Topic: Lightning detector

[KC5JIM]

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.

[Waimarie]

Can anyone tell me if the lightening detector shows up on any of the public weather sites we use apart from ecowitt.net ? 

Thanks

[Mandrake]

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

[Mandrake]

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

[casacota]

From Ecowitt support: the daily lightning count reset time is being fixed and they will release tomorrow a new firmware version.

Really great support!

[Mapantz]

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.

[OldAlaskaGuy]

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.

[looney2ns]

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.

[GeraltLK]

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

[K5GHS]

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.

[Mapantz]

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.

[LeeS]

You've noticed that ambientweather.net now shows a spot for lightning?   

[Mapantz]

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!

[OldAlaskaGuy]

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.

[Mandrake]

Have you tried adjusting your settings?

http://www.ecowitt.com/upfile/202002/WH57%20Manual.pdf

[OldAlaskaGuy]

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.

[BeaverMeadow]

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.

[Mapantz]

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?

[galfert]

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.

[Mandrake]

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.

[casacota]

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.

[Mandrake]

Extremely valid point that's hard to argue with!

[Waimarie]

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?   

[galfert]

Just thinking about how they work.... I get the RF noise bit, but how do they calculate the distance?   

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.

[Mandrake]

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.