VM211 Earth Listener - VMA343 Lightning sensor does not report any lightning

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112

@VEL342 @bert.test

  1. I will leave I2C connections for a test. I hope that I wouldn’t have to move to SPI - I don’t want to bend the goldpins;)
  2. I leave both jumpers on one pin on JCS and JSI or I should totally remove then from pins?
113

@Pz83,

  1. Bending the Dupont wire is no problem if you do it once. But don’t try to bend them back again, that will not end well. But indeed, start with IIC.
  2. You can leave the jumper on one pin or remove them completely. We leave them on one pin, since you can easy loose the jumpers.

Kind regards,
VEL342

114

@VEL342 @bert.test

Right now the station is on I2C interface with both jumpers placed on one of the pins.
When I change from low to high sense I got error:
" IRQ source result 0 not expected… last detection: 2 min ago"

Is there something wrong or this is normal response?

115

Hi @Pz83,

That behaviour is normal. If you switch the sensitivity, you are recalibrating the board, sending a spike on the interrupt line. The interrupt is noticed by the Arduino and because it’s not a real spike, it is reported as an unexpected IRQ source.
To do for next firmware: mute the interrupt line the first 2 seconds after changing the sensitivity.

Kind regards,
VEL342

116

@VEL342

Ok, I hope that after few days I can report that it works on I2C:-)
I set medium sensitivity and outdoor mode.

Regards,
Przemek

117

Thank you Pieter!
Bert

118

Hi al,

Just an update from me.

Running VM211 at firmware version 4v0 using the SPI interface.
First boot after the update to 4v0 I had to think a bit.
The lightning sensor did not come up.
In hindsight simple: first boot sets defaults, so interface assumes IIC (I2C) interface.
And my box is configured for SPI, so to the setup screen and switch to IIC and reboot.
As said: simple.

Have set the lightning sensitivity to high.

The meteo here promised showers with lighting but they failed to deliver.

While waiting for a real lightning shower,
I am busy with a transperant update to add VMA301 Real Time Clock to the 4v0 code.
By transperant I mean it should be working OK even if no RTC is present.
The code should be working the same as the 4v0_final code if no RTC is available.
Well that’s my goal. Will try to get a pull request to github if it’s ready.

Kind regards,
Bert

119

Hello.

Made a pull request on github on version 4v0 with some updates.
Important one is: add VMA301 Real Time Clock.

Also made a separate sketch to set the RTC to the correct time.
No need to remove the VMA301 from the Earth Listener.
Date and time can be typed in the serial monitor.

The sketch is available at github repository VM211_set_RealTimeClock

Remarks welcome, of course.

Kind regards,
Bert

1 Like
120
122

Hello Bert,

Now we have a thunderstorm with few lightnings and the EL does not show any…

What could be wrong?
Have a nice day

Przemek

123

:+1: Thanks for posting the update, well done

124

Any update? I had a few lightnings yesterday and the EL did not react, even when I put it outside the earthlistener. I use firmware 4.2.

125

@bert.test @VEL450 @VEL342 Where can I get 4.2 firmware? I can’t find it on Github.

126

I don’t think we have officially released the EarthListener firmware v4.2. However, it’s passed several months without issues, so I’ll ask to release it. In the meantime, you can download it here: https://we.tl/t-dHUl78CvMB (WeTransfer link, 7 days available).

127

@VEL342 Thanks for sharing 4.2
I have just installed new software.

Sensor is mounted outside the case, interface set up to IIC, sense high, mode outdoor.

Now there is a thunderstorm with lightnings and EL says there is no disturber?

What could be wrong?

128

Hi @Pz83,

Like we mentioned before in this post, we have found out that the VMA343 tends to work better on SPI then the IIC communication bus. We had the best results detecting spikes on SPI, so I would recommend using that configuration. Good luck!

VEL342

129

Version 4.2 can now be found on our Github page:

130

I cannot use the SPI mode since I installed the VMA301 Real Time Clock. It uses the same hardware pin, so I need to reverse the interface setup back to IIC. Or is there another solution?

131

Hi @FraDoh ,

If you use the SPI interface for the lightning sensor, you will need these connections:

Arduino Mega Lightning Detector
5V VCC
GND GND
52 SCL
50 MISO
51 MOSI
41 CS
18 INT

The VMA301 Real Time Clock is using these connections:

Arduino Mega RTC
5V VCC
GND GND
35 RST
37 DAT
39 CLK

So it should be possible to use both the RTC and lightning sensor on SPI.
Regards,

VEL342

132

Hi @VEL342,

Many thanks, I will modify the wiring!!