It's good to know how to build and program, I've been doing it 50 yrs so far, another input sensor is nice to add to a micro port, I went from 6502 Forth in the mid 80's with Rom, Ram and Latch FF, when I worked from Ampex Corp Redwood city, CA. Silicon Valley 400 engineers in my building to the Easy building projects of Picaxe much later with imbedded on board, to the yrs forward projects of Arduino projects
I would love to add this sensor. You never know if your area is contaminated. I just started using ESPhome and bought my first ESP32 and setup a bed sensor. Works great.
Congrats on entering ESP world! I have this one setup now for over a month and it's working great (well I hope as it does provide some data but I have no way of verifying accuracy). Just need to find a way to have it permanently powered and "out of sight" .
@@BeardedTinker Yea. My esp32 is taped to the side of the bed frame. Wish the red led could be disable. I can see it glow on the wall. I ordered a DHT22 temp sensor. Will add it to the esp32 for a temp check in the room.
I'm currently working on one full DIY kit - it will be more or less same thing, but will work with Zigbee protocol :) To be honest, that's not my idea, just found it and had to do it :)
@@BeardedTinker Watching your video it came up an idea on radon detection. I think radon is more likely to kill us than nuclear power plant, but you never know :) Did you thought about radon as well?
I did look but briefly - sensors were too complicated for things I've seen. There are even full DIY versions that capture Radon, but you have to dispose of it later . If you manage to find any sensor for that, let me know 😉
Wd love if there was a version of this board for Alpha radiation. That would mean a truly affordable (and fun) means of monitoring the air in my home which is in a strong Radon area.
I've assembled one additional DIY Geiger counter, that is working via Zigbee. Not my project though, picked it off of Russian site. (there is video about it on my channel) This, original board died few months back. Thought that tube died, but no, board died. As it's still connected haven't bothered to look at what failed. It worked for almost 2 years, so not bad for money. Comparing results from those 2 they were actually really close in readings.
Hmm, where does that 123 divider come from? I'm looking through the datasheet of the M4011 tube on the board, it says you need to divide the number of counts in a minute through 151. For 15 seconds, it should be consequently 37.75. And you apparently need to subtract 25 counts per minute of self-radiation.
I got that when researching coefficient of the J305 tube. For M4011 I found coefficient of 153.8 here: sites.google.com/site/diygeigercounter/technical/gm-tubes-supported
hi, great job! compliments! I bought the kit seeing your video, to integrate it on Home Assistant! Now I have a RadiationD-v1.1 (CAJOE) kit, slightly different, I have only one number provided and it is placed on P100 (what is it for?), On the test terminals I have nothing, do I have to move it? can I connect a Wemos D1Mini instead of your ESP32, if so to which pin? At the end of the video I see a calibration, the second red clamp is not clear to me what it connects, one clamp goes on the sensor hook and the other why on the plastic number of the Test bridge?
From what I remember, this board is similar to one I used. Do you have P3 with GND, 5V and VIN? From photo I've found it should have it. Wemos should be connected there - and VIN is used as signal/pulse port. I didn't try or test this setup, but it should work. But I also had some problems with puls counter on 8266 so decided to go for ESP32 because of that.
@@BeardedTinker thanks for the answer, I will try the configuration with the wemos and then I will update you. as for the calibration, can you explain the connection of the second red cable between the sensor connector and the plastic number? from the video I seem to see it like this. thank you. you are very kind
@@antoniolespaul5409 exectlly as it says on 24:32 - J2 😁😂- there should be pin with that name next to test (J4). And as for the plastic - it has wire at the top so it's not going on plastic but on connection between test pins.
Hi, I am from Germany (bad English) and I bought this counter. I use it without a programme, I almost need the signals from the Board. The problem is, the light near the on/off switch doesn’t work on my counter. It worked only a few minutes. Is this a sign that the Geiger counter will get unfunctional? Actually, the counting light works, but is the not working LED near the switch a problem ?
Hi!. Not sure. Mine board died a month ago. If you can hear clicking sound from speaker, than everything is working OK. Power LED is not mandatory to work, if speaker is working.
Hi thanks for the video, assembled my own counter and connected it to Home assistant in no time. Have got 2 questions though. 1) My tube is J305 where can I find the multiplier for it? 2) When calibrating I see voltage of 60V not 6V, guess it is a different version of the device, unfortunately could not find any documentation with the correct voltage. Printing on the board says RadiationD-v1.1(CAJOE). Google is not really helpful, same as the seller, any ideas. thanks! help is really appreciated.
