VMA343 Lightning sensor missing product info and datasheet

Velleman IO Sensors and Actuators
1

The VM211 Earth Listener uses the VMA343 Lightning sensor.

The VM211 firmware (v3.4) documents one of the parameters like this:

#define AS3935_CAPACITANCE   72    
// <-- SET THIS VALUE TO THE NUMBER LISTED ON YOUR BOARD (calculation between the caps)
// 72 pF default, 56pF for PlayingWithFusion board, 112pF for other

I would like to verify this, but cannot find an indication of this on the sensor board.
So would like to check this in the datasheet for the VMA343.
But I can not find it on the Velleman website.
In fact do not see the product VMA343 at all.

Would appreciate a link to the datasheet.

Thanks.

2

Hello,

The value of the capacitance in the VMA343 board is 72pF.
The product VMA343 will be available as a stand alone by the end of July. We will also provide the datasheet & demo code.

Kind regards,
VEL342

3

@VEL342,

Ah, that explains why the doc is not there yet.
So the 72pF in the current firmware is the correct one. Good to know.

Maybe note that in the firmware code that THAT is the correct value?

Do you want me to create a pull request for that on github?

Kind regards,
Bert

4

@bert.test

That would be great. Let’s all work together to make this project better ;-)!
Kind regards,

VEL342

5

Done, see pull request 6

There are a few more of my pull requests there :wink:
Those require a bit more verification first.

Kind Regards,
Bert

6

Hi All,

Well it is mid 2020 and a month ago I bought the VMA343. I was not able to find any datasheet that gave me all the information on this board. What is the function of the JCS and JSI jumpers? Is there any example Arduino sketch availble? I tried to find the information on the Github platform but I couldn’t find any.
Does somebody know this? I’m a newbie on Arduino so I need this example data. For a sensor costing €31.50 I think Velleman should document this board a in little more detail.

Thanks!

7

Hi @Faramir,

Ow, something must have gone wrong with the information of the VMA343.
You can download the datasheet from the product sheet here: https://www.vellemanformakers.com/product/lightning-sensor-vma343/ or here; https://www.velleman.eu/downloads/0/infosheets/datasheet_vma343_en.pdf.

We have firmware and example code on our github page here: https://github.com/Velleman/AS3935_I2C_VMA212mod . This is for I2C communication.
If you want SPI communication (what will give better results), have a look at the VM211 code on Github: https://github.com/Velleman/VM211_Firmware/tree/master/src/SparkFun_AS3935/examples

The JSI jumper is there to select the interface:
SPI: JSI connected / I2C: JSI disconnected

The JCS is not used since the CS line will set the chip select function, so you can disconnect this header.
CS (Chip Select) is the output line that enables the breakout board to interact on the SPI bus; the CS is used because various devices can access the SPI and to avoid data collisions, only one at a time must be enabled for each communication session.

Hope this helps you.
Kind regards,

VEL342