michelelizzit/geigerino

Simple low-power geiger counter with Arduino

Geigerino - Open-source low-power Arduino geiger

More informations about the project are available on the project website: https://lizzit.it/geiger

Description of the project

Geigerino is a simple low-power geiger counter.
The geiger blinks when a particle is detected and, if the buzzer enabled, it makes a "tick" sound.
Geigerino can be easily connected to PhyLab 2.0 or used standalone.
With a few hardware modifications Geigerino can be powered by a single 18650 li-ion battery for years, depending on the average amount of radiation measured (most of the battery power is used to power the LED that blinks when a particle is detected).
In order to reduce the power consumption to the minimum it is necessary to use an Atmega328p (not an Arduino board), and to use a low quiescent current regulator (or no regulator at all, an Atmega328p can be powered directly by a single cell li-ion battery like the 18650); if power is not a concern (like most applications that do not require a year-long battery life) a regular Arduino can be used.
Geigerino relies on a Theremino Geiger Adapter (approx 22€) in order to connect to the geiger probe.
Future releases of Geigerino will allow the connection with a smartphone over Bluetooth LE.

An upgraded version of the project, that includes a display and configurable software, will be added soon to the repository.

Schematics

Arduino pin
2	Signal from Theremino Geiger Adapter
4	Button (to vcc)
A0	Button LED
6	Blue LED
7	Green LED
10	Piezo buzzer