BORGv.6A DIY Geiger Counter CUSTOM Handcrafted by Atomic.

Dave
SELECTABLE DOUBLE TUBE GEIGER MULLER RADIATION DETECTOR
FEATURES USER Selectable Alarm, uSv to CPM Conversion Rate & DUO Display system with internally mounted and vented East German BLACK glass VA-Z-115.1 BETA-GAMMA tube

This custom hand-made geiger counter built by Atomic Dave is based on a kit from DIY Geiger Counter. All info to create this kit is available on the website below so if you want you can create your own. Schematic and very detailed instructions are available at that site. This is more of a kit for someone who knows a bit about electronics but doesn't have the time or patience to build it. It was not built in a lab but by me personally, so there are some imperfections to it, although minimal. The components are all new, except the Geiger Tube which is East German, and Russian made tested New Old Stock. http://www.sites.google.com/site/diygeigercounter/ It has a mini USB port on the top of the unit that is used for data logging with Free arduino software (FTDI driver required) and also used for programming and customizing the unit within Arduino. I am including a CD with all the necessary software, drivers and the sketch used to program it as it is. YOU will be able to take the sketch and change it to however you want. You can put your name on the screen, It just takes a little programming skill but all can be learned from the developers website listed above. It also has a 3.5mm port on top for Geiger Bot hookup with the included cable. Make sure and plug the 4 conductor plug into the iphone and the 3 conductor into the geiger counter. http://sites.google.com/site/geigerbot/

Select options

Select Geiger Counter Select Custom GM Tube

Adjust Conversion factor to your tube: 360 for LND7317 100 for LND712 175 for SBM-20 Select I/O Settings

Auto Adjust OFF (you may need to play with this setting) RMS Window 1 Delay Window 30 Volume Thresh 20000

Ultrafast Rates ON

NEW MENU MODE SWITCH: 1. When you first turn on the unit, it will prompt you to set the Alarm. If you have not set it yet, it will say Alarm OFF. However if you hold the mode button down the alarm set amount will climb in increments of 10 cpm till it gets to 100, then it climbs in sets of 50 until it reaches a max of 600 cpm, until you let go, and once you let go, that is what the alarm threshold will be until you reset it. As long as you don't reset it, that is the amount it will remain at. 2. The first display that comes up is the current CPM and below it is the level of uSv/hr. To the right of the CPM is a bar graphic representative of the level of Radiation occuring by the second. The CPM and uSv portion is updated every 4 seconds. 3. Press the mode button and a new display will come up. It is like a stopwatch and as soon as you press it for the first time it will start the timer process where it will give you average counts in a 1 minute and 10 minute period. Until it reaches 1 minute or 10 minutes it will show current total counts. After it reaches those points it will show the uSv conversion on the right column. 4. Press the mode button again and it will go back to the first menu. ALARM Speaker and LED: The alarm has its own red LED, speaker, and mute switch. You can mute the event piezo and you will still hear the Alarm piezo if the threshold is met, unless you mute it. You can mute both the event speaker and alarm speaker, but both LEDs will flash accordingly, with the Red alarm LED shining solid till the level goes back down below the set alarm threshold. Installed inside this nicely planned out kit is a Russian SBT-11A tube which senses Alpha, Beta and Gamma. The pancake tube is mounted securely to the case with a copper bracket. It comes with two grills that can be easily swapped out just be opening the case and removing the grill. Then replacing with the grill of choice. Just remember to be careful when rescrewing the screws back in as you are screwing into plastic, and also keep an eye out for crimping or crushing wires as you close the cover back up. This system comes with 4 FREE Tenergy 2500mah NIMH rechargeable batteries. With the Tenergy, expect over 16 hours of continuous use with the LCD backlight on, and up to 36 hours with the LCD backlight off. You can keep two batteries charging while the other two are in the unit then swap when needed. You can also power the unit with the USB cable continuosly but make sure and turn the power switch off. You can plug the usb into a wall charger or a cigarette adapter as long as it is 5v. You might notice that when you power the system with the usb that you might need to adjust the contrast of the LCD so that adjust pot is convneniently located to the left of the display.

