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by Atomic.dave Atomic.Dave@yahoo.com
This is yet another one of a kind, custom hand-made Geiger Counter built by Atomic.Dave. This is the GKplus2a replacement to the popular full featured Cadillac Meter. It is based on a kit designed by John Giametti (username:
Brohogan) I have been building his DIY Geiger counters for over two years having built and sold about 100 of them.
Much of the information for this kit is available at the developers website. This is more of a kit for someone who knows
a little bit about electronics but doesnt have the time or patience to build it, or would rather someone else do all the
dirty work. Having been built by me, of course there may be some imperfections, although as minimal as possible.
This particular unit not only has a wireless remote control for in field programming, it also has the very sensitive pancake American tube, the LND7317. Also provided on the CD is the developers User guide and assembly instructions
for further information on this unit and its operations and functions as well as otgher troubleshooting.
OPERATION
Three Triple Pole switches- ALL OFF IN CENTER POSITION. With 2 green momentary switches in between.
POWER
UP
ON
MIDDLE
OFF
DOWN CHARGE
SELECT
IN
OUT
ALARM
ON
OFF
LED ONLY
NULL
IN
OUT
SOUND
CLICK
OFF
TONE
A. POWER controls the power and charging of the unit. Up turns on the unit with internal battery power, Middle turns if off, and Down is for charging the unit. When the unit is charging, the tiny RED LED on the lower
right side below the USB port and switch will remain constant RED while charging, and when charging is
complete, it will turn BLUE. If you wish to power the unit with the USB in, and bypass the batteries for extended periods. Switch POWER to middle position, and flip up switch on lower right of unit next to the mini
USB port. This will keep the batteries unused while you power with any 5v source.
B. SELECT - momentary switch does 2 things. When you first power on the unit, you will see:
GK-plus
LND7317 v1.15
This customized first welcome window can easily be changed if you want, by doing a little programming
in Arduino. Refer to the DIY site for directions at the SOFTWARE section. But by default it now says GK6plus, and the second line says the tube name and the software version. (LND7317 and v1.10)
The First window will show the info below. The first line is the current uSv to CPM conversion rate. For a
LND7317 pancake tube, the conversion rate is 345.
uSv/h=345CPM
Vcc=5.05V
Alarm=200CPM
GKLOG007.CSV
Set Alarm?
02/16/14
01:30pm
I have preset this for your Tube, but later if you wanted to you could change this rate with either Arduino,
or with the Sony wireless remote control which I will explain later. The second line refers to the current voltage that your system is running at. This is a 5 volt system. The 4000mAh 3.7v lipo battery is boosted to 5v
with a pololu booster. Everytime you start up your GC (geiger counter) it will show you this so you will always
know your current voltage.
Then the Current Alarm amount that is set is shown, and the blue boxed area says Set Alarm? at that
point you can push the Select button to incrementally change the Alarm threshold number. Once you stop
holding the button and wait, it will be set to the current number shown on the screen and will stay there until
you change it either again restarting and waiting for this part, or by using the included remote control to
change it. You can also choose from units of measurement such as CPM or uSv/h for the Alarm with the remote. It also acts like a stopwatch starter for the scaler mode. It has two preset times of 1 minute and 10
minute averaging. You can change the second one only with the remote, or the sketch when connected to pc.
The first one (1 minute) is default and unchangeble. You can always change this later at any time without a
computer and with the remote. At the bottom of the window is todayss date and time. The system now has
an internal clock with backup battery.
Finally this select button can also be used as a mute switch when an alarm point is reached, and the
piezo is blaring, just hit this select button once and it will mute the alarm.
C. ALARM controls the Alarm LED and Piezo. Up for both on, Middle for both off, and Down for LED only on.
This makes for a silent visual alarm.
D. NULL momentary switch and works only when in Tone mode for the event speaker. When you are scanning
in Tone mode, you can push this to reset the sensing to zero as you approach a sample.
