StormSafe

I haven't had the time to do as much work on this project as I wanted due to a number of causes: end of the school year for my daughter, I've built a new workbench and my office is a mess while I move it in, and I got a new computer and it's taken some time to get all my software installed on it.

The other news though is that I got a new lightning sensor chip to play with! This one is from Embedded Adventures in the UK. It looks somewhat like the PlayingwithFusion one I'd been using, but this one supports I2C as default and has a newer design (a 6th revision updated as of April as opposed to the indeterminate version in the PWF device)

I'll need to update my schematics to reflect this new device now. Hope I'm still a candidate for Hackaday prizes though. :)

Okay Fusion 360 doesn't like me. I'm going to have to spend some time learning this app before I can make any actual progress. I tried out some of the other options (FreeCad, 123D, DesignSpark Mechanical, etc) but none of them could open the Inventor IPT file format, and the STL file is already a mesh, so hard to stretch it and keep the lines straight. And anything else (that might import an IPT) appears to cost money, so I guess I need to keep trying to figure out Fusion 360. Boy I wish I could reassign these mouse buttons...

First off, I received the LightBlue Bean from Hackaday's weekly prize giveaway so a big thanks for that! I'm continuing with the design of seeing if I can mesh it with the lightning sensor.

So I've started working on an enclosure that will hold the LightBlue Bean plus the lightning sensor breakout board. I found a really great starting point on Thingiverse by Jwags55 that holds the LightBlue Bean plus has room for other components: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:410473

I'm working (well, trying to work) with Autodesk Fusion 360 to modify the starting design to accommodate the width of the breakout (it's a rectangle about 2.4 x 2.6 cm), so it's a bit wider than the LBB (which is a svelte 2.1 cm wide). Sadly however, my Fusion 360 skills are not yet up to snuff at reshaping that part. I was at least able to remove one of the tabs, and increase the hole size in the other one so that it can be clipped to a keychain or lanyard.

Here's where the progress is so far (still very much a work in progress):

Now I apparently need to figure out how to convert the "model" to a "mesh" so I can use the sculpt tools and pull the sides of the blue part wider (without changing the lip size, if possible). I may try using another CAD/modelling tool as Fusion 360 isn't as intuitive as I'd like (and I've used other 2D CAD tools in the past, plus years of Photoshop experience, but I'm still struggling with this one)

I think I'll also try to raise the lanyard tab so it's closer to the center of gravity of the combined case. The original design was meant to be screwed onto a surface, not worn hanging. The current design I screenshot (screenshotted?) above would hang kinda lopsided.

Since I don't own a 3D printer (not yet, anyway, but eventually I hope to) I'm hoping to also score some of that Shapeways gift credit that I could use to start prototyping the enclosure designs with.

I've prototyped using Fritzing how The LightBlueBean should connect to the AS3935. If the Bean can't supply sufficient current from VCC, I'll add a LiPo battery to the mix with a regulator to power both devices.

I successfully prototyped this project (as a standalone device without the Weather API) using an Arduino and the AS3935 detector. That circuit is shown as the main picture for this project and could be triggered reliably using an artificial lightning source - the sparker from a BBQ lighter.

Now I'm ready to make it portable using a more appropriate device that can be worn out in the field and communicate with a cell phone.

What I'd like help with from the Hackaday folks is the chance to win one of those LightBlue Beans with Bluetooth LE so that I can redo the circuit in a small form factor and interface with a phone to provide information to the user about how far a lightning strike was detected (the AS3925 can be queried over SPI to report the estimated distance away) plus any weather alerts from the Weather Underground API.

The Bean is ideal from a size and power perspective. It also pairs well with the AS3935 breakout board which can use the 3V power like the Bean plus has SPI and I2C and the ability to register a hardware interrupt, which is how the AS3935 responds to detected lightning.

So, can you guys hook me up with one so I can move forward with the new and improved reboot of the StormSafe lightning and weather alert device?