I’m currently using the lightning2000 file format which is fed by a RPi script. However, I can’t get 100% correct data (lightning strikes and timing) in the WD.
I would propose a generic and simple lightning log option which would read a file (e.g. “file1”) every minute. That “file1” would contain number of strikes in last minute. The script in the RPi would simply update that file with the value for the last minute.
My specific configuration is:
RPi reads lightning strikes, writes a log
WD downloads a log file every minute from RPi
WD would read the file
To avoid copying a file, a great option would be WD simply fetches the file through RPi’s web server.
What I have is:
AS3935 connected to a RPi’s GPIO. A python script talks to the AS3935 and writes (log) files I use for my analysis and plots. Same RPi is a web server where WD downloads the lightning files from and includes them onto my weather page.
Right now, I generate 4 files with this content:
file1 … total strikes today
file2 … number of strikes in last minute (updated once per minute via cron)
file3 … timestamp of last strike (updates when there’s lightning)
file4 … a file that contains time column (10min steps) + number of strikes within 10min steps
… and I have a raw log with timestamps, distance and energy.
My proposal was if WD was able to read “file2” and store it into WD’s database. It would be easy to plot/make further analyses.
unrelated: I like how WD reads the AQI data (via json). This way, there’s no downloading of files, etc. If similar could be done for the lightning, that would be great.
Another proposal (to users): since the HB lightning board is not available anymore, the AS3935 with Arduino Nano would be a great alternative. It can be connected to a PC via USB directly (or to a RPi somewhere outside). I use it (the AS3935) both with Arduino and RPi and like how it works.
Perhaps there is alternative and better option.
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