E. SOUND switch controls the Event speaker. Up for Standard Click mode, Middle for mute, Down for Tone
Mode. More information on Tone Mode can be found on the User guide pdf on the cd.
LEDS
Right away, you will hear the clicking of the speaker as your GM tube picks up radiation events. There are two
LEDs below the LCD. The Left is GREEN which is for radiation events and coincides with the clicking speaker
which can be muted with the sound switch in middle position. The Right one is RED for the Alarm which will
only light up when a set alarm threshold is reached. It can be turned on or off with the Alarm switch in middle
position. Once again when there is an alarm threshold reached, you can alway hit the select button to mute
the piezo and shut off the RED LED if you dont want to move the sound switch to middle position.
OTHER SWITCHES, BUTTONS, PORTS, DIALS
1. GPS POWER SWITCH - used to help reduce battery life. When using this switch, I recommend turning off
the unit first. This is located at the very top left of the unit.
2. USB POWER SWITCH - This is used for controlling the use of the USB 5v power that is coming thru this
port when plugged into a 5v source such as a wall charger, solar panel, cigarette adapter, laptop, or computer. When up, and the power switch in the middle, this will power the unit and bypass the batteries. When
down, and power switch is down, this will charge the units internal 4000mAh 3.7v lithium ion battery. Just to
the left of the USB port is the charging LED indicator. RED for charging, and BLUE when charging is complete. Protective overcharge circuitry is built into the included Lithium Ion rechargeable battery.
3. USB MINI INPUT PORT - (IN port on right side of unit) used to connect to pc of mac for sketch editing via
arduino programming. It can also be used for radiation data logging, using Radiation Logger:
http://www.rhelectronics.net/store/radiation-logger.html
4. MULTIPORT- (OUT port on the left side of unit) used for Geiger Bot (with the included G-Bot cable). Just
plug in the Geiger Bot cable into this with the 3 conductor plug, and the 4 conductor into your iphone or ipad.
It also serves as an audio output for silent listening with headphones, or with the a 3 conductor to 3 conductor M-M audio cable, you can run sound based data logging software.
SD CARD WRITER - This meter is equipped with an internal SD card writer (FREE
blank is inclluded) Always turn OFF the unit while removing or inserting the SD card.
The default auto write of all info to the card is set to 1 minute, but you can change that
easily with the remote control. When inserting the SD card, place the meter back down
on a table, make sure the metal tabs on
the card are up, and are going into the
slot of the meter. Do NOT force it and
gently nudge it in making sure you are
sliding it in in a horizontal motion. It will
stop when the card is about .25 coming out of the slot as shown in the picture left. The file that is written to the
card is saved as a .csv file which is Microsoft Excel compatible.
INSTALOG BUTTON - The button at
the top of the meter just below the SD
card. Push this and all info currently
happening will be written to the SD card. Otherwise, the SD
card writer has a set time you can adjust to record at intervals- info such as Time, Date, Speed, altitude,
GPS coordinates, CPM, uSv/hr.
As shown in the diagram to the right, the file is broken out into columns: Date, Time, Lat, Lon, Alt(m),
Vel(km/h), CPM, uSv/h, Vcc. By copying a column(s) of data, you can make anytype of bargraph or piechart
that excel is capable of creating.
(note: when removing or replacing the silicone boot, remember to remove the SD card first, and also
be sure to avoid rubbing the INSTALOG button with boot or damage will occur to the switch, and
will need replacing.)
NEW 1.8 Serial Display 128x160 SPI TFT LCD module w/ SD
socket
Software features
A graph on the main screen shows last 13 minutes of activity and
can be set to auto-resize based on peak or avg.
New dose type xBg shows the percent of average
background set
Max CPM, speed and altitude (if GPS used), low battery and other info are
shown on the "status line"
3 choices for color scheme of the main screen
Bargraph on the bottom of the screen also shows activity and is very responsive
Scaler screen shows two scaler periods. Second scaler period length set by menu.
