Topic: WH57 and GW2000 ?

[Aircub]

I have got a WH57 Lightning detector paired to my GW2000 for my Wittboy unit. I also have a Weatherflow Tempest that also detects lightning.

Tonight we have quite an active storm close by and the Tempest is pinging away but I have no readings on the WH57. How do I know if the WH57 is actually working correctly?

[BoDuke]

How are the switches set on the WH57?  They should be all in the down position for the defaults.  See this post for details.

Other than having a thunderstorm, I'm not sure another way to cause the same radio signals that it's looking for.  There have been reports of some defective units but I would suggest reading this topic and the one linked above in case the discussions and situations that could help you figure out what might be the problem.

Hope this helps

[Aircub]

I left all the dip switches in the down position. Looking at the weather coming overnight I will see what detections if any I get with the storms being closer or overhead.

[Aircub]

Well last night had lightning overhead and nothing shown on the WH57 so guess I have a faulty unit.

[Gyvate]

where did you place the sensor ?
Mine is outdoors under some plastic protection shielding.

You can try to create a fake lightning event - when I produce a flash with my camera directly in front of it, it usually shows a lightning event (sometimes 2-3 flashes are needed).

When it detects an event, the window with the flash symbol on it is lit (some yellowish colour) - may take some time for the response - see sensor reporting intervals.

Did you use fully charged batteries ?
Did you observe the proper direction when inserting the batteries ?

[Aircub]

Here is my location on the pole with my Wittboy.



When you say camera Flash do you mean an actual camera or can a iPhone Flash work?

It is power and showing as powered up on my App

[Gyvate]

I use the inbuilt flash of an actually already older (10 years) Samsung camera - but a smartphone flash could also work. It needs to produce a signal in the 500 kHz band. Some say even the flash of a lighter can do the job (but I've no idea what type of lighter they are talking about).

[Aircub]

Okay, but considering the lighting last night was overhead and my Tempest recorded loads of strikes, I guess I have a faulty unit

[broadstairs]

Some say even the flash of a lighter can do the job (but I've no idea what type of lighter they are talking about).

Anything which causes a spark should do it.

Stuart

[davidefa]

The first image you posted says: 'no data for nearly 2 hours'
I don't know what does this mean but I suspect you could have connection problems between sensor and gateway
Try to move it indoor near a 'an rf noise source', a switching power regulator should do, it should start recording strikes ( lot of 'noise strikes' but also 'good strikes' )

[DelChard]

Aircub
I'm not far from you, and my WH57 performed very well in that storm.
To test, you could place near laptop or mobile phone.
Mine triggered accidentally with both.
I believe you need to remove and replace batteries for any dip switch settings to take effect.
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[Mapantz]

Definitely a faulty unit. I picked up circa 300 strikes in a 24 hour period. My detector is a pre-production unit, and it's the only Ecowitt device that hasn't suffered a death.

I can trigger it with a TV remote pointing at it from about a foot away.

[Aircub]

Okay spoken to support and they told me to remove the WH57 from my pole mount as it was too close to my wittboy.

So with it down I tested the unit with a electric spark generator and I got the Red LED show up on the WH57 but no recordings on the app. So still wondering if I have a defective unit, maybe it detects but does not transmit this data.

One thing can someone tell me if I have the DIP switches in the correct place

[Gyvate]

that's the so-called standard or default setting - which works with many
still, there is the possibility of changing the settings to adapt to special location situation.

[BoDuke]

Yes, you have the switches in the correct (down/off) position to start with.  Have you tried removing the batteries for a few seconds and putting them back in?  As others have said, any switch changes require the unit to be power-cycled for the settings to take effect.  Even if you haven't changed them, it wouldn't hurt to power-cycle it for troubleshooting purposes.

Once you try it with the switches all down, you could try changing them.  Don't forget it's best practice to remove the batteries, change the switches, and then replace the batteries.

[Mapantz]

I'm just wondering if both units are on the same frequency?

[Gyvate]

I'm just wondering if both units are on the same frequency?

I assume that by "both units" you mean the sensor and the console.
And they have to be - in both meanings of the expression:
otherwise the battery info and the sensor itself wouldn't appear in the Ecowitt cloud. The console must have posted the sensor info which it has received from the sensor. If the sensor appears in the Ecowitt cloud (and in the WS View app - live data and sensorsID), the sensor sends on the same frequency on which the console receives.