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Table of Contents
What lightning detector hardware is supported?The Boltek StormTracker ISA, the Boltek StormTracker PCI, the Boltek LD-250. The StormTracker hardware is required though for the different stroke types (CG, IC) to be displayed. Also, if you are using the StormTracker ISA card with Windows XP or Windows 2000, you will need to install the Lightning/2000 device driver. What is the procedure for reporting a problem?Send an email to support@aninoquisi.com with the following information in it: What kind of machine are you running it on? (Include the name of the processor, how fast it is, how much memory you have, the operating system). What are the version numbers of Lightning/2000™ components? Check the About box (Help | About...) to view this information. Are you running any other software at the same time as Lightning/2000™? Include anti-virus software, any screen capture program you're using, and any other program that runs in the background all the time. Exactly what were the circumstances surrounding the occurrence of the problem? Back to top
I installed the software, but it's not detecting lightingYou must purchase the software in order to use it with your Boltek™ lightning detector. If you have a Boltek system already installed, then check the Hardware Options dialog (choose Options | Hardware... from the main menu). Ensure that the hardware is enabled, and that the correct type of hardware is selected. If you are using the LD-250, ensure that the correct COM port is selected. Back to top
What kind of machine do I need to run the software?To detect lightning with the Boltek™ hardware, you'll need at least a Pentium processor. We recommend at least 64Mb of memory, but any machine that can run Windows95® should be able to run Lightning/2000™. It will run under any current version of Windows, as well as Windows98®. We recommend at least a Pentium 200 MHz processor for use with version 4. Back to top
What kind of lightning is detected by Lightning/2000™?All kinds of lightning (cloud-to-cloud, cloud-to-ground, positive, and negative strokes) are detected by Lightning/2000™. Additionally, two special stroke types, the compact intercloud discharge and the leader are detected from nearby storms. The stroke type differentiation works only with the StormTracker hardware, not the LD-250 (except for those flashes that are determined to be nearby flashes). Back to top
Why does it pause sometimes when playing an archive?The brief pause occurs when Lightning/2000™ performs an analysis of the lightning strokes to come up with the storm analysis display. No playback data is lost during this pause. The pause is most noticeable on slower machines when the stroke rate is very high. Back to top
How far away can it detect lightning?It depends on the intensity of the storm and the kind of terrain between your detector and the storm. Also, you'll get better "reception" at night. Stronger storms can be detected further away and flat terrain between you and the storm gives you a better chance of "seeing" the storm. Generally, storms within 300 miles will be detected easily. Intense storms have been detected over 600 miles (1000 km) away. Back to top
Why are the archive files so big?The archive files you can download are among the biggest we've seen over the last few months. Most daily archives will be much smaller. Lightning/2000™ stores more data for each lightning stroke. This is done for several reasons, but the bottom line is that you will have be able to replay any daily archive and it will appear nearly exactly as it did when the data was "live". Furthermore you can play back archive files with different settings for the range scaling and observe the results these different settings have. Back to top
The analysis window is slow to redraw when I zoom in or out.You probably have an older computer. The background map contains a lot of elements that have to be drawn. You could try loading the "sparse" version of the map. This should speed things up to an acceptable level. Back to top
How can I post Lightning/2000 images to the web?An automatic FTP capability is built-in to Lightning/2000. An image of the Real-time Lightning window, the Stroke Rate History graph, the NOWCast and the Summary may be uploaded to your website. Also, any of these images may be attached to an automatically generated email message that can be sent to any number of recipients. Click here for more details. Back to top
The detector is picking up bogus strokes -- what do I do?We've seen cases where certain electrical devices (dimmer switches have been implicated) can cause a flood of "ghost" strokes. These "strokes" are usually at a fairly low amplitude (check the detector activity window to verify this). Increasing the squelch level could eliminate those "strokes", but be careful -- don't increase the squelch beyond the minimum to keep those "strokes" from being picked up. You could also try to determine the source of the noise and take steps to deal with it at the source, such as putting a piece of metal between it and the detector's antenna. Back to top
Why does Lightning/2000™ seem to be taking up the entire processor?Lightning/2000™ performs nearly all of its processing using the "Idle" process. This means that whenever the computer isn't busy doing something more important, Lightning/2000™ is checking the lightning detection hardware to see if a stroke has occurred recently and updating the display. Since the "Idle" process has the lowest priority, any other program you are running will execute in preference to the lightning detector software. If you check the processor utilization while Lightning/2000™ is the only software running, you will invariably find that it is using nearly 100% of the processor's capacity. This is not a problem, and in fact is a good way to ensure that Lightning/2000™ does not monopolize your computer when other applications are running. With version 3.3 and higher of Lightning/2000™, the processor usage is optimized so that if there is not significant lightning activity, very little of the CPU is used. Back to top
Can I install a new version without first uninstalling the old version first?Yes. Back to top
Can I edit the supplied background map?No. The ML2 format is a proprietary one; however a map editor may become available in the future. Back to top
Can the software be "tuned" so that the plotting of strokes is more accurate?Yes. Use the "Range scaling" dialog by choosing "Range scaling" from the "Options" menu. Some detail on the range scaling feature can be found by clicking here. The latest help file also contains some information on this feature. Back to top
Why is the screen shot of Lightning/2000™ posted on my website "scrunched"?You need to check the HTML on the web page to make sure that you are displaying the screen shot image in its native resolution. If you force the image to be drawn at a certain size, it could look like it has been squeezed. Back to top
I want to use Lightning/2000 and the Boltek StormTracker ISA card with Windows XP or Windows 2000.You will need to install the Lightning/2000 device driver. Click here for instructions. Back to top
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