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    #76
    I have mine connected to a Raspberry Pi2 and have a couple of questions:

    --How long does the digital pin get set to high once detected? Meaning, is the signal set to 1 for some value of milliseconds?

    --How do you simulate a lightning strike?

    Thanks!
    HS4Pro on a Raspberry Pi4
    54 Z-Wave Nodes / 21 Zigbee Devices / 108 Events / 767 Devices
    Plugins: Z-Wave / Zigbee Plus / EasyTrigger / AK Weather / OMNI

    HSTouch Clients: 1 Android

    Comment


      #77
      The digital pins has no delay, which means milliseconds-range. Actually, it will even be shorter than the digital output. The digital output is directly related to the analog output, but uses a small hysteresis. For example, if the analog strike signal is 10 ms, the digital signal will be (a bit) shorter.

      If your (computer)system is not able to get triggered by such short/smalll signals, building an electronic delay-mechanism might help or maybe you can trigger an interrupt at the (computer)system.

      Simulating an EMP (strike), can be done by using a butane cigaret lighter with piezo-mechanism (not the flint stone type). Hold it close to the sensor and ignite. If all is OK,. the white LED will blink shortly (also, milliseconds-range).

      -=[ UPDATE ]=-
      New boards arrived. I've assembled them (with buzzer) and they're ready and available. I'm really sorry, but I had to alter the final price a bit, which has to do about shippingcosts, color of board, different type of board and some critical components which got a bit more expensive. Hope you can forgive me for this.



      What's more comming up ?

      > USB stick
      A small batch of "dart-01" has been assembled. Still requires some additional tests, and to (re)write a manual for it.

      > Portable device
      A tiny portable device, which is powered by a Li-Ion battery. Preliminary tests shows it can run for about 3 days non-stop. It means you can use it for a long weekend out. Actually it was about 100 hours, but it's required to give a safe estimation. Currently it requires more tests and there's a tiny problem concerning availability (and price) for the Li-Ion batteries used / planned. I can't show you guys (and girls ?) any pictures yet. Also, it might require a "housing", and I'm not well known in the world of 3D-printing. This probably might result in availability without a 3D-printed housing. On the other side, I'm pretty sure there are some users who can design / create such one themself.
      Last edited by Dr.Flash; June 22, 2017, 10:42 PM.

      Comment


        #78
        Yes noticed these posted on Ebay yesterday (?). See the LEDs in front now.

        We have had much bad weather here and much lightning. I am not getting any lightning triggers since my last piezo testing three days ago (no digital pulses, no flashes of the white LED nor any sounds)

        Waiting here to send you back current product for replacement if possible unless there is a quick fix for it. (willing to modify mine maybe to test as it isn't serving it's purpose as it is).

        None the less have a question for you Dr. Flash.

        Why have you not utilized the

        AS3935 Franklin Lightning Sensor™
        Lightning sensor IC with embedded algorithm

        in your design?

        I see now some 3-4 of these sold for testing purposes with Ardunios and RPi's.

        Mouser sells one from MikroElektronika. It is more expensive though priced around $35 USD. It is more expensive than your product.

        Digikey here has the AS3935 for $11 each for one or around $6 each for 100 of them. I think they are more local to you manufactured such that you would or could get a better price for the AS3935 where you are located in NL.

        It is you Dr.Flash (Bernard) and Switchdoctor (Dick) that got me going on this mode of looking for a replacement to my Hobby Boards lightning sensor.

        I purchased one of the Franklin Lightning sensor based boards. These talk i2C. SwitchDocLabs also has tested and using one of these for a weather station configuration. Will be testing this device on same RPi (original Homeseer Zee) as your current device. I am in to lighting and weather in general here and having multiple weather stations and mechanisms of measuring outdoor stuff. Too bad we couldn't automate the weather with Homeseer.

        The final goal here is to integrate your sensor with my weather station software and Homeseer and my Leviton OmniPro 2 combination alarm and automation panel.

        Only difference here is that I am also integrating NOAA satellite imaging and maybe NOAA alert radio data stuff.

