asking to replace the first one. It happens.
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If you want false positive lightning then try turning on a brush motor appliance or tool. Not all of these will necessarily have brush motors as some fancy ones use brushless motors.
- blender
- power drill
- circular sander
- hair dryer
I don't know if these will be filtered as false positive or not....but worth a try.
Never did get a false positive, tried the blender and electric drill up close. Our first thunderstorms of the season are forecast to start tomorrow. Sure will be happy to see this thing work. :-)
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IT LIVES! Woke me up around 4am. Had 101 strikes at that time which I questioned. I had the sensitivity set to high when I was trying to induce a false strike. Changed to default (all switches down) and strikes continued. The strikes that woke me up were right on top of us so I guess 101 strikes count was good. The distance was 0 and 1 at that time.
The ICON on the console was flashing. The LED on the detector sometimes had a very quick flash and the count didn't increase. Approximately 1 second flashes were counted. Nothing more than a second.
The strikes were being recorded on ambientweather.net. After strikes slowed down both the console and aw.net were in agreement.
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(fixed my profile, now displays the correct time - Pacific)
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i am getting 8-10 false alarms a day no matter what the settings. i am getting another from amazon and will try returning one..
it is always 11 miles away.. could it be the power plant that is actually about 2.5 miles away when teh generators start up.. any ideas.
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could it be the power plant that is actually about 2.5 miles away when teh generators start up.. any ideas.
Highly unlikely? The AS3935 sensor antenna is tuned to 500kHZ which is beyond normal grid operations frequencies (60Hz for you). Some specialized power-related equipment may emit these frequencies but that is unlikely at such a range. If there is public access to the electricity grid operator supply data you can compare your lighting data against the generation times. I work in generating stations and for a grid operator in the past.
Much more likely is you are picking up emissions in the 500kHz range from other electronic devices. Some could be power supplies, inverters/UPS, electric power tools (highly dependent on the tool), or certain lighting ballasts. My suggestion is to try moving your lighting sensor to a different location away from such potential sources.
If you want some further technical reading which may give you ideas on what to try or test, take a look at the following link. I've specified and verified results for EMI/RFI testing of industrial equipment and it is a very complex field and often very unintuitive!
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0142061518309578 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0142061518309578)
Added note: The AS3935 actually has some functionality for noise evaluation and verification of disturbance signals. No idea how Ecowitt has integrated the chip but there are possibilities and it is determined by the sensor chip integrator.
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not at all unlikely.. the unit was defective. got a replaceent from amazon and it is working fine.. no false alerts.
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not at all unlikely.. the unit was defective. got a replaceent from amazon and it is working fine.. no false alerts.
That's great news! Problem solved. =)
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Finally worked on a script how to get lightning to realtime-update on my website without refreshing. Now we have thunder & lightning and the detector isn't picking a single strike. ](*,)
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How bummed am I? Had the sensor up for about a month now and just got home after a surprise short thunderstorm (bit cold now in England). Zero hits. Family laughing at my failed weather-nerdy-data-tech after the big booms. I checked the device. When I put the batteries in it looked like all the DIP switches were in their default (down) position i.e. outdoor, long sensor, default sensitivity. I never changed anyway. Turns out they were in fact all in the up position! Anyway I’ve fixed them up now but no thunderstorms since :-(. Moral of the story - check the DIP switches!
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My lightning detector is on it's way out already. I noticed the first battery (Energizer lithium) suddenly went from full down to 25% within a fortnight, and then it died a week later. I put in a new one, and that started dropping fast as well. That's in less than a year.
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Yikes. I just ordered one from amazon. How about other updates on how long last and if work okay?. Hope last more than a year.
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My lightning detector is on it's way out already. I noticed the first battery (Energizer lithium) suddenly went from full down to 25% within a fortnight, and then it died a week later. I put in a new one, and that started dropping fast as well. That's in less than a year.
