mighty-mo

K67 by Atomic.dave Atomic.Dave@yahoo.com

This is a one of a kind custom hand-made Geiger Counter built by Atomic.Dave. It is based on a kit designed by John Giametti (username: Brohogan) All information for this kit is available at the developers website. As I have said before, 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 will be some imperfections, although as minimal as possible. This unit is a
slimmed down version of the other units I build running the version 10.1 of the DIY software. It has only three
switches. Two of them are three position slides, and the middle is a momentary switch used for 2 reasons
explained in detail below.
DIY GEIGER COUNTER DEVELOPERS WEBSITE:

http://www.sites.google.com/site/diygeigercounter/
OPERATION
POWER SWITCH Three positions- Middle is OFF, Up is ON, and down is for charging the unit (more on that
later). Please attach BNC connected probe before turning on the unit. As soon as you power on, the Display
will say this:

Atomic.Dave K67
mighty-mo v10.1
This customized first welcome window can easily be changed if you want, by doing a little programming
in Arduino which is explained further in the ARDUINO SETTINGS section below. For detailed instructions,
please refer to the DIY (link above) and go to the SOFTWARE section. In this first window, K67 refers to the
67th DIY kit built by me, v10.1 is the DIY software version the unit is running.
The second window will show something like this:

123 CPM=1 uSv/hr

Running at 5.07V
The first line refers to the conversion rate of CPM to uSv/hr for your LND712 tube (123) this can be
changed in the program sketch, with Arduino, but it is set so no change is necessary. The second line refers
to the current voltage that your system is running at. This is a 5 volt system. The Nine volt battery are
boosted down to 5v with a pololu Step up/down booster. Everytime you start up your GC (geiger counter) it
will show you this so you will always know your current voltage.
After that, the third window will look something like this:

CPM 48
uSv/hr

||||||||||
0.13

On the first line is the current CPM and to the right of it is a graphical simulation of by the second CPM
representation. On the second line is the converted uSv/hr.
LEDS
Right away, you will hear the beeping of the piezo as your LND712 GM tube picks up radiation events. There
are 2 LEDs. The BLUE is for radiation events and coincides with the beeping piezo which can be muted with
the SOUND switch on the right. Middle position is MUTED alarm and event click. Up is Event click only, and
the Alarm only will light up RED on the LED. Bottom position, is to turn on the alarm and event beep as well
as the RED Led when the alarm threshold is reached. More on that below.
SMALL SWITCH ABOVE DISPLAY
1. This is the on/off switch for the units backlit display. Left for on, right for offFor extended uses and
longer battery life, I suggest turning this off.
GREEN MENU MODE (SEL) BUTTON
1. When you first turn on the unit, the third window 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. I have preset the alarm to 150 CPM.
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.
SOUND SWITCH
1. This controls both the Event click, and the alarm for the unit. Up turns on only the Click, but if the
alarm threshold is reached, the RED LED will go on, middle turns both click and alarm off, and down turns
both alarm and click on.

3.5MM MULTIPORT
At the left side middle is the output multi-port used for Safecast (with the included cable 3 to 4 band cable),
and for Geiger Graph and RAD OSX (with the optional USB/FTDI cable) Just plug in the cable in with the 3
conductor plug, and the 4 conductor into your iphone or ipad. Or plug the optional FTDI 3.5mm to USB cable
into the port, and into a USB on your mac or PC, then follow instructions to run those programs. It also
serves as an mono audio output for silent listening with headphones. I have also supplied you with a audio
cable that you can use to plug your unit into your mac or pcs mic input, then you can run audio based geiger
counter data logging software such as RAD OSX. However the prefered method is to use the optional cable
that is listed below. Google FTDI/TTL-232R-3V3-AJ.
ARDUINO 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. There will also be a Library
folder that will also need to be in the same folder. Just remember that the folder has to be the same exact
name as the sketch name is. And also within Arduino, you will have to go to preferences and show Arduino
where your default sketch folder is.
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
Safecast SUGGESTED SETTINGS: (You will probably have to play with it to get it just right- and I used to
use Geiger Bot, but it seems that Safecast is more stable and works everytime.)
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/safecast/id571167450?mt=8

Select options

Select Geiger Counter

Select LND712 CS137

Adjust Conversion
factor to your tube:
123 for LND712
175 for SBM-20
360 for LND7317
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