        Last edited by Pete; June 23, 2017, 08:46 AM.
        - Pete

        Auto mator
        Homeseer 3 Pro - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e 64 bit Intel Haswell CPU 16Gb
        Homeseer Zee2 (Lite) - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e - CherryTrail x5-Z8350 BeeLink 4Gb BT3 Pro
        HS4 Lite - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenovo Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram

        HS4 Pro - V4.1.18.1 - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenova Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram
        HSTouch on Intel tabletop tablets (Jogglers) - Asus AIO - Windows 11

        X10, UPB, Zigbee, ZWave and Wifi MQTT automation-Tasmota-Espurna. OmniPro 2, Russound zoned audio, Alexa, Cheaper RFID, W800 and Home Assistant

        Comment


          #79
          Mine must be dead
          I plug it into the Raspberry Pi2 5v and I get nothing. No LED or anything...
          HS4Pro on a Raspberry Pi4
          54 Z-Wave Nodes / 21 Zigbee Devices / 108 Events / 767 Devices
          Plugins: Z-Wave / Zigbee Plus / EasyTrigger / AK Weather / OMNI

          HSTouch Clients: 1 Android

          Comment


            #80
            That is not good Rob.

            The power LED should be on. I initially started with a 5VDC PS then went to using the RPi power pins moving the voltage from 5VDC to 3.3VDC. Power light still on.

            Guessing too that you are getting some bad weather there relating to that tropical storm in your area. Are you seeing much lightning from it?

            Note the following page is just a php screen scrape that I use for my touchscreens. With a little tweaking and installing the PHP page on the Homeseer server you can narrow the geo focus to your area. I use this one as sort of a screen saver on one of my weather pages (from Weather XML).

            - Pete

            Auto mator
            Homeseer 3 Pro - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e 64 bit Intel Haswell CPU 16Gb
            Homeseer Zee2 (Lite) - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e - CherryTrail x5-Z8350 BeeLink 4Gb BT3 Pro
            HS4 Lite - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenovo Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram

            HS4 Pro - V4.1.18.1 - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenova Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram
            HSTouch on Intel tabletop tablets (Jogglers) - Asus AIO - Windows 11

            X10, UPB, Zigbee, ZWave and Wifi MQTT automation-Tasmota-Espurna. OmniPro 2, Russound zoned audio, Alexa, Cheaper RFID, W800 and Home Assistant

            Comment


              #81
              @Pete
              It seems your sensor is not working as it should. Whenever an order is being shipped, the modules get a final check as verification. Next, each order is shipped in airbubble envelope for protection purpose. However, there's a chance the Postal Service is not treating the packages carefull as one might expect. I've even seen users mailing me a picture of a completely smashed buzzer, broken pins and alike. I can give a 100% guarantee I've not shipped the items in such condition. However, I've no control about how the item will arrive. If it arrives defective, the best I can offer is to re-ship a new one, or offer a refund.

              Concerning the AS3935, I'm not integrating this sensor. It's more expensive to create a board for it, because there are more factors which should kept in mind. The AS3935 is not an IC which works without additional components. Besides, this is an MLF-package, which is hard to work with. In general I can say, when selling at eBay and PayPal charge about 25% of the final price. If I would try to go without eBay in the middle, PayPal is charging a higher fee... Also, including free shipping, means the cost for shipping is included in the price. Than there's also the costs for the components, a percentage of failure when assembling, the risk an item will not arrive at sellers address or arrives defective, due to uncareful handling by Postal System. And the rest what is remaining, is my part.

              Next, it's a bit unrealistic to expect a lower price for the AS3935, because Franklin Industries (manufacturer of AS3935) also stays in Europe. I wish it worked that way, but I also have to order them from DigiKey or other wholesale company.

              My main intention is to offer people the chance to grab a low priced sensor to start their experiments. The sensor I make and sell is pretty straight forward, if you know how to read it out.
              When you start with an Atmel, MicroChip, RPi, BananaPi or whatever, the basics you learn is to read out a high/low or ADC at the start or fiddle a bit with an Interrupt. The communication over I2C, ISP is -most of the time- a few steps ahead, which requires more skills.
              Next, .. you might consider the use of a AS3935 board together with the sensor I've created. By this, you get the option to reverse-engineer how the AS3935 operates and calculates the distances. The following step could be to translate this into sourcecode for any type of microcontroller ...
              This opens even the option to integrate whatever protocol / type of communication you like.

              @rmasonjr:
              The way you describe it, it seems it also didn't pass the Postal System as it should.

              Now, to Pete and rmasonjr : would you like to receive a replacement, or the new black one ? Please contact me at eBay about it.
              Last edited by Dr.Flash; June 23, 2017, 11:13 AM.

