Lightning detector WH57 from Ecowitt

[Dador]

Hi,

I noticed recently that Ecowitt added 2 new storm information.

1 Hour minimum strike distance (1 Hr min) and Daily minimum strike distance (Daily min).

Values ​​only appear when lightning is registered.
Question. Is there a chance that CMX will also read this data in the future and show it in the Extra sensors tab and create internet tags?

[Mapantz]

Strange additions. The distance data is so sketchy at best. I've picked up lightning at 80 miles and picked up no lightning with an overhead storm. I've also only counted 5 different distances, so a min/max distance seems pointless.

[watsonm]

The distance data is so sketchy at best. I've picked up lightning at 80 miles and picked up no lightning with an overhead storm. I've also only counted 5 different distances, so a min/max distance seems pointless.

I agree, while monitoring blitzortung and my own WH31L at the same time, the distance returned doesn't seem to be particularly accurate.

[HansR]

@Dador: could you explain where you see those values or how to obtain those, I don't seem to have those on ecowitt.net or anywhere else?

[Dador]

Hans,

as I mentioned, this data only appears when the WH57 detector registers a lightning discharge.

Here is a link to my data, where (just today) you can see what I wrote about.
https://www.ecowitt.net/home/share?authorize=X2KD7Y&device_id=Z2Z6aTFoS1RLK29QMXBVamxDWnZmUT09

Thunderstorms are expected in my area in the near future, so I'll try to take a screenshot of both values.

EDIT:
As announced, it adds a screen with additional information about the storm.

[HansR]

@Dador: OK, thanks, I understand.

So we have the lowest distance per day, per hour and current. Actually they can be calculated (approx.) by yourself if you log the lightning in a custom log. But I agree that would take a lot of work and is approximate as the 79 seconds transmit frequency would be an approximation when there is a lot of lightning.

A custom log does an incremental logging per day for the number of strikes and the distance figure for the same interval would probably be the last distance measured. The minimum would therefore always be an estimate if calculated this way.

But I agree that with high strike frequency (big thunderstorms) it may be an interesting estimate of how close it did get.

[watsonm]

Hans,
The 79 second transmit frequency is only for the quiescent state. If there are several bursts of lightning the data gets tranmitted immediately

Here is a dump from my sql database of lightning hits last year and as you can see they are all within a 79 second span.

Code: Select all

Timestamp
2022-09-05 19:00:03.000
2022-09-05 19:00:18.000
2022-09-05 19:00:44.000

[HansR]

Hans,
The 79 second transmit frequency is only for the quiescent state. If there are several bursts of lightning the data gets tranmitted immediately

Here is a dump from my sql database of lightning hits last year and as you can see they are all within a 79 second span.

Code: Select all

Timestamp
2022-09-05 19:00:03.000
2022-09-05 19:00:18.000
2022-09-05 19:00:44.000

Mike,

Thanks, interesting, though I am aware you made your own comms with the WH57, I am not sure about how CMX gets its data. I don't think it picks it up whenever a strike occurs.

[Mapantz]

Mike,
Thanks, interesting, though I am aware you made your own comms with the WH57, I am not sure about how CMX gets its data. I don't think it picks it up whenever a strike occurs.

There was an update to the GW1100 some time ago which allows lightning strikes to be sent through faster. Back in October last year, I was recording 10 strikes in less than a minute and CMX was updating just as fast.

[HansR]

Ok, but a custom log has 1 minute as highest frequency, if you don't use that you need to do the realtime through api/webtag querying yourself. Any other method?

[Mapantz]

I simply use the webtags to show updates at 3 second intervals. I only log the daily total at rollover.

[mcrossley]

I've not seen any documented changes to the API, so it may be ecowitt.net that is providing the figures. Do they appear on the GW1100 web interface?

[Dador]

I've not seen any documented changes to the API, so it may be ecowitt.net that is providing the figures. Do they appear on the GW1100 web interface?

I use the GW1000 gateway and unfortunately I do not have this new information there. Maybe they will appear with a software update. However, it is the oldest internet gateway and is updated quite rarely .

[broadstairs]

I have a GW2000, GW1100 and GW1000 and none show that additional information on the Ecowitt server but my daily count is zero, so I'll try to remember to check next time we have a storm. I suspect this is created on their server.

Stuart