Got no chance of getting an early xmas prezzy!!, the better half keeps saying, “you only have to wait another week” #-o
I tried & failed, oh well…
Ok I have looked at the pic, many thanks hydrowx, I also see that there is a couple on installs in the attic using plastic piping, is that the way to go cos all I was gonna do was screw the sensor to one of the wooden beams, so do I need to install the sensor on plastic piping? I need to get as much info cos the shops are gonna be shut over xmas, so I can get all the hardware now, don’t think the wife will like the idea of me being up in the attic on xmas day…
Cor! that will be a 1st, xmas dinner in the attic!!! 8O
I have mine installed as Jim did, just on a wall in an upstairs bedroom. I think a lot of people install it on plastic pipe in order to get it facing North. I just put in an offset from North. It’s actually 70 degrees out but tracks well with others in the area. If you set it up to work with WDL you’ll have to enter the offset in both places.
This might sound bizarre but as my PC room faces North i have “blue tacked” the antennae to the Window glass butting the wooden frame…It seems to work well, and has been like that for months…one day it will go in the attic…(maybe)…the plastic pipe method I assume is just for non ferrous/metal support and the ability to easily adjust for direction…Don’t use metal screws just tie-wrap to whatever is the support…However, in addition there is, as Dave said…an offset direction adjust (deg from N) in the Nextstorm software…
Don’t you get any probs with interference from your monitor? like the idea about keeping it in the study, my study faces north too, & sticking it to the window with blue tack, cor what a great idea.
For me I didn’t even use the 50 foot cable that came with it. I just used a CAT5 cable that came with a router. I extended it as high as I could get it above the computer/monitors about 6’ I’d guess. Haven’t had any problems with false strikes or any or issues.
Miy Ae is about 8ft above the floor level…well above all the electrical items…but my ceiling is up at 14ft and my PC room is in the 2nd floor of the chatteau, sorry house…It’s a Georgian (grade 1 listed) and 200 years young…aggghhhh…
I don’t get any interference from the PC systems and like Dave have this great coil of 50 ft of cable…to cover a distance of about 9ft, but unlike Dave had not thought about replacing it with a shorter length of Cat5 cable. :oops:…I do get detections up to about 800 miles or so in the correct direction, comparing to StrikeStar etc…
Not immediately…It was very much plug and play situation for me… I deliberately haven’t gone live with the Boltek yet as it is on my 2nd (non Wx PC)…and Strikestar like to have 24/7 input if you join them…I’m really just watching what happens for the time being with it…Although I’m getting legitimate mid and long range detections there has not been a thunderstorm within a 150 miles or less of me to see what happens with closer results :x :x Maybe the spring will bring some TS’s closer to me…Not too close though…another reason for me to just have a large coverage map
Try not to use metal anywhere in a 2 metre radius however small, the reason why? Every metal object refracts the radio waves so even a screw near the attena could refract an imcoming lightning signal and as this hits the attena it could come in at the wrong angle giving a correct distance but wrong heading. Obviously the more mettalic objects within 5 metres can do this unless the attena is above it all.
Then you have to think about interference from any electical cabling apps etc, so all tis points to mounting as high as possible away as far away from mettalic objects as possible
Well looks like I’m down B&Q (hardware store) tomorrow for all my plastic bits, so I’m ready for xmas :lol:
While I’m down there is there anything else I’ll need?
Then as it says ‘make sure IPC gate is enabled in Nexstorm’. I’m not on that machine at the moment but there is a setting to just tick in Nexstorm too.
Hi Tony, where did you get your plastic bolts, u bolts etc from??
I have to say my local DIY stores were useless for all things plastic, in the end i used lots of old bits i had in my celler. Couldnt find nylon bolts anywhere (u bolts etc) nor all the pvc pipe fittings (did find some but only for 2", just too big for my mast construction) for making an arm to attach onto the main pole on my roof.
So its now housed in some old sewer vent pipe i had (7") with cable ties holding it to the pipe, may not be the best solution but im afraid unless your very lucky and find all the bits you’ll have to really improvise. Seems like here in the U.K all things like this carnt be found at the local DIY store, unlike the states.
Never the less as i said, get that grey matter going and you’ll soon find a solution. What makes a housing (and construction) so tricky is not being able to use any metal no matter how small within about 2 meters (5 even better) of the attena.
Gr8 stuff, found the settings in WD, so no problem there, when I fire up Nexstorm, on top of the graph you a have tool bar with an options menu, do you Press the options button->Flashgate IPC-> & enable IPC Strike & IPC Trac? Is that it?
Well don’t laugh, I got the plastic nuts & bolts from Halfords, you know the ones I mean, they hold your number plates on, only problem was they only come in white or that orange colour, that’s gonna hold the sensor to the plastic pipe & the plastic bracket to the wooden beam in the loft (attic)
The plastic pipe is standard electrial half inch conduit pipe with plastic u bolts, the u bolts are the ones that secure the pipe to the walls when you’re doing DIY stuff, they come in packs of 10 & you’ll find them with the conduit pipe, u bend & T bends. :D/ hope that’s gonna do the job!! Also got some long cable ties just in case.
My sensor will be living in the loft, I take it yours is outside?
I deliberately haven’t gone live with the Boltek yet as it is on my 2nd (non Wx PC)…and Strikestar like to have 24/7 input if you join them…I’m really just watching what happens for the time being with it…Although I’m getting legitimate mid and long range detections there has not been a thunderstorm within a 150 miles or less of me to see what happens with closer results :x :x Maybe the spring will bring some TS’s closer to me…Not too close though…another reason for me to just have a large coverage map 