              Comment


                #82
                Hello Dr.Flash

                Understood.

                Package arrived perfectly, not folded or showing any signs of mishandling along with the device as pictured above.

                .. you might consider the use of a AS3935 board together with the sensor I've created. By this, you get the option to reverse-engineer how the AS3935 operates and calculates the distances. The next logic step could be to translate this into sourcecode for any type of microcontroller ...

                Understood regarding the AS3935.

                Yes considering your board as a primary notification of lightning in the are...just an on off switch to the alarm panel.

                I am not in a rush right now as I savor my tinkering. Will wait on USB device for a bit while tinkering with the replacement board.

                Personally I like the new black one with the LEDs in front. Will contact Ebay.

                Dealing with cooking eggs this morning (unrelated to automation) and calling wife on how to remove a tiny eggshell piece in my eggs...that is irritating me...



                Like this around the world instant communications thing. (here it is still morning and there it is close to the end of the day).
                Last edited by Pete; June 23, 2017, 11:24 AM.
                - Pete

                Auto mator
                Homeseer 3 Pro - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e 64 bit Intel Haswell CPU 16Gb
                Homeseer Zee2 (Lite) - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e - CherryTrail x5-Z8350 BeeLink 4Gb BT3 Pro
                HS4 Lite - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenovo Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram

                HS4 Pro - V4.1.18.1 - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenova Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram
                HSTouch on Intel tabletop tablets (Jogglers) - Asus AIO - Windows 11

                X10, UPB, Zigbee, ZWave and Wifi MQTT automation-Tasmota-Espurna. OmniPro 2, Russound zoned audio, Alexa, Cheaper RFID, W800 and Home Assistant

                Comment


                  #83
                  Yes, we are getting lots of rain from the tropical depression. It's also hot and humid, so that doesnt help.

                  @Dr.Flash - I tried a spare RPi2 and the sensor is now working! Sorry for the false alarm.
                  I am able to simulate lightning by holding the sensor close to a PC monitor and plugging it into a power strip - works great!
                  HS4Pro on a Raspberry Pi4
                  54 Z-Wave Nodes / 21 Zigbee Devices / 108 Events / 767 Devices
                  Plugins: Z-Wave / Zigbee Plus / EasyTrigger / AK Weather / OMNI

                  HSTouch Clients: 1 Android

                  Comment


                    #84
                    Good news Rob!!!

                    The script above is very simple and it just writes a time stamp to an incrementing pulse counter. You can watch it work creating a pulse with the PC monitor. White LED will flash when it pulses.

                    I put mine next to the kitchen table by a window (very low on the WAF...she has asked how long she will be looking at it there). The white flash LED is very bright. I can only illicit a pulse manually though and have not seen or heard local lightning trigger a pulse.

                    As Dr.Flash mentions above relating to the AS3935 board there is a bit more to connecting it to the RPi. 3 wires plus VCC/Ground. It uses an interupt signal with i2C and involves a touch of bit banging; well similar to the 1-wire sensors / RTC connection.
                    - Pete

                    Auto mator
                    Homeseer 3 Pro - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e 64 bit Intel Haswell CPU 16Gb
                    Homeseer Zee2 (Lite) - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e - CherryTrail x5-Z8350 BeeLink 4Gb BT3 Pro
                    HS4 Lite - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenovo Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram

                    HS4 Pro - V4.1.18.1 - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenova Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram
                    HSTouch on Intel tabletop tablets (Jogglers) - Asus AIO - Windows 11

                    X10, UPB, Zigbee, ZWave and Wifi MQTT automation-Tasmota-Espurna. OmniPro 2, Russound zoned audio, Alexa, Cheaper RFID, W800 and Home Assistant

                    Comment


                      #85
                      Question for Wadenut

                      Greg,

                      Wanting to do a one time hard trigger (timed) with the EMP detector and looking at just to purchase smallest board I can find for this. I do not want to build it and found this board on Amazon.

                      Will it work? I know it is probably overkill for this. There is no opto isolation. This relates to also connecting to the old NOAA radio alarm outputs and integration to the OmniPro alarm panel for this stuff.

                      ELECTRONICS-SALON Panel Mount Momentary-Switch/Pulse-Signal Control Latching SPDT Relay Module,12V

                      [ATTACH]61822[/ATTACH]

                      Found another one maybe that would work.

