Build a lightning detector

“Kit” includes the board and components.

Uh… huh?

i mean the lightning strike gets into the antenne on the roof?

You don’t need to put a lightning detector antenna on the roof. If you have a non-metallic roof you could mount it in the loft space and it would work just as well. Even if you did mount it on the roof it’s no more dangerous than having a TV/radio antenna or satellite dish on the roof. Whilst it’s possible to get a lightning strike direct onto an antenna it’s quite rare for this to happen. Most of the houses in my town (40-50000 houses) have at least a TV antenna, but I’ve only ever heard of one fire caused by a lightning strike (which blew the TV up). I once had some computer components destroyed by a nearby lightning strike, but in that case the surge came down the (overhead) phone line.

Oke thats cool,

this is what i need:

3pin screw term block 5mm or 3,5mm
DS2423
4N37opto isolator
2N3904 NPN transistor
NE-2 neon bulb
Ferrite bead
1N5817
0,01 MFD ceramic
15K 1/4 W
100K 1/4 W
1MEG 1/4 W
430 1/4 W
9v Battery Strap

im gonne take a look if they sell these components at www.conrad.com

And the antenne puts in the 3pins connector?
And what kind of material can i make the antenne?

Kevin

I found a Lightning Detector do-it-yourself Website …don’t know if it’s in direct correlation
to the kit you’re interested in… But it seems simple enough to make.
Might even make a go at it myself. Website has excellent pics & diagrams.
Probably give you and others ideas in making one.

Link Below: Basic Stamp Lightning Activity Monitor
http://homepage.mac.com/tbitson/weather/bslam/index.html

yes, that one is the design you can get from www.hobbyboards.com
and it works with WD as a lightning counter, interface to WD with either a 1 wire comport adaptor of even via a www.labjack.com

www.hobbyboards.com

This url should be www.hobby-boards.com

And the antenne puts in the 3pins connector?

No those are for the 1-wire (data and data ground) and earth wire. You must have a good connection to an earthing ground stake.

And what kind of material can i make the antenne?

I used about 6 or 8 copper wire strands about 40 cm long in my design, but a single wire should work just as well. It solders to a point at the top of the PCB. Others have a used a radio telephone type antenna with good results.

How do these Boards interface with the PC ? With a Serial cable?
What does WD display once data is coming in from the lightning detector?

[quote]How do these Boards interface with the PC ?

If I get the hobby board and the 1-wire USB interface will WD talk directly to it or do I also need to install the 1-wire driver?

Also, can this arrangement be used with NexStorm software, too?

If I get the hobby board and the 1-wire USB interface will WD talk directly to it or do I also need to install the 1-wire driver?

If I understand your question correctly - yes you will need the 1-wire usb drivers. These are freely available for download from www.aagelectronica.com . There are also some free testing programs to ensure that you have everything talking properly at the 1-wire level, before getiing WD talking to it.

Also, can this arrangement be used with NexStorm software, too?

Somebody can jump in here and correct me if I am wrong - but I’m pretty sure the answer to that is no. The Nexstorm software is designed to be used with the Boltek series of lightning detectors.

Once these Lightning Detectors are interfaced with WeatherDisplay what does WD dispay?
A Graph of Lightning strikes or is it just a numeric number lightning count ? What does WD do with the data ?

A Graph of Lightning strikes or is it just a numeric number lightning count ?

Both. There is a numeric value on the main WD page (under the clock) which if you click on there is a graph. The graph can be used as part of your web pages and the count value is available as a tag to use in a custom web or wap page also. WDL (Weather Display Live) - if you have it - will also indicate lightning activity using an icon on its display.

yes, all correct answers :slight_smile:
the main screen alarm flashes when lightning is detected, and you can even have a lightning.wav sounds played (e.g thunder, LOL)
see my graph:
http://www.weather-display.com/windy/gb/lighteninggraph.gif
which in wd shows the counts at the graph position
this same screen in WD also can show the nextstorm info (tick to enable that in the general /misc setup), and yes that can be used alongside the 1 wire counter :slight_smile:

yes, all correct answers

Whew - glad about that. I felt like a doctor flying solo with his first patient :lol:

Thank you very much for answering. A person could save around $300 in making their own.

I’ll give it a whirl next month. Having the Lightnining dector interfaced with WD looks nice and Brian’s suggestion of having a Thunder wav play as a warning is neat also.

Hey Brian… That new Weather Shop at that Shopping Center looks cool !! I don’t believe there is anything in the U.S. like that. It’s very nice looking !!

Hi

I’ve made the lightning detector:

But the led (receiver) lights always, and never go off, what should i do?

Kevin

#1 are you sure the wiring is correct, especially are the diodes wired correctly?

#2 disconnect the antenna, what happens?

#3 if the led doesn’t turn off in #2 connect the base of Q1 to ground and see if that turns it off.

can you post the component values?

But the led (receiver) lights always, and never go off,

By this do you mean the opto coupler in the next stage.

This design looks to be the original “Tim Bitson” one from here http://homepage.mac.com/tbitson/weather/owlm/index.html
in which case following this stage is an opto coupler and then a 1-wire interface. Is that what you are trying to do?

Hey,

I think i found the problem, i’ve been the connection between Q2c en D2 forgotten
Can this be the problem?

Kevin