Strange - I'm using normal alkaline batteries, the WH57 is outside, has detected now quite a few thunderstorms and is still on 75% capacity after five months. That little 500 kHz receiver should not consume too much energy.
Wondering if your Li batteries used are/were one-time use pieces or a rechargeable ones.
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Strange - I'm using normal alkaline batteries, the WH57 is outside, has detected now quite a few thunderstorms and is still on 75% capacity after five months. That little 500 kHz receiver should not consume too much energy.
Wondering if your Li batteries used are/were one-time use pieces or a rechargeable ones.
Energizer lithiums aren't rechargeable. It's not wise to use rechargeable batteries.
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The lightning detector confuses the hell out of me!
In the Summer, when storms keep up from France, I can pick them up some 60 to 70 miles away due to the English channel. Yet today, strikes within 15 miles of me (and audible thunder) not a single one recorded.
https://ibb.co/ZTymxD9
I have no issues with false positives either. Very frustrating to not record the strikes that actually matter.
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I am still getting to grips with my lightning detector as well. I am not sure the distance recorded is that accurate since it is a single antennae but who knows. We have had plenty of thunder and so far I don't believe it has missed any really close by, difficult to know for sure as the other day I have over 400 strikes when the thunder was really close. I have a similar issue as I'm about 800yds from the coast and high up (about 130 ft asl) and we can see France on a clear day from the house and here it's 40 miles away (only by Dover is it 21 miles). I'm guessing the 25 mile radius is probably about right inland depending on terrain but on the coast and high up it can probably detect further afield. It is quite difficult to see the strikes on that image btw.
Stuart
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Well I got to try mine yesterday afternoon also in England storms here. Glad to see it working, first time since I got one months ago!
Interestingly though I see a discrepancy between the reporting of the 'closest hit' on the ecowitt.net site... The graph shows closest was 10km away whereas I noticed one at the time was only 1km away. At first I thought it must have been that the data consoles upload to web had "missed" it, which is possible (versus by HP2551C report, or even my weewx reports, which I need to look at).
However it turns out the data must have been sent to ecowitt.net as it appears in the summary report at the top, but is not reported as a minimum value in the graph. Weird.
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I put my WH31L Lightning Detector in my outside shed so it's still outside of the house away from interference but out of the elements. Should that be ok?
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I live in New Zealand and our house is built of wood with a steel roof. My detector is in the house and works fine (After a lot of messing with the dip switches)
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Thank you, it seems like forever since we've even had rain to even test it out
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We generally only get lightening about a dozen times a year max, so mine gets little use.
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Hi, I know it's been a while since an update on this post, but I am getting the same issue which seems like false positives with the Ecowitt WH57 lightning detector. The lightning bolt flashes every second and seems to have lightning activity. The sky is clear as a bell here with 0% precipitation probability, especially here in southern California. Any help to resolve this would be much appreciated. Thanks, Mike
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Probably best to try some the things in this thread . My WH57 is working fine without any real issues
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Hi, I know it's been a while since an update on this post, but I am getting the same issue which seems like false positives with the Ecowitt WH57 lightning detector. The lightning bolt flashes every second and seems to have lightning activity. The sky is clear as a bell here with 0% precipitation probability, especially here in southern California. Any help to resolve this would be much appreciated. Thanks, Mike
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Looks like noise to me. Try adjusting the sensitivity settings. The instructions for the detector should give you some ideas.
If you have a portable AM radio, you could try tuning to the low end of the band (~540 KHz) and listen for noise. You might be able to locate the source if the noise increases as you approach it.
Greg H.
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Thanks, I'll try that. But this one transmits on 915 MHz, unless it's picking up some noise from that frequency. Where does the 540 KHz come from?
Mike
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Thanks, I'll try that. But this one transmits on 915 MHz, unless it's picking up some noise from that frequency. Where does the 540 KHz come from?
