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Stormscope wx1000+ complete system


Alan Fox

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  • 5 weeks later...

The WX1000 is series II and is basically the same as current production hardware, without the 16k price. I installed it with the cables and pins I bought firm valentine aviation. Also rented the crimper and pin removal tool from him.  Took 3 days. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Like Zulle I have an older version, but the WX 7A that I've never used and cant get it to actually do anything so I assume its inop.  I see that the newer version has to be completely be swapped out with all hardware.

I've never used a storm scope (or flown in wx that required it) but have a question about storm scopes in general as far as usefulness goes.

With our Garmin's and our Avidyne's, our iPads, Stratus, etc  that have wx in great detail, what's different about these storm scopes that would warrant me upgrading from what I currently have?   Please understand I am sincerely curious and not downing the older hardware.  To be honest I see in the AOPA VRef I get an add-on for having the WX 1000 and I get 0 for my WX 7A.    I would like to upgrade but need some reasoning.   Thanks All

 

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Like Zulle I have an older version, but the WX 7A that I've never used and cant get it to actually do anything so I assume its inop.  I see that the newer version has to be completely be swapped out with all hardware. I've never used a storm scope (or flown in wx that required it) but have a question about storm scopes in general as far as usefulness goes.

With our Garmin's and our Avidyne's, our iPads, Stratus, etc  that have wx in great detail, what's different about these storm scopes that would warrant me upgrading from what I currently have?   Please understand I am sincerely curious and not downing the older hardware.  To be honest I see in the AOPA VRef I get an add-on for having the WX 1000 and I get 0 for my WX 7A.    I would like to upgrade but need some reasoning.   Thanks All

 

 

 

Let me start with that the main difference between FIS-B weather and the StormScope is that the latter is current activity and the former can have some delays in it. Weather on FIS-B is precipitation (I think I read somewhere lighting information is or might be coming) but you need to remember that what you are seeing on your iPad may be dated and making a weather decision on that can be a hazard to you. AOPA posted a video on an accident where this happened in Texas.

 

The older lightning detection stuff had some limitations. One of the biggest was radial spread. This equipment picks up electrical discharges. On my old WX-8, if a strong storm was 80 miles out, it would light up all of the quadrants from 0 miles out to full scale. Sort of like this:

 

450cf340622388593818fd4a94159acc.jpg

 

The newer stuff like my WX-500 has both a strike and cell mode. The cell mode is useful because it shows clusters of lightning activity which are commonly found in thunderstorms. Here is a shot of a storm that is out 100 miles from my plane. The StormScope is shown in cell mode (+ signs are used to denote cell activities) and you will see a rate count of these strikes. The higher the number, the more active it is. This storm is a long way out and not very active, although it was in a building mode and I deviated.

 

0112d044af890c716f487bc111374441.jpg

 

Here is a good example of a storm that has no lightning activity but just heavy rain. This is what I am seeing on my iPad using actual internet weather from my cell phone:

 

66d9a38cba68616796ba13a9760b0db0.jpg

 

This is what is showing on my Aspen MFD. The MFD is showing the same weather as the internet weather showing on my iPad but it is FIS-B being fed in from my Lynx 9000. There is no lightning activity as indicated by the lack of strikes on the MFD and a “0” rate shown on the bottom of the MFD display:

 

42d5a504935d1424f1626f73e3c2a6e0.jpg

 

And this is what it looked like out the window. If you were flying in clouds at this point and only saw the FIS-B display you probably would have deviated. The StormScope gives you more information that helps you understand what you are dealing with. Hope this helps:

 

9454411de925ece2616dd7b9536bbcde.jpg

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

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Marauder,  Thank you for the very detailed explanation of the differences. That helped me a lot to understand its value and the possible latency of the FIS-b wx broadcasts.  I have to also say that I'm somewhat smitten by your panel ! ha  My '80 231, bless her little heart is all original but that's about to change.  Perhaps this can be just of her updates.  If I can ask, which of the PS Eng comm panel is that?  I've been looking at those as well, and will probably opt for the -8000BT.

I am wondering if my current antenna cable will work for the WX 1000 installation?  I understand form above that the wiring, antenna will not work, but that would save running at least the antenna cable. I suspect it would not since materials, etc improve over the product lifecycle.

Thank you again !  It was great to see the different information systems at work showing the different returns, all to make a better informed decision.

