LND712 TAKA DIY Geiger Counter by Atomic Dave

Atomic.Dave@yahoo.com
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, including the Geiger Tube which is American made from LND.

http://www.sites.google.com/site/diygeigercounter/
It has a mini USB port on the right side 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 digital output on the right side 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 LND 712 which senses Alpha, Beta and Gamma. Please be careful not to puncture the mica window that is lightly protected by a nylon screeen. I chose nylon as steel seem to impede the sensitivity quite a bit. See pdf for more info on this tube. Included with this kit is 4 AA nimh eneloop batteries. With the backlight on, you should be able to get about 28 hours of continuous use, or up to 72 hours with the backlight off. You can also power the unit with the usb cable when it is plugged into your computer, or into a wall adapter (not included) such as the 5v ones that work with iphones and ipods. Just make sure and turn the power off your unit before yo plug in the USB cable. This allows you to monitor radiation for long periods of time.

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