Now the single 3.5mm output is multi purpose as it works not only for Geiger Bot, but also for Audio output with headphones for silent scanning, or connect it to Geiger Graph or RAD OSX with a TTLRS232 cable (not included) This new option allows the geiger counter to output data to software programs like Geiger Graph and RAD OSX. to purchase optional cable go to: http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/FTDI/TTL-232R-3V3-AJ/?qs=Xb8IjHhkxj6MWaLhwTpkXw%2bfeNsBA0WO 2 NEW SWITCHES (power off when switching, then restart for both) Use the toggle switch on top to chose between the two tubes and the small switch on the left side to select two different usv to CPM conversion ratios. Switches: Top- Left for VAZ, right for SBT Side- Up for SBT, down for VAZ Software and Serial-USB connection information: ON the cd you will find the FTDI driver and Arduino program version 1. Install both and restart your mac. Copy the Geiger Sketch folder to the same folder as your Arduino program is and remember where that is as that will be where you go to save your sketch everytime you make a change to it. ARDUINO SETTINGS: 1. Open Arduino 2. Open the saved sketch .ino file, connect your Geiger counter to the USB with power switch off. 3. Verify the file by clicking the little check mark icon. 4. Click TOOLS, and Select Board type as Arduino UNO, and select serial port as the top tty choice. 5. Click Serial Monitor (top right looking glass icon). Set Baud rate to 9600 and you should see the CPM, uSv and geiger counter voltage data coming up once per minute.
For more info go to website under Software section on the DIY geiger counter website. Or go to Arduino.cc

HARDWARE 1. Power System by (4) Tenergy AA Nimh 2500mah (please charge the batteries for minimum 3 hours before use) A. You can power the Geiger in 3 different ways 1. With included rechargeable NIMH batteries 2. With any type of alkaline AA batteries. 3. With USB cable plugged into mini USB port on RIGHT side of geiger then plugged into: a. Computer or laptop USB b. USB 5v Wall charger block (included) c. Standard 5v USB Cigarette adapter (not included) d. To power and operate the unit this way make sure POWER SWITCH IS IN OFF POSITION - Its ok to have switch on for a little while, but DAMAGE WILL OCCUR if left this way for long periods. e. For long usage of geiger counter (constant on for long periods) the preferred way to power it would be with power switch OFF and USB cable powering from right side, but turn off the backlight, and use care while operating this way. LIST OF POWER SYSTEM ITEMS: A. Tenergy Premium NIMH rechargeable batteries - 1.2v 2500mAh http://www.all-battery.com/aa2500mahhighcapacitynimhrechargeablebattery10320.aspx GEIGER MULLER TUBES:
SBT-9 Working Voltage Plateau Length/ Inclination Voltage of start of counting Anode Resistor Background noise at 25 OC Working temperature minimum operation time Diameter Length - 380V 80V/0.125%/V 260-320 V 10 Meg Ohm 0.15 pulses/sec -45...+50 OC 1*1010 pulses 10 mm 73 mm VA-Z-115.1 Dose limit: Anode voltage: Background count: Life span: Operation temperature range: Wall material surface mass: Active area length: Gas filling: 0.5 R/h (beta and gamma radiation) 450 V approx. 35 imp/min approx. 10^10 imp -50 to +70C (-67 to 158 F) 35 mg/cm2 (active area) 27 mm neon-halogene
LIGHT

DOSE

ENCLOSURE: Serpac H75AA Length Width Height 182.880 mm 92.710 mm 30.480 mm http://www.serpac.com/h75AA.aspx OTHER SOFTWARE wLINKS: http://www.blackcatsystems.com/GM/download.html http://www.imagesco.com/geiger/geiger-graph.html

SOUND

RADIATION DETECTOR

atomic.dave

VA-Z-115.1

BETAsGAMMA