Geiger Counter: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:25, 5 September 2025

General

Based on this DiY-GCC2.0 kit (eBay Shop): a small Mega 328P based microcontroller (Arduino compatible) which drives a 16x2 TC1602A-01T LCD display and an RS232 output. See also useful information here for alternative kit/resources.

Hardware

Assembly Instructions
Schematics
Additional MAX232 serial interface

The board is similar to an Arduino Uno with a 10 MHz crystal. Optiboot bootloader for 10 MHz crystal with default serial parameters: 115200 8N1. Board definitions:

For Arduino IDE:
- this.
For Platformio:
- See under $HOME/.platformio/platforms/atmelavr/boards or <Project>/boards
- geiger.json
- optiboot_atmega328_10MHz.hex
- Ref: Custom Embedded Boards.

GM Tube used: CBT-11A

Voltage of start of counting: 260 - 320 V
Operating Current each section: 0.5 - 1.1 uA
Recommended Operating Voltage: 400 V
Own background: 0.6 c/s
Plateau Length/Inclination - 80 V/0.5 %/V

Comparison of other tubes:

GM Tube Comparisons

Test Sources

Am 241: 37 kBq mainly alpha source

Software (Stock)

Software (Custom)

Adding to Arduino Dev Environment

Libraries used:

OneButton

Notes

Power On: Hold down MODE button to do reset Mode Press: CLear alarm Mode Double Press: Toggle Backlight Mode Long Press: N/A

Tone Zero Press: Reset base level for tone Tone Zero Double Press: Speaker mute Tone Zero Long Press: N/A

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 ** Ref: [https://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/platforms/creating_board.html Custom Embedded Boards].
-=== GM Tube ===
+GM Tube used: CBT-11A
-* [https://sites.google.com/site/diygeigercounter/gm-tubes-supported GM Tube Comparisons]
-Actual Tube used: CBT-11A
 * Voltage of start of counting: 260 - 320 V
 * Operating Current each section: 0.5 - 1.1 uA
@@ Line 29: / Line 25: @@
 * Own background: 0.6 c/s
 * Plateau Length/Inclination - 80 V/0.5 %/V
+Comparison of other tubes:
+* [https://sites.google.com/site/diygeigercounter/gm-tubes-supported GM Tube Comparisons]
 Test Sources