K88 Pocket Geiger Counter This is a one of a kind custom hand-made Geiger Counter built

by Atomic.Dave. It is based on a kit designed by Username:Brohogan. For almost 3 years, I have built and sold about 90 of thesekits, with very good results, and fantastic feedback by ebaycustomers. All information for this kit is available at the developerswebsite. As I have said before, this is more of a kit for someone whoknows a little bit about electronics but doesnt have the time orpatience 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. These instructions will help you tounderstand the basic operation of this meter. Once you have used it acouple times, it should be pretty easy for you to operate.

OPERATIONOn the face of the unit are 2 LEDS, 1 momentary buttons, and 2triple pole slide switches. Follow the label to locate the listedswitches below:

LEDSAfter powering the GC on, you will hear the beeping of the piezo as yourCI-180G GM tube picks up radiation events. The GREEN LED is forradiation events and coincides with the beeping piezo which can bemuted with the mute switch. The RED LED will only light up when a setalarm threshold is reached. The piezo for events is located beneathcontrast pot on the right side.

Switches:1. SELECT Green momentary switch- does 2 things. When you firstpower on the unit, you will see this first screen:

Atomic.Dave K88 LBBP LND712v10.2This customized first welcome window can be changed if you want,

by doing a little programming in Arduino. Refer to the DIY site fordirections at the SOFTWARE section. But the default is now set to myname, Kit 88, and the second line is the Geiger Counter name, (LittleBlack Box Plus) , the LND Tube name, and the version of software thatthe AT328 chip is running v10.2. The second window will show this:

100 CPM=1 uSv/h Running at 5.24VThe first line refers to the conversion rate of CPM to uSv/hr for the

LND712 tube (100) this can be changed either in the program sketch,with Arduino which I will explain later. The second line refers to thecurrent voltage that your system is running at. This is a 5 volt system.The 1300mAh 3.7v lipo battery is boosted to 5v with a booster.Everytime you start up your GC (geiger counter) it will show you this soyou will always know your current voltage. The third window will showsomething like this:

Alarm Set ?Now at 500 CPMAt this point, you can gently hold down the SELECT button to

incrementally change the Alarm threshold number. Once you stopholding the button and wait, it will be set to the current number shownon the screen and will stay there until you change it either againrestarting and waiting for this part. You can also chose from units ofmeasurement such as CPM or uSv/h for the Alarm with Arduino.

This same button is used for changing the display from standardmode to scaler mode. It has two preset timed functions, one for eachline. 1 minute and 10 minute averaging. It can be changed in Arduinoto whatever times you wish to set it. It works like a stopwatch startingas soon as you hit the button. The time counts down on the right sideof the screen in seconds. Until the time is reached, the numbers onthe left side act as a total counter. As soon as the number is reached,the average appears on the right side in uSv/hr averages on the rightand cpm averages on the left. All this can be changed and customizedwithin Arduino.

2. POWER Power switch controls the power, backlight, and charging ofthe GC. Right turns on the unit with the backlight off, Middle turns it offand allows charging of the unit or to bypass the battery and use USBpower to run it, and Left turns on the unit with the backlight off-suggested for longer battery life.3. SOUND The Sound switch controls the Event piezo and the Alarmpiezo. Middle turns off both. Right turns both on. Left turns on only theEvent piezo. But the alarm will still work, but in silent mode with the REDLED being the method of alert.

OTHER SWITCHES, BUTTONS, PORTS, DIALSA. At the top and to the right of the LCD is the LCD contrast dial. As

the LCD is used, it might get to a point for you to readjust the contrast forit. Not a big deal, while the backlight is on, gently take a small screwdriverand turn it to the left or right until it appears to have the best contrast.

B. Located on the bottom plate and to the right is the OUTPUTmulti-port used for Geiger Bot (with the included G-Bot cable), and forGeiger Graph (with the optional USB cable) Just plug in the GeigerBot cable into this with the 3 conductor plug, and the 4 conductor intoyour iphone or ipad. Or plug the optional Geiger Graph 3.5mm to USBcable into the port, and into a USB on your PC, then followinstructions to run Geiger Graph. It also serves as a mono audiooutput for silent listening with headphones, or with the included 3conductor to 3 conductor M-M audio cable, you can run sound baseddata logging software or amplify the clicking.

C. On the left side of the bottom plate is the Mini USB FTDIoutput/input for programming in Arduino. This also is used to charge theinternal Lithium Ion battery (Switch to the right and with the powerswitch in the middle position.) A RED Glow will emit from the 3.5mmport just to the right on the bottom panel. This is the charging indicator.It stays RED on till it is done charging at which point it will go off. Orswitch to the left and it can be used to power the GC for extendedperiods (with the POWER switch in middle), however when you power itthis way, the backlight stays off. When uploading any new changes tothe program sketch, switch to the left while connected to your pc withthe USB cable. This same USB is also used as an output for usb basedFREE Radiation Logging software. To use this software, you mustdownload from this site, and install on your laptop or PC. It is notavailable for Mac.

http://radiohobbystore.com/radiation-logger/

DISPLAY BAR GRAPH: The display has a new bar graph style with placeholders and is muchmore responsive. It now updates 20 times per second. The tone is alsoupdated at this rate when used. Auto-precision - decimals are dropped from the displayed dose rate asit gets larger. Beginning with v10.1 the LOG PERIOD can now be set to intervals ofless than 1 minute. Valid settings are OFF, 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 6s, 10s, 12s,15s, 20s, 30s, and 1 minute intervals up to 720 minutes. This setting ischanged within Arduino.

