Boltek Enclosure

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Tornado Tim
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Boltek Enclosure

Unread post by Tornado Tim »

On my quest to get a boltek I decided to hit the ground running by making my own enclosure for it.

Instead paying $120.00 US for bolteks version I paid $90 NZ and made my own, LOL

PVC is not cheap here! if I was going to use a curved cap (used in most US installations) it would cost a whopping $40 for just that part!

To cut a long story short, I got my parts at plumbing world and at a price way less than quoted at bunnings!

I am thinking of siting the boltek (once I have it) on top of the UHF arial (around 1.5 meters from metallic parts underneath it)

It shouldn't need guide wires (as we hardly ever get a gale here) but would like to know if it would be advisable.

Here is some pics of the proposed siting and enclosure.
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Re: Boltek Enclosure

Unread post by jamie »

Tim, i cant remember if you have seen where mine is but i have mine on the TV arial it it works fine.

Oh and to let you know i should be back up and running on Tuesday. They have replaced the faulty parts and will be running more tests this weekend to be 100% sure. Sure has taken a long time though :mad:
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Re: Boltek Enclosure

Unread post by ricky »

Looks great! mine's only about 600mm above the metal pipe so I dont think you'll have a problem. Screws or other metalic items within cms of the antenna box can problematic.
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Re: Boltek Enclosure

Unread post by Tornado Tim »

Jamie, No I didnt think you showed me but good to know that place is good for it :)

Yea Ricky, I have to find a place to get some nylon screws, numerous ppl have told me dont get metallic screws as they can cause havoc with ranging and reflections.
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Re: Boltek Enclosure

Unread post by ricky »

Jaycar in Hamilton will have a few sizes of nylon nuts and bolts..
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Re: Boltek Enclosure

Unread post by jamie »

how far away are you from having this running tim? we are probably too close eachother to have a great effect on having better correlation of NZ strikes but the more the better i suppose
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Re: Boltek Enclosure

Unread post by Tornado Tim »

Id say 3 months or so, need more $ to be saved ;)

I wont be using Nexstorm however, I will be using Lightning 2000.
This means I wont be of use in the correlation network.
I chose Lightning 2000 as I was speaking to kaimaikid and I couldn't believe how the developer of nexstorm would disable your nexstorm copy (one that you pay around $150 for) if you dont sell your copy of nexstorm and the boltek together. Which means he can disable your copy at anytime (for whatever reason).

I have already made a display script for the lightning data (data will be ajaxed and the map will be automatically updated 1nce per min)

The display script will be publicly available soon once I have some documentation for it ;)
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Re: Boltek Enclosure

Unread post by Richard »

Excuse my ignorance here as i know little about Boltek Lightning Detectors but can they detect sleet lightening :-k
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Re: Boltek Enclosure

Unread post by NZ Thunderstorm Soc »

Is that an orange or lemon tree behind the detector with fruit on the ground?

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Re: Boltek Enclosure

Unread post by Tornado Tim »

Richard wrote:Excuse my ignorance here as i know little about Boltek Lightning Detectors but can they detect sleet lightening :-k
Should be able to detect most forms of lightning.

It scans the lower frequency range of the radio spectrum and picks up any disturbance that happens when a strike occurs.
Is that an orange or lemon tree behind the detector with fruit on the ground?
Thats a tangelo tree, there are way way too may atm, I have been juicing them.
A Lemon tree is behind the tangelo tree too ;)
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Re: Boltek Enclosure

Unread post by Richard »

NZ Thunderstorm Soc wrote:Is that an orange or lemon tree behind the detector with fruit on the ground?

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you after some cuttings John, lol
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Re: Boltek Enclosure

Unread post by NZ Thunderstorm Soc »

Tornado Tim wrote: Thats a tangelo tree, there are way way too may atm, I have been juicing them.
A Lemon tree is behind the tangelo tree too ;)
Nice one Tim, thanks :D

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Re: Boltek Enclosure

Unread post by iomkiwi »

Tornado Tim wrote: I paid $90 NZ and made my own, LOL
That's a bit extravagant isn't it? I stuck mine in a $3.00 tupperware type container! :lol:

That's it just below the wind gear, which is on a wooden extension to an aluminium pole.Boltek would be about 8m above ground level.
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Re: Boltek Enclosure

Unread post by Tornado Tim »

iomkiwi wrote: That's a bit extravagant isn't it? I stuck mine in a $3.00 tupperware type container! :lol:

That's it just below the wind gear, which is on a wooden extension to an aluminium pole.Boltek would be about 8m above ground level.
I didnt have anything non metallic to stick it on so i had to get a good length of PVC pipe to get it to a height that will give more scope of the area.
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Re: Boltek Enclosure

Unread post by iomkiwi »

I'm lucky - coming from a boating/building background, and being a hoarder, there is always something somewhere that will do the job.
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Re: Boltek Enclosure

Unread post by kaimaikid »

One thing Tim, you may want to sleeve the pvc pipe with either a inner or outer piece to strengthen it from bending/warping in the hot summer sun.

Can't remember what I did with my enclosure.
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Re: Boltek Enclosure

Unread post by Tornado Tim »

Boltek just gave me an email saying if I were to buy a Boltek PCI they said it will cost me $86 US to ship!
At the current exchange rate thats: $113 just for shipping the thing!

Yet Provantage have it at $38 US for shipping.
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