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Alex Wulff
Published © CC BY-NC-SA

Personal Lightning Detector

Build your own lightning detector that's smaller, more customizable, and cheaper than a commercial one!

BeginnerFull instructions provided3 hours8,163
Personal Lightning Detector

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Beetle - The Smallest Arduino
DFRobot Beetle - The Smallest Arduino
×1
DFRobot Lightning Sensor
×1
DFRobot LiPoly Charger
×1
Small Piezo Buzzer
×1
500 mAh Lipoly
×1
Slide Switch
Slide Switch
×1

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Soldering iron (generic)
Soldering iron (generic)
Hot glue gun (generic)
Hot glue gun (generic)
Wire Strippers (generic)

Story

Read more

Custom parts and enclosures

CaseTop

CaseBottom

Schematics

Device Circuit

Code

Lightning

Arduino
/*
 * Original Sketch from DFRobot.com
 * Modified by Alex Wulff (www.AlexWulff.com)
 * on 7/25/19
 */

#include "Lib_I2C.h"
#include "DFRobot_AS3935_I2C.h"

#define AS3935_CAPACITANCE  96
// Indoor/outdoor mode selection
#define AS3935_INDOORS      0
#define AS3935_OUTDOORS     1
#define AS3935_MODE         AS3935_INDOORS
// Enable/disable disturber detection
#define AS3935_DIST_DIS     0
#define AS3935_DIST_EN      1
#define AS3935_DIST         AS3935_DIST_EN
// I2C address
#define AS3935_I2C_ADDR     AS3935_ADD3

#define IRQ_PIN             0
#define BUZZ                11
#define LIGHT               13

void AS3935_ISR();
DFRobot_AS3935_I2C  lightning0((uint8_t)IRQ_PIN, (uint8_t)AS3935_I2C_ADDR);

// Needs to be voltatile because this variable is accessed in an ISR
volatile int8_t AS3935_ISR_Trig = 0;

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(115200);
  Serial.println("Lightning Sensor Start");

  I2c.begin();
  I2c.pullup(true);
  I2c.setSpeed(1);
  delay(2);

  lightning0.defInit();
  lightning0.manualCal(AS3935_CAPACITANCE, AS3935_MODE, AS3935_DIST);
  attachInterrupt(digitalPinToInterrupt(IRQ_PIN), AS3935_ISR, RISING);

  pinMode(BUZZ, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(LIGHT, OUTPUT);
}

void loop()
{
  // blink light while waiting for lightning
  while (AS3935_ISR_Trig == 0) {
    digitalWrite(13, HIGH); 
    delay(700); 
    digitalWrite(13, LOW); 
    delay(200);
  }
  
  delay(5);

  // Reset interrupt flag variable
  AS3935_ISR_Trig = 0;
  
  // Get interrupt source
  uint8_t int_src = lightning0.getInterruptSrc();

  // lightning nearby
  if (int_src == 1) {
    uint8_t lightning_dist_km = lightning0.getLightningDistKm();

    if (lightning_dist_km == 1) {
      Serial.println("Lightning overhead!");
    }
    
    else if ((lightning_dist_km >= 5) && (lightning_dist_km <= 40)) {
      Serial.println("Lightning occurs!");
      Serial.print("Distance: ");
      Serial.print(lightning_dist_km);
      Serial.println(" km");
    }
    
    else if (lightning_dist_km == 0x3F){
      Serial.println("Out of range.");
    }

    // Get lightning energy intensity
    uint32_t lightning_energy_val = lightning0.getStrikeEnergyRaw();
    Serial.print("Intensity: ");
    Serial.print(lightning_energy_val);
    Serial.println("");

    // round to nearest tens place
    float distf = (float)lightning_dist_km;
    int dist_tens = (int)roundf(distf / 10);
    
    // buzz to get attention
    for (int i = 0; i < 20; i++) {
      digitalWrite(BUZZ, HIGH);
      delay(25);
      digitalWrite(BUZZ, LOW);
      delay(25);
    }

    if (lightning_dist_km <= 5) {dist_tens = 1;}

    // buzz to indicate distance
    for (int i = 0; i < dist_tens; i++) {
      digitalWrite(BUZZ, HIGH);
      delay(1000);
      digitalWrite(BUZZ, LOW);
      delay(1000);
    }
  }

  // interference detected
  else if (int_src == 2)
  {
    for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
      digitalWrite(LIGHT, HIGH);
      delay(200);
      digitalWrite(LIGHT, LOW);
      delay(200);
    }
    
    Serial.println("interference detected");
  }

  // too much noise
  else if (int_src == 3)
  {
    for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
      digitalWrite(LIGHT, HIGH);
      delay(100);
      digitalWrite(LIGHT, LOW);
      delay(100);
    }
    Serial.println("Noise level too high!");
  }

}

//ISR function just sets the flag to 1
void AS3935_ISR()
{
  AS3935_ISR_Trig = 1;
}

Credits

Alex Wulff
12 projects • 237 followers
I'm a maker and student at Harvard. I love Arduino, embedded systems, radio, 3D printing, and iOS development. www.AlexWulff.com

Comments

Related channels and tags
  • DFRobot
  • Sensors
  • Sensors