ABOUT DOSE UNITS:The menu allows you select the name of the dose unit that appears

on the display. However, to be clear, there is no built in conversionbetween them. Instead the CPM->[DOSE] RATIO is adjusted dependingon the name of the DOSE UNIT selected. For example, 175.43 is thedefault set for the SBM-20 with uSv as the dose unit. Suppose you pick"mR" as the dose unit name, and want to measure in milirems. ("mR"more correctly abbreviates as milliroentgens but is used to save displayspace.) The rem is defined as .01 seivert. Therefore, to use the sameratio that was designed for the tube, you would multiply that ratio by 10.You would enter a CPM->[DOSE] RATIO as 175.43 x 10 or 1754.3.Likewise if you wanted microrems ("uR") you would divide the ratio by 10and enter 17.54. If you do want to use roentgens (used in olderinstruments) this source states that they are .96 rem in soft tissue. Sothe CPM->[DOSE] RATIO for actual mR would be 175.43 x 10 x .96 or1684.1. (for uR it would be 16.84)

PLEASE REFER TO THE DIY GEIGER COUNTER DEVELOPERSWEBSITE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:http://www.sites.google.com/site/diygeigercounter/ARDUINO Software and Serial-USB connection information:ON the cd you will find the FTDI driver and Arduino. Install both andrestart your mac. Copy the Geiger Sketch folder to the same folder asyour Arduino program is and remember where that is as that will bewhere 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 samefolder. Just remember that the folder has to be the same exact name asthe sketch name is. And also within Arduino, you will have to go topreferences and show Arduino where your default sketch folder is.

ARDUINO SETTINGS: Brohogan Software system version 10.21. Open Arduino2. Open the saved sketch .ino file, connect your Geiger counter to theUSB 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 selectserial port as the top tty choice.

5. Click Serial Monitor (top right looking glass icon). Set Baud rate to9600 and you should see the CPM, uSv and geiger counter voltagedata coming up once per minute.

For more info go to website under Software section on the DIY geigercounter website. Or go to Arduino.cc

OTHER SOFTWARE LINKS:http://www.blackcatsystems.com/GM/download.htmlhttp://www.imagesco.com/geiger/geiger-graph.htmlGEIGER GRAPH FOR PC NETWORKS: (cost is around $60. Use theOPTIONAL FTDI 3.5mm to USB cable) This is a PC only software.

HARDWARE1. DIY Geiger counter kit V3.0 by Brohogan, Running operating system10.2

2. LND712 Geiger Muller Tube 3. Power System by Sparkfun (please charge the unit until the RED lightinside the audio plug goes out)

POWERING YOUR GEIGER COUNTERYou can power the Geiger in a couple different ways 1. With internal Lipo battery2. With PWR switch OFF (middle), USB cable plugged into USB port onbottom panel of GC, switch to left, then plugged into:a. Computer or laptop USBb. Wall charger blockc. Standard 5v USB Cigarette adapter d. To power and operate the unit this way for long periods, Iwould suggest to TURN OFF BACKLIGHT to conserve the lifeof the LCD.

POWER and OTHER SYSTEM ITEMS: This system is capable ofproducing 900+ volts, so be careful or you may get zapped whenhandling the system while it is powered on.A. Sparkfun Lithium Ion battery - 3.7v 1300mAh

Full charge provides approximately 20 hours constant use ofgeiger counter with backlight off.

B. USB Lithium Polymer battery chargerC. Pololu 5V Step-Up Voltage Regulator U1V10F5http://www.pololu.com/product/2564D. Sparkfun 5V FTDI Basic Breakout

ENCLOSURE: Serpac H67 Dimensions: 4.940 in X 2.750 in X 1.275 inhttp://www.serpac.com/h67.aspx

REPAIRS:If the unit fails for some reason within 6 months of purchase, I will bemore than happy to do any maintenance you need at no charge exceptfor parts and shipping.

PACKAGE CONTENTS:In your package you will find: Geiger Counter, (2) Cables: Geiger bot 3 to4 conductor, Mini USB to standard USB2. CD with software anddocuments, Manual, RAD sticker, and extra faceplate labels.

Select options Select Geiger Counter Select LND712 CS137 Adjust Conversion factor to your tube:

123 for LND712175 for SBM-20

360 for LND7317Select I/O Settings

Auto Adjust OFF(you may need to play

with this setting) RMS Window 1

Delay Window 30Volume Thresh 20000

Ultrafast Rates ON

GEIGER BOT SUGGESTED SETTINGS: (You may have to play with it to get it just right) GO TO: https://sites.google.com/site/geigerbot/

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