Lightning Detection with Arduino

Summer heat and those amazing afternoon thunderstorms are already starting, so I'm thinking of adding a lightning detector to my DIY weather station. I've wanted a lightning sensor for a while, but they have always been expensive, tricky to calibrate, and had a bad reputation for hobby level users.

However, two things have changed this year and both make it possible for even an amateur like myself to connect a reliable lightning sensor to my Arduino - all for around $30 USD.

My DIY weather-station needed a lightning detector sensor for my Arduino base unit. Luckily there are several good options that are easy and cheap to buy and install.

First, vendors have recently begun selling reliable, easy-to-use boards based on the AS3935 detector chip. Even better, the supporting code libraries and tutorials are finally understandable to mere mortals. With that combination, I expect to see more options like this coming onto the market.

Second, I now know enough to hack into those cheap commercial lightning sensors, take the alert/alarm signals and feed them into my microcontroller - all without destroying the sensor. That might be simple for you, but it's a big deal for me.

(If you just want to watch the lightning strikes visit Lightningmaps.org or Blitzortung.org or make your own node at en.blitzortung.org/cover_your_area.php.)