SparkFun Electronics Forum

roger that!

A series of rapid events, that can be digested as a modulation form.

I have some problems with this sensor.
I have connected it via I²C, address 0x01.
Calibration runs fine with a difference of ~12 Hz to the target frequency of 500 khz.
But the problem is - it is receiving absolutely nothing.
No disturbers, no lightnings so far.
In my opinion, wiring and chip (i use a "selfmade-board") must be ok, because otherwise calibration would fail.
Why it is not providing interrupts?
There must be always "something in the air", right?
I have tested it with my Arduino MEGA and with my Raspberry Pi.
Any clue what i can try now?

This is similar to my experience with the chip. Although I do get disturbers, I very rarely get strikes for even strong lightning that shakes my windows. Have you adjusted any of the registers? Do you live inside a metal house or one with a metal roof? Have you tried it outside? Have you tried to create a disturber by sparking two AA batteries close to it?

Hello,
Yes - i think i have tried almost everything possible.
I have generated sparks with the spark source of a lighter.

Now I've switched to SPI communication to try another library for arduino.
Calibration works fine, but this time I have always the "too much noise" interrupt.
Played around with the registers - no chance.
OK, maybe it's right - I have a lot of stuff near the computer, like telephone and WiFi router, but they use much higher frequencies. I will try it outside with my notebook soon.

the key to an issue like this is possibly in the use of an aerial or wire loop antenna.
I would start trying out variations of these.

Although a different antenna might have been a better choice, this chip is designed for an LRC antenna with a natural frequency of 500kHz. 500kHz was a good choice as it is an unused part of the spectrum and one where lightning shows up very bright. Changing to a different antenna would not be a possibility.

We have a Breakout on the way for this. it's in testing now which, as you can imagine, has been difficult. We should have it ready to go in the next few months.

SFE-Pearce wrote:We have a Breakout on the way for this. it's in testing now which, as you can imagine, has been difficult. We should have it ready to go in the next few months.

Send it to someone in Florida
Or build a spark gap generator.

Been plenty'o'lightning this week in fll-freak's neighborhood.

Yes there has. Had three storm fronts roll through yesterday. Strikes close enough to rattle one's teeth.

Seriously, if you want a beta tester, I am your man. I have been working on a lightning detector for 3 years now. When the AS3935 came out, I thought my life would get easier, but with the bug on the chip, its been a pain in the but.

Please make sure you can switch between SPI and I2C interfaces and that you can adjust the I2C address. The chip has a bug that makes it difficult to use I2C at the address of 0. You can read my website for more info.

I also have a setup for this.
If something goes wrong on the sparkfun end, I'll pitch it to them and make sure we have a lightning sensor on here.