                      [ATTACH]61823[/ATTACH]
                      Last edited by Pete; June 24, 2017, 09:45 AM.
                      - Pete

                      Auto mator
                      Homeseer 3 Pro - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e 64 bit Intel Haswell CPU 16Gb
                      Homeseer Zee2 (Lite) - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e - CherryTrail x5-Z8350 BeeLink 4Gb BT3 Pro
                      HS4 Lite - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenovo Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram

                      HS4 Pro - V4.1.18.1 - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenova Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram
                      HSTouch on Intel tabletop tablets (Jogglers) - Asus AIO - Windows 11

                      X10, UPB, Zigbee, ZWave and Wifi MQTT automation-Tasmota-Espurna. OmniPro 2, Russound zoned audio, Alexa, Cheaper RFID, W800 and Home Assistant

                      Comment


                        #86
                        Hi all,

                        why don't use jon00 scraper and scrape the live data from the lightning detectors people own.

                        it works really good
                        Preferred -> Jon's Plugins, Pushover, Phlocation, Easy-trigger,
                        Rfxcom, Blade Plugins, Pushbullet, homekit, Malosa Scripts




                        HS3Pro 4.1.14.0 on windows 10 enterprise X64 on hp quadcore laptop 8 GB.

                        Comment


                          #87
                          Yes you can do that as I do that with my HSTouch screens.

                          Personally though I like weather and like to integrate my weather hardware at home.

                          Well just like automation here weather is a hobby.

                          That and there isn't much out there relating to lightning strikes today.

                          And as automation I prefer to look at the weather with my own stuff and not be dependent on the internet for weather like downloading weather maps directly from NOAA satellites is much more enjoyable for me.

                          Basically here have not been using Weather Underground since they have been purchased by Weather dot com. It is now way to commercial for my tastes and really I see no need to upload my data to them anymore.
                          Last edited by Pete; June 24, 2017, 05:20 PM.
                          - Pete

                          Auto mator
                          Homeseer 3 Pro - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e 64 bit Intel Haswell CPU 16Gb
                          Homeseer Zee2 (Lite) - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e - CherryTrail x5-Z8350 BeeLink 4Gb BT3 Pro
                          HS4 Lite - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenovo Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram

                          HS4 Pro - V4.1.18.1 - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenova Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram
                          HSTouch on Intel tabletop tablets (Jogglers) - Asus AIO - Windows 11

                          X10, UPB, Zigbee, ZWave and Wifi MQTT automation-Tasmota-Espurna. OmniPro 2, Russound zoned audio, Alexa, Cheaper RFID, W800 and Home Assistant

                          Comment


                            #88
                            Initially started testing here with the old Zee original RPi with a 2Gb card and using python script above to see the pulses.

                            Decided to make the testing a bit easier and in to the Homeseer realm of plugins.

                            Spud has an I/O - GPIO - plugin for the RPi1-2-3 posted over here ==>

                            RaspberryIO Plug-In (3P)

                            What is nice is that you can run this plugin on the RPi1-2-3 remotely talking to a Windows or Linux Homeseer 3 mothership.

                            It will see pulses just fine. You can do anything with the number.

                            Here my original test RPi (original Zee) was configured with a 2Gb Wheezy build which worked fine for running a test Python script to read the pulses from the GPIO port #2.

                            With the plugin you will need to install Mono. I tried here with the 2 Gb Wheezy build then a 4Gb Wheezy build and mono will not install as it uses close to a Gb of RAM.

                            If this doesn't work will shift testing to an RPi2 or Pine64 2Gb machine.

                            Note it is the same connection of 3 wires...VCC (3.3VDC), Ground and GPIO #2.

                            Running the python script does a pull down of the built in resistor on GPIO #2.

                            ./gpio-counter.py 2 /var/log/gpio2-counter.log

                            ./gpio-counter.py:79: RuntimeWarning: A physical pull up resistor is fitted on this channel!
                            GPIO.setup(mygpiopin, GPIO.IN, pull_up_down = GPIO.PUD_DOWN)


                            Notice here you can do this also with arduinos and the Homeseer Arduino plugin. I am doing this macro size with the spare RPi's here. I also have aruduinos and or me right now it is a bit easier to test this way. Later on may go to the arduino plugin.

                            Note #2 noticed that there are starter kits to play with this stuff on Ebay and Amazon. Starter kits have break out boards and a bunch of pin connectors and wires. Thinking Rob purchased one of these.

                            Here is a picture of a starter kit for around $30 USD. Saw some on Amazon for $17. Better deals are on Ebay.