Logging to SD card and serial output. Information is saved to a .csv file that can
be opened in Microsoft Excel for mac or PC.
scaler screen
Select options
Adjust Conversion
factor to your tube:
123 for LND712
175 for SBM-20
360 for LND7317
Select I/O Settings
Ultrafast Rates ON
HARDWARE
1. DIY Geiger counter kit GKplus by Brohogan, Running operating system 1.10
ATmega1284P processor
User Adjustable 1100v max HV
Some of the main hardware features of the GK-Plus:
- The board uses an ATmega1284P MCU with 4x the program space of the standard kit.
- A 128x160 1.8 TFT color graphic display is used.
- Improved components provide >1100V max HV.
- SD card, GPS, IR remote, and clock features from Logging Shield kit are supported.
- The HV, click, and processor areas are separated, and have their own ground planes.
- All I/O pins broken out. The board can be used as a 1284 development platform.
- Space left to replace the voltage regulator with a buck/boost reg for more power options.
Sparkfun FTDI
Storage/transport case Pelican 1060
GM Tube LND 7317, with gasket riser and Stainless steel grill Ludlum SCRN/M44-9 SS
Geiger Bot ready includes FREE custom cable
Mini USB charging with multicolor status LED
Ublox NEO-6M GPS Module
POWERING YOUR GEIGER COUNTER:
1. With internal Lipo battery (Power switch in UP position)
2. With PWR switch OFF (middle), USB cable plugged into USB port on RIGHT side of geiger, USB PWR switch on top right side of unit switched
UP, then plug USB cable into:
a. Computer or laptop USB
b. Wall charger block (included)
c. Standard 5v USB Cigarette adapter (included)
POWER and OTHER SYSTEM ITEMS: This system is capable of producing 900+ volts, so be careful or you may get zapped when handling the system while it is powered on.
3.7v 4000mAh lithium ion, with protective circuit PCM
Lipo charger 1 cell Li-ion or LiPo based TP4056. External power supply or USB. 25 * 19 * 10mm, Charging current: 1A.
Pololu 5v up/down boost regulator #2119
ENCLOSURE - TAKACHI LCS165H-N-WL
Dimensions: 85mm X 40mm X 171mm
http://www.takachi-enclosure.com/data/c14/hand04_1401.pdf
REPAIRS:
If the unit fails for some reason with six months from purchase, I will be more than happy to do any maintenance you need at no charge except
shipping.
PACKAGE CONTENTS:
In your package you will find: Geiger Counter with LND7317 Pancake Tube with Pelican 1060 case, (2) Cables: Geiger bot 3 to 4 conductor, Mini
USB to standard USB2 with wall charger and cigarette adapter. CD with software and documents, Manual, RAD stickers, and extra faceplate labels. Sony RM-EZ4 Remote control, SD card.
LOG
USB
SELECT
NULL
POWER
ALARM
SOUND
2
HA s B
LP
E
A
s X-RA
Y
OUT
A
M
s GAM
A
T
LND7317
atomic.dave
RADIATION DETECTOR
IN
Display Adapter
GPS Antenna
GPS
SD_CS
SD_MOSI
SD_MISO
SD_SCK
VCC
V
CC
GND
CS
RESET
RESET
AO
A
O
SSDA
DA
SCK
LED
TO
SD
ON
OFF
CHARGE
SELECT
5v in
5v in+
Batt
Batt+
ON
OFF
LED
ALARM
GPS
IR
SENSOR
NULL
B C D E F
LOG
POWER
TONE
OFF
CLICK
SOUND
LED
EVENT
LED
ALARM
DATA
OUTPUT
FTDI
USB
CHARGE
POWER
300
OHM
G H I J K L
ON
OFF
GPS
C
+
.1 uF Cap
LIPO
.1 uF Cap
56K
56K
300
OHM
1K