RAD OSX free data logging for macs: (although you can use the included 3.5mm male to male 3 conductor to 3 conductor audio cable from the multiport to your PC or Macs MIC input, it works best with the
FTDI/TTL USB cable below)
http://www.blackcatsystems.com/GM/download.html
GEIGER GRAPH FOR PC NETWORKS:
http://www.imagesco.com/geiger/geiger-graph.html
(cost is around $60. Use the Optional FTDI 3.5mm to USB cable) This is a PC only software. To purchase
the optional cable go to: www.mouser.com, and do a search for: FTDI/TTL-232R-3V3-AJ
HARDWARE
1. DIY Geiger counter kit V4.0 by Brohogan
http://www.sites.google.com/site/diygeigercounter/
2. LND 712 Geiger Muller Tube
3. Power System by Pololu
A. You can power the Geiger in a couple different ways
1. With internal 3.7V 2600mAh Lipo battery
2. With USB cable plugged into data port on RIGHT side of geiger then plugged into:
a. Computer or laptop USB
b. 5V USB 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 the on for a little while, but DAMAGE MIGHT OCCUR if left this way
for long periods- best bet is NOT to do this.
e. For long usage of geiger counter (constant on for long periods) the preferred way to power it
would be to use the USB cable plugged in right FTDI port and power OFF. And i would also
suggest turning on the backlight only if you need it to save power.

HARDWARE
1. DIY Geiger counter kit V4.0 by Brohogan, Running operating system 10.1
2. LND 7317 Geiger Muller Tube
3. Power System by TENERGY, Sparkfun and Pololu (please charge the unit until the RED light goes out)
A. You can power the Geiger in a couple different ways
1. With internal Lipo battery
2. With PWR switch OFF (middle), USB cable plugged into USB port on RIGHT side of geiger then plugged into:
a. Computer or laptop USB
b. Wall charger block
c. Standard 5v USB Cigarette adapter
d. To power and operate the unit this way for long periods, TURN OFF BACKLIGHT
4. Pelican 1060 Atmostpherically sealed case. This case will protect your delicate geiger muller pancake tube while traveling in high altitude, or shipping the unit
somewhere on an airplane. Always seal the unit inside the case.
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.
A. Tenergy Lithium Ion battery - 3.7v 2600mAh
http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/lithium-ion-polymer-battery-pack-3a-p-588.html?cPath=178_183
Full recharge in 3 hours, provides approximately 40 hour constant use of geiger counter with backlight off.
Charge with PC/USB will take about 5 hours or more.
B. USB Lithium Polymer battery charger
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10401
C. Pololu 5V Step-Up/Step-Down Voltage Regulator S7V7F5
http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/2119
D. Sparkfun 5V FTDI Basic Breakout
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9716

LND-712 GEIGER MULLER TUBE

Installed inside this nicely planned out kit is a LND 712 which senses Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Xray. The tube is vented in front of the Mica window for Alpha particles, and also the bottom of the kit has a vent for beta and gamma.
http://www.lndinc.com/products/711/
REPAIRS:
I will be more than happy to do any maintenance or calibration, if you need at no charge except shipping.
PACKAGE CONTENTS:
In your package you will find: Geiger Counter, Lead Pig w/ Samples, (4) Cables: Geiger bot 3 to 4 conductor, Audio 3 to 3 conductor, Mini USB to
standard USB2 and wall charger, BNC cable and two FREE connectors, Gamma, beta and alpha block caps, CD with software and documents,
Manual, LND Warranty, sticker, extra silicon feet, and extra faceplate labels.

mighty-mo
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LIPO
CHARGER

LIPO

In

Out

8
9
10
11
12
13

SELECT
ALARM
SCALER

5V Up/Down
BOOST

7
6
5
4
3
2

10K Pot

3
4

1
2

5
8

11 13

15

MDfly 2 x 16 mini LCD

New Haven
Adapter board

10 12 14 16

C
BACKLIGHT
ON/OFF

1N4148
diode

ALARM
LED

to ground

to 5V

300 OHM
RESISTOR

3.5mm
Socket

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.1 uF Cap

56K OHM
RESISTOR .1 uF Cap

MULTI-SOFTWARE
OUTPUT PORT

270 OHM
RESISTOR

1K OHM
RESISTOR

EVENT
LED

ALARM
PIEZO

D
SOUND
CLICK
MUTE
CLK/ALM

POWER
ON
OFF
CHARGE

7
6
5
4
3
2

8
9
10
11
12
13

ALPHA

FTDI

CLICK
MUTE
ALARM

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LND712

mighty-mo
ON
OFF
CHARGE
X - R AY

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15
16
17
18
19

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