                            [ATTACH]61903[/ATTACH]

                            Note and a caution here all of the stuff I posted involves getting familiar with your RPi, knowing a bit of Linux and Python and tinkering a bit.

                            Over time you can also put this RPi or Ardunio outside and power it via a battery and solar panel. Here is a picture of a little weather station powered outside. Note the little PVC extension and box houses a lightning sensor. This box has a bunch of environmental sensors using the RPi i2C bus.
                            (temperature, humidity, soil sensors, lightning sensor et al).

                            [ATTACH]61904[/ATTACH]

                            Here have been tinkering with microrouters and openwrt. While slower than the RPi you can do similar tinkering as above. The microrouter board is about 2" square and it has built in USB, WLAN and Network interfaces. It is made for tinkering with GPIO pinouts and a bit of bit of i2C bit banging. It is also cheaper than an RPi2 priced around $20 USD with no power supply. It has a single threaded 600Mhz CPU.

                            [ATTACH]61905[/ATTACH]
                            Last edited by Pete; June 28, 2017, 05:43 AM.
                            - Pete

                            Auto mator
                            Homeseer 3 Pro - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e 64 bit Intel Haswell CPU 16Gb
                            Homeseer Zee2 (Lite) - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e - CherryTrail x5-Z8350 BeeLink 4Gb BT3 Pro
                            HS4 Lite - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenovo Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram

                            HS4 Pro - V4.1.18.1 - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenova Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram
                            HSTouch on Intel tabletop tablets (Jogglers) - Asus AIO - Windows 11

                            X10, UPB, Zigbee, ZWave and Wifi MQTT automation-Tasmota-Espurna. OmniPro 2, Russound zoned audio, Alexa, Cheaper RFID, W800 and Home Assistant

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                              #89
                              Question for Dr.Flash

                              Here still utilize X10 and wireless X10 stuff.

                              Way long time ago the X10 MR13A was a popular wireless PIR / night-day sensor device. I have kept much of my X10 stuff mostly to tinker with these days and only using X10 for my Christmas decorations.

                              Over the years have tested wireless switches using the X10 stuff. IE: rain tipping bucket, rain sensor, et al type of stuff.

                              The wireless MR13A works using two 1.5VDC batteries in series providing 1.5VDC to the circuit.

                              Here is a picture of the insides of it:

                              [ATTACH]61913[/ATTACH]

                              Here is a schematic.

                              [ATTACH]61914[/ATTACH]

                              Starting in the top left, the power supply section consists of the two AAA batteries and the C11 electrolytic capacitor. The C19 ceramic is the bypass cap for the PIC. Below it in the schematic is the Sun Sensor, which employs a standard Cadmium Sulfide cell to detect the light level. Its resistance drops with increasing light, thus the output at the jumper R1 goes low when it is daytime. That is connected to pin 5 of the PIC, which also serves as the control input for the red LED. Due to the high value of R14, the Sun Sensor is unable to provide much sink current to turn on TR4 to light the LED, but the PIC (with its totem-pole output) is able to do that without difficulty. Presumably, the code in the PIC programs pin 5 as in input to sense the light level, but drives it low to turn on the red LED.

                              The Motion Sensor portion in the top right starts with the output from a pyroelectric sensor that connects to the U2A TLC27 Op-Amp. This, along with the RC following it formed by C12 and R18, is configured as a band-pass filter with a peak pass frequency of about 1 Hz and a peak voltage gain of about 233 (47dB). The result of a SPICE simulation is shown below. The plot is the ratio of the input voltage of U2B over the input voltage of U2A.

                              The output of U2A is then threshold detected by U2B, which feeds pin 7 of the PIC via a 1Meg resistor. This latter pin also serves double duty, and provides current to light the Green LED when the internal code drives it high. Pin 3 of the PIC forms an enable signal for the threshold detector. From observations of the operation of the circuit, this line goes high (disabling the threshold detector) for 10 seconds after every X-10 command sent via RF. The need for this disable is unclear. Also, why this disable function is not performed in software inside the PIC (and thus saving one pin) is not clear to me either.

                              Key components of the motion detector are the three RC pairs around U2A. To ignore false triggers associated with slow thermal events, we could shift the peak of the band-pass higher in frequency. This can be done by decreasing the value of the capacitors. More on that is mentioned in the modification section below.

