PSA: Lighting Detector Ecowitt WH57 vs Ambient Weather WH31L
I wanted to share this in case it helps anyone else dealing with false lightning detections from the Ecowitt WH57.
I recently bought the Ecowitt WH57 lightning detector to use with my Ecowitt GW3000 gateway/base station. Unfortunately, I had a lot of issues with phantom lightning strikes. I tried several troubleshooting steps, including changing the DIP switches to the lowest gain/sensitivity setting, relocating the sensor away from the house, and even moving it 100' into the woods. Some of those changes helped a little, but I was still getting many false positives even when there was clearly no lightning nearby.
After reading that the Ambient Weather WH31L might be compatible with Ecowitt, I decided to return the WH57 and try the WH31L instead. It was more expensive, but it worked perfectly with my GW3000. The gateway detected it immediately and so far I am not getting any phantom false positive lightning strikes. It has been a much better experience than the WH57 for me.
Hopefully this helps someone else who is fighting the same issue.
TL;DR: If you are using an Ecowitt GW3000 and are having trouble with the WH57 giving false lightning strikes, the Ambient Weather WH31L may be worth trying. I can’t guarantee it will work for everyone or every Ecowitt console/gateway, but it paired immediately with my GW3000 and has been stable so far.