Assembling advice

original source¹⁾

The parts should always be soldered according to their mounting height. Start with parts with a low mounting height. Continue with medium height and finish with high mounting height.

The Lightning Detector System BLUE is a universal receiver for electromagnetic waves in the VLF/LF frequency range between 3 kHz and 300 kHz. It has three input channels for H-field antennas and one input channel for an E-Field antenna. The following two criteria played a crucial rule during the design of the detector.

1. The detector should not be too expensive for the end user.
2. The detector should provide the user with a variety of experimental possibilities.

The main difference between System BLUE and previous systems is that System BLUE has partly prefabricated circuit boards. All surface-mount devices (SMD) are already soldered. However, there are still some components with leads that have to be inserted into holes drilled in the printed circuit boards and soldered to pads on the back side by manual assembly. For soldering you should use a soldering iron with a 1mm tip and thin solder wire. Do not try to solder these components if you do not have any experiences with soldering electronic parts.

The board with the identification PCB 20.x is a panel consisting of a main board PCB 19.x an H-field preamplifier PCB 16.x and an E-field preamplifier PCB 17.x. The last version of September 2017 is the panel PCB 20.5 with the main board 19.4 the H-field preamplifier PCB 16.1 and the E-field preamplifier PCB 17.1.

The following picture shows a complete set with all parts. Not all of these parts are essential for the operation of the detector. The 8 SMA jacks are not supplied. The maximal 4 filter ICs can be purchased separately and are not included as standard. The 3mm light-emitting diodes, the switch, the rubber feeds and the grounding socket are only necessary if the main board is installed in the housing. These parts are only included if the housing is ordered.

You can separate the boards manually. After that, you should file off the overhanging edges.

The schematics and PCB layouts can be found at www.blitzortung.org/Compendium/Hardware/

• Assemble the controller. Optionally assemble the digital filter option. For PCB 19.1 and 19.2 assemble the voltage regulator extension.
• Assemble the amlifiers, namely H-filed pre-amplifier 16.x, and E-field pre-amplifier 17.x.
• Optionally assemble the housing option.