                              Sensitivity could in principle be increased by decreasing R5, however range is controlled geometrically by the arrangement of the fresnel lens in front of the pyroelectric sensor, and increasing the gain could degrade the reliability of the sensor in terms of false trigger events.

                              The transmitter is keyed by pin 2 via R3. It is perhaps possible to control the power level with R3, but since I did not bother with tracing the transmitter itself, I do not know for sure. That section is encased in wax to stabilize the components, and I did not want to destroy this particular unit by disturbing it. Perhaps I will trace this section in the future.

                              The other parts of the circuit such as the two switches for the user interface are minor, and not worth much mention. The microcontroller is a 12C508 from Microchip, and uses its internal RC oscillator, which means it is running at around 4MHz, or about 1MIPS. I would think that its code is protected, and that reading it would be fruitless. It is worth noting that the 1 minute expected duration for the OFF command delay was really about 70 seconds with this particular sensor.


                              BTW Dr. Edward Cheung has been playing round with this stuff for a long time...

                              [ATTACH]61915[/ATTACH]

                              Maybe....we can use the EMP digital or analog output with a direct (or indirect) connection to the MR13A board?

                              Tinkering here with least modifications to the MR13A if possible.

                              Will the EMP sensor work with

                              1 - 1.5VDC or
                              2 - a base of 3.3VDC coin battery maybe inside of the MR13A?

                              Thinking there is enough room inside of the MR13A to add a coin battery and circuit to trigger a circuit on the MR13A.

                              Today's tinkering will be connecting the EMP sensor to a 1.5VDC connection and test triggering using a piezo lighter. (which works today - lightning doesn't)
                              I am currently waiting for my replacement EMP sensor.

                              Well here is something interesting....

                              1 - connected the EMP sensor to the MR13A 1.5VDC battery to board positive and negative posts
                              2 - LED indicator on EMP illuminates
                              3 - Piezo lighter testing works better than when sensor is using 3.3VDC.

                              I can hold trigger the EMP sensor with the Piezo lighter 6 inches away from the sensor to trigger the sounder and white LED.

                              This is way different than testing with the 3.3VDC or 5.0VDC from earlier. To test with the Piezo lighter I had to hold it adjacent to the antenna - a few mm to trigger the sounder/led.

                              Here is a picture of my testing stuff...note that earlier testing I had to trigger the lighter adjacent (1-2-3mm) to the antenna on the EMP sensor.

                              LOW on the WAF and PAF (parrot acceptance factor). PAF cuz parrot didn't like me using her linus blanket and pitched a fit.

                              [ATTACH]61912[/ATTACH]

                              Question to Bernard:

                              Why is the EMP sensor more sensitive at 1.5VDC (batteries) than 3.3 or 5.0VDC RPi2 power?

                              I am going to leave it powered up this way today as we have some stormy weather approaching this afternoon. I will stick it a window and extend the power wires to it to test it. Used 22/2 alarm cable to extend the EMP sensor some 4 feet from the MR13A.
                              Last edited by Pete; June 28, 2017, 09:34 AM.
                              - Pete

                              Auto mator
                              Homeseer 3 Pro - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e 64 bit Intel Haswell CPU 16Gb
                              Homeseer Zee2 (Lite) - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e - CherryTrail x5-Z8350 BeeLink 4Gb BT3 Pro
                              HS4 Lite - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenovo Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram

                              HS4 Pro - V4.1.18.1 - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenova Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram
                              HSTouch on Intel tabletop tablets (Jogglers) - Asus AIO - Windows 11

                              X10, UPB, Zigbee, ZWave and Wifi MQTT automation-Tasmota-Espurna. OmniPro 2, Russound zoned audio, Alexa, Cheaper RFID, W800 and Home Assistant

                              Comment


                                #90
                                Pete, weather is another hobby that I am slowly getting into and for my purposes, the closest weather station to scrape is usually not the same data that I have locally, so I am slowly building out my weather station (within HOA regulations....) to keep data locally.

                                I followed your steps and have my setup working on my bench Pi... with a lighter. We haven't really had any storms in Denver in weeks (which is unusual this time of year). So I am still holding out for the real lightning to see if my sensor works indoors, or if I need to route wiring to the outside for it.

                                Thanks for your help on this, and love reading your posts and gives me ideas... and also lightens my wallet .

                                Question, has anyone figured out how to detect distance with this thing? I would assume that would be on the analog side of things... if even possible.

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