Debugging Lightning Detectors has always been a problem. You have to wait for a lightning storm. To fix this problem, we have now developed a Lighting Simulator product.

This board is a companion to the SwitchDoc Labs Thunder Board Lighting Detector. This fully assembled and programmed product will generate simulated lighting on cue to test your lightning detection setup.

We use it regularly in house and are pleased to release this as a product.

DOWNLOADS

We have just posted the software for the Thunder Board Lightning Simulator.

https://github.com/switchdoclabs/SDL_Arduino_ThunderBoardSimulator

It comes with a fully assembled and programmed shield plugged into an Arduino Uno R3 or Mega2560. Works out of the box. USB to USB - Type A Cable for programming and power.

Here is what it does:

• Far Lightning Strike (push Far Stk Button)
• Mid-range Lightning Strike (push Mid Stk Button)
• Close Lightning Strike (push Close Stk Button)

and three other lightning test modes:

• Slow Timed Lightning Strike Mode - Every 5 minutes (push Far Stk and Mid Stk buttons together)
• Fast Timed Lightning Strike Mode - Every 15 seconds (push Mid Stk and Close Stk buttons together)
• Random Timed Lightning Strike Mode - From 30 seconds to 30 minutes (push all three buttons together)
• You terminate the Time Strike modes by pushing any single button or by performing a power off or reset.

Note: This lighting simulator is not very strong and might have to be held close to the Thunder Board Lightning Detector especially in the presence of cell phones, computers and monitors. If you look at the Thunder Board Lightning Detector, you can see when the Lightning board picks up lightning when the Interrupt White LED blinks or lights up.

If you are having detection problems, move your whole test setup away from RFI (Radio Frequency Interference) sources.

NEW TUTORIAL ON THUNDER BOARD

Here is a new video tutorial for Tuning the ThunderBoard by Dr. Shovic