 

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15 minutes ago, TargetDriver said:

Marauder,  Thank you for the very detailed explanation of the differences. That helped me a lot to understand its value and the possible latency of the FIS-b wx broadcasts.  I have to also say that I'm somewhat smitten by your panel ! ha  My '80 231, bless her little heart is all original but that's about to change.  Perhaps this can be just of her updates.  If I can ask, which of the PS Eng comm panel is that?  I've been looking at those as well, and will probably opt for the -8000BT.

I am wondering if my current antenna cable will work for the WX 1000 installation?  I understand form above that the wiring, antenna will not work, but that would save running at least the antenna cable. I suspect it would not since materials, etc improve over the product lifecycle.

Thank you again !  It was great to see the different information systems at work showing the different returns, all to make a better informed decision.

 

If your original wiring is there, you can probably re-use it. Personally, after replacing all of the RG-58 in my plane with RG-400 due to ongoing issues, I would just have new wiring installed. More expensive upfront but less aggravating if you are troubleshooting it afterwards.

The PS Engineering in the picture is the 8000BT. I have since replaced it with a 450B. The 8000BT I think has been replaced with the 8000G (not positive). My plane has been updated a few times since that top picture. The Narco is gone along with the PSE unit. 


There are mixed thoughts on the value of StormScopes. Personally, I think they add a margin of safety for summer flying. There are times you will be in the clouds and looking at precip and just not quite sure whether it is really nasty or not. That is why I said if you were just looking at the FIS-B, you would probably deviate. But what if you had a bunch of areas like above? Nice to know that you can head in a direction without expecting it to be an encounter with a thunderstorm. In addition, I find that if I see a few strikes but no cells, the ride may be bumpier because I am looking at either a very immature storm or one that has pooped out. Either way, good supplemental information.

The WX1000 posted above is a solid unit. If you find yourself limited with panel space, the remote mounted WX-500 may make more sense. You can pair it up with your own display. In my case, I can display it on the Aspen, the GTN or the Lynx 9000.

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  • 1 month later...
On 11/7/2017 at 1:16 PM, TargetDriver said:

Like Zulle I have an older version, but the WX 7A that I've never used and cant get it to actually do anything so I assume its inop.  I see that the newer version has to be completely be swapped out with all hardware.

I've never used a storm scope (or flown in wx that required it) but have a question about storm scopes in general as far as usefulness goes.

With our Garmin's and our Avidyne's, our iPads, Stratus, etc  that have wx in great detail, what's different about these storm scopes that would warrant me upgrading from what I currently have?   Please understand I am sincerely curious and not downing the older hardware.  To be honest I see in the AOPA VRef I get an add-on for having the WX 1000 and I get 0 for my WX 7A.    I would like to upgrade but need some reasoning.   Thanks All

 

Targerdriver, if you do decide to get another one the only thing I would add is to keep in mind that there's a "HUGE" difference between series I and II stormscopes. They all give you distance to electrical discharges. But since plotted distance to electrical discharges is a function of their intensity, and Series I assume all electrical discharges are the same intensity (which is simply not the case), this causes a cluttered presentation. It's what's called radial spread. Because in reality a thunderstorm has strikes of varying intensities the way it is plotted on series I scopes is misleading. The lower intensity discharges are plotted as being farther away than they really are and the higher intensity ones are shown as being closer than they really are. Series II have solved this.

The differences among series II boxes are not as great as those between I and II. My personal preference is a stormscope that has its own dedicated display. 

For these reasons I have retained my WX900 in my panel.

 

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@TargetDriver, like Peter I like the stand alone display. You might want to try a search for several threads on Stormescopes vs. other on board weather info. 

I have a WX 900 and trust it completely to keep me out of trouble. This pic of the GTN shows some cloud cover and a lot of traffic in addition to navigation info - pretty cluttered. 

IMG_20130728_122821_487.jpg

IMG_20130720_134352_832.jpg

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I too have a WX1000 in my little E.  I rarely use it, but it is worth its weight in gold when I do need it.  As others have said, it is real time.  One other thing I have found is that it will depict a developing cell, while nexrad may not see it yet because there is not yet visible moisture.  This is not quite the same as the delay in nexrad, it just doesn’t see it, while the storms scope may pick up on the advanced electrical activity.  I wish I had pictures like the others do, but I have observed it numerous times while flying visual down south.  I think the storm scope is a nice compliment to FIS-B or XM.  

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