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Device saved my modem yesterday too :D
09/24/2016 at 16:02 • 0 commentsA massive nasty thunderstorm blew by yesterday.
Sparks were observed comingout of the mains wall outlets.
All breakers with surgeprotection connected to them were tripped. Including the ground fault breaker.All in all a storm that guaranteed would have cost me at least a dead DSL-modem and probably parts of my network.
Yesterdays damage report: zero damage. -
More thunder == more project opportunities
08/27/2016 at 20:58 • 0 commentsSo since the last log I've had another thunderstorm.
It was 04:20 at night when I woke up to an amazing thunderstorm. After calibrating my biological sensory I finally got up
and opened my DSL-saver locker. Only to discover indeed it had already disconnected. But I got alarmed by the fact that it appearantly had counted 0 (zero) strikes. I thought my firmware was broken. Waited a few more minutes. Next strike:
Over a 160 pulses on the strike interrupt counter! ( read the source code) Now this kind of data can be used for something!
This kind of data can be used to separate real strikes from static discharges and other electrical noise. All I need is more data. I feel I would really need to move to a really loaded part of the world to gather more data to use for a better firmware. Doing the same thing at my current location would just take too much time. I'm going to have to leave this post hanging just in the cause of not having enough data to rely on for a properly working firmware. -
Progress
08/06/2016 at 10:21 • 0 commentsAfter the last blow I was kind of disappointed and almost about to give up. The modems ethernet ports all decided to die a few weeks later too. Luckily I had a new modem readily configured on standby.
I'm not really sure how to put this.
OMFG Yes! IT WORKS!!! OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!
Today a slowly approaching thunderstorm came and I have positive identification on strikes about 10 miles (15km) out.
I also recorded several disconnects that strikes might have been as far away as 40km.
The reason this now suddenly works(better?) is that the other day I changed out my 40cm antenna with a 2m long antenna (0.75 mm2 single coppwerwire).
Today it detected more than 24 strikes all more than 10km away.
This now appears to be a bit too sensitive for its task, but since this is just my home line its better to be safe than sorry.
This now being confirmed working will save me hundreds of $$$'s in modems and network gear in the coming years.
Not to mention the grief of beeing without a DSL-line for days due to damage and modems in the snailmail.
There might be an issue with the software where the reconnect timer is not being reset when new strikes are detected.
I will have to do a code review on that.
Finally one big thanks to the author of this detection circuit: charles@wenzel.com
also check out more of his awesome work at http://www.techlib.com/default.htm / http://www.techlib.com/electronics/lightning.htmlThank you so much!
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First thunderstorm of the season.
06/15/2016 at 19:25 • 0 commentsESD issues still haunting me.
Box did disconnect like it should , but a little bit too late. (I lost one ethernet port on my DSL modem, but i have 3 left ;)
That is probably because I should have attached a longer(better) antenna.
Since I made this a modular design I can take the radio receiver board out of the box, and place it somewhere more appropriate for avoiding unintended ESD reception and attach a better antenna.updates will follow...
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Murphys Law still valid.
05/23/2016 at 16:26 • 0 commentsI once read that if you finish a windmillbuild it will be no wind for 3 weeks.
I am guessing the same thing goes for lightning detection devices.
Last night it was forecasted a thunderstorm and at 9pm things were looking very promising.
It was even heading in the right direction!
Skip forward one hour and the ligtningstorm stops dead in the water 90 miles out...
I'm throwing a small picture in the files from the lightningtracker at 10pm last night. -
ESD issues
05/01/2016 at 10:12 • 0 commentsOver the past day or so I've had more unintended disconnects and every time someone either got off or sat down in my office chair. I will gladly accept comments on how to wire my chair to avoid ESD's that trigger my "borrowed" lightningdetector radio circuit ;)
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some weeks of live testing results
04/30/2016 at 13:32 • 0 commentsI've been running this device live now for a few weeks, there has been no thunderstorms but I have had a few false positives.
The DSL Modem Saver is wallmounted right next to my officechair. I am pretty sure I have nailed the false positives to being static discharges from my office chair. Every time a disconnect has happened someone have been sitting in the chair. -
Live testing phase entered.
04/15/2016 at 18:17 • 0 commentsI put together the last few missing bits and pieces the other night and mounted it all in its place.
I added some photos of the finished cabinet to the files.Now, the live testing phase have started i basically just wait for the next thunderstorm. The thunderstorm season is probably about 3 months away so this is going to be one long phase.
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Stress and a dead phone
04/09/2016 at 01:25 • 0 commentsLast post i listed 3 tasks remaining..
1. Build a PSU.
2. Make casing and/or mounts for all the circuits.
3. Software.Then project updates went silent, the good news now is, these 3 tasks have been accomplished. I built the PSU, connected all PCB's together. Debugged the software and hardware. Lots of testing of the hardware and software have been done, hit a few roadblocks but managed to get around them. And learned a few things along the way. Kinda buzzed out right now, but I will try and make a complete list of my major learning experiences:
1. Somewhere along the line I decided to drop the ICSP. Fail!
2. Make sure your battery is disconnected from Vcc when you try to charge it. (RIP one attiny84)
3. 4xAA Ni-MH through a diode driving a big 4 Volt stepper is not enough. Next time this thing runs off a 12 Volts backupsourcebattery.
4. Interrupt pins are not messing around a lot. They do stuff when stuff happens. Have total control over what happens.
5. Don't start out a project with a maxed out I/O pincount, you will probably need more pins for stuff that shows up along the way(and you might want to add an LCD). If I were to choose a chip now I would have used an Atmega8.
6. Make sure your mechanics are sturdy. In this project I ended up mounting stuff vertically and some flimsy parts did not like that. (then again I'm too lazy to make a new part :P). This problem however is a combination of mechanics and too low voltage battery backup.Anyways, a few weeks back my phone died, hence no photos and I'm too lazy to go downstairs and grabbing my DSLR.
Status quo right now is the project is pretty damn near done. Almost everything is mounted in the box and tested working, with a few software modifications. The transformer rectified and capped with a 10kµF puts out about 8 volts which is perfect. Running the stepper off bad batteries is a bit iffy(missing steps). but solved through software.
Anyway, stay tuned for more photos, videos and updated.
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3 tasks left on the project
03/10/2016 at 16:39 • 0 commentsFirst i want to share with you the source of the lightning detection circuit: http://www.techlib.com/electronics/lightning.html
There is three major tasks left to stitch project into a working unit.
1. Build a PSU.
2. Make casing and/or mounts for all the circuits.
3. Software.