Mike
It is within the frequencies that the sensor detects lightning. The lightning detector is effect, a radio receiver detecting frequency and behavior of the radio signal that a lightning strike produces. Has nothing to do with the frequency that the detector transmits to your gateway.
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Ok, thanks for the clarification, I appreciate it! Mike
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My sensor gave constant false positives when I had it mounted on my house, even with the sensitivity turned down. It wasn't near anything that looked suspicious, but maybe it was a streetlight, or something in the neighbor's house.
I moved it a couple hundred feet away into a forested area and returned the sensitivity to normal. It stopped registering obvious false positives, but it also won't always register even when I see a lightning flash. Overall I am not too happy with it.
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My sensor gave constant false positives when I had it mounted on my house, even with the sensitivity turned down. It wasn't near anything that looked suspicious, but maybe it was a streetlight, or something in the neighbor's house.
I moved it a couple hundred feet away into a forested area and returned the sensitivity to normal. It stopped registering obvious false positives, but it also won't always register even when I see a lightning flash. Overall I am not too happy with it.
Maybe try taking the batteries out of the unit and set your dip switches ( how you think they should be )
And finally put new batteries in ( lithium or akaline )
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My sensor gave constant false positives when I had it mounted on my house, even with the sensitivity turned down. It wasn't near anything that looked suspicious, but maybe it was a streetlight, or something in the neighbor's house.
I moved it a couple hundred feet away into a forested area and returned the sensitivity to normal. It stopped registering obvious false positives, but it also won't always register even when I see a lightning flash. Overall I am not too happy with it.
what you see may not be what it detects depending on the geography, topology and the air and ground wave generated by the lightning discharge (500 kHz band !).
On the other hand, sensors with higher precision e.g. used in the blitzortung network cost significantly more money. The capabilities of the WH57 are limited by the (low cost ~30-40 USD) AS3934 AS3935 sensor which is used inside the WH57.
Can't expect observatory quality from a consumer grade telescope. 8-)
EDIT: corrected the chip number
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AS3934 sensor which is used inside the WH57.
AS3934 or AS3935 ? (Not trying to be picky, lol, I tried to look it up and could only find AS3935)
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My sensor was out of warranty, so I ordered a new one from Amazon. It seemed to work better for a while, but then started to get false positives again in the graph. The old one seemed to work ok in Florida, but when I moved to Southern California in October the sensor seemed to pick up interference. I'm not near anything that looked like it would cause interference, but maybe a neighbor's house or something else nearby I can't see.
I moved it farther away but after an hour or so I started picking up noise again. I might want to return this one and purchase the Ambient Weather WH31L for my WS-2000 station to see if it makes a difference. The reviews seem pretty good for the WH31L so I'll give that one a shot.
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They are the same unit as the Ecowitt as far as hardware.
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Yeah, I figure that would be the case. I'll give it a shot anyway and maybe it would react differently with the Ambient Weather console.
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I very much doubt the 2000 console will make a difference it is the same also as its Ecowitt counterpart , and it is the sensor , not the console that is the producer of the data.
You may , try some other things, if you are able to.
To rule out a device in your house.
1. Shut down as many breakers as you can in your house, leaving your console powered/internet powere . Then watch for a while . Depending on how frequent your false positives are. If you get a decrease, etc, well, then start putting breakers online until you narrow it down to a circuit, then go find out what is on that circuit
2. If you have any external power , etc, like solar panels , used to power stuff in an off-grid situation, do the same kind of thing
For me, I have run into a few items that will trigger the lightning sensor, worst for me are some LED flood lamps that I have , also a noisy POE security camera . Others have found other things . I will let you go through the other near 400 posts in this thread.
Edit: And of course your house/location may not be the source of the interference, could be a neighbor etc,
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Thanks, I appreciate all the information.
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...AS3934 sensor which is used inside the WH57.
AS3934 or AS3935 ? (Not trying to be picky, lol, I tried to look it up and could only find AS3935)
correct, it's a AS3935 :!:
- edited my original post