I have same tube - check multiplier in videos description. In terms of calibration. I think it should be around 60V because tube works with up to 300V - if I remember correctly. Haven't played in a long time with it and can't check currently mine as it's a bit out of reach in permanent location.
Ok, found an answer to second question. The voltage depends on Voltmeter, if its resistance is 1M ohm then you need 6,5V, but when it's 10M ohm you need to set 57,0 V. More details here github.com/2969773606/GeigerCounter-V1.1/blob/master/En_Calibration_GMv1.1.pdf
Hi I like the look of this project so thanks for preparing this video. Before I commit to buying the geiger component I wanted to try and get understanding on a couple of points. Firstly, I am not using secrets file on HA and assume I can just use my own home SSID and p/w when I set up the ESPHome geiger file. Also, I don't understand what the fallback hotspot is. Where does it come from and where is the password set up. This info seemed to be there when you submitted your basic set up info to ESPHome. Is any hardware needed for this? Sorry if questions are a bit basic. I have successfully done quite a few ESPHome setups but this seems different.
Thank you very much for your comment Neil!!! Yes, you don't need to use secrets file. You can just type them in directly in ESPHome. Fall back hotspot is just added feature of ESPHome - it turns device into Hotspot if it can't establish access to your access point. That part is not needed and although I never (had to ) use it, it's also it can be helpful.
This sensor seems relatively affordable. Do you think there'd be any point in getting two or more for improved accuracy (or alternative reducing the sampling period)? Or alternatively put a second one outside, since concrete seems to have good blocking properties?
You need to wait for one of my next videos :) But, there is one DIY project that can utilise 1 or 2 tubes. And if 2 are present, it should improve efficiency of the counter. One thing I'm sure, you need to keep this sensor in shade - sun will mess reading and give false data. At least for all the sensors that use glass/transparent tubes. Old USSR style tubes are not acceptable to those problems.
Hi - You use a DI mini esp32. Unfortunately I don't have one of those and it will take about 4 weeks to buy from China. I do have plenty of ESP12F - they have 16 pins including 5v and ground. However they don't have a SUP GPIO36 pin (not sure what that is). Also have plenty of esp32, but they don't have a 5v pin but do have a GPIO36 pin. Is there any alternative to your DI mini?
Haven't tried it and I would have to say no. Connection to/from ESP only really requires signal wire. But if I'm not mistaken it also needs common ground. You could try connecting those 2 wires, skipping power and then inject power from batteries or power supply. It could work, but I would bet against it 😂
@@BeardedTinker thanks for answering! I was wrong thinking the board does not provide 5v. After a little research i found the VIN pin is providing it. I also see some people say it is 0.5v under 5v because of the sharing to 3.3v but my multimeter says 4.95v so i am going to go with that. Not recevied the geiger kit yet so cant say for a few days if it wil work. Anyways great video :)
I did try to calibrate my device. I was surprised because I had 60V instead of 6.5V. I dig a little bit and the correct value is 57V for multimeter with internal impedance 10MOhm, 6.5V is for multimeter with impedance 1MOhm.
@@BeardedTinker I have got second Geiger meter (portable) and the readings does match pretty well. I bought a smoke detector (it contains minimal amount of radioactive material) and in proximity range both detectors are ticking more. So if you don’t sure if it works look around, maybe somwhere is smoke detector and you can check your device.
@@gabrielcwik146 great!!! I do have one other too, but that one is also DIY - zigbee version. A lot of surface mount components soldering were required, but it works :)
You just need to be careful of PINs - it should work. ESPHome needs to be changed according to the board that you use. Can't remember if 8266 can work, but any ESP32 version should work.
Hey, Is it possible to use the pre assebled GC-1602-nano board (cajoe) inc lcd I have the following pin's were the arduino nano is conneced to GND 5V SCL SDA INT Other pin GND 5v INT so that i can use a ESP+wifi instead of the arduino nano Thanks and keep up the great work!
I think this board also has 5V GND and INT. You should be able to use those pins, and maybe power board over it. But, I've not tested it of course and this is just my "guess". From INT pins on nano, not sure if any is exposing ticks from counter. You'll need oscilloscope to test it or playing with nano firmware.
@@BeardedTinker Thanks for the tutorial, I reproduced the project successfully. Is there a way to disable buzzer other than physically removing it from the board? Also, would be nice to somehow average out the result, my home assistant shows 0.22uSv/h of natural background, 15s later it shows 0.03uSv/h, then 0.15uSv/h, etc.
Unfortuantely, no... You have to desolder it - after about 1-2 years of use I can't hear it anymore to be honest, but if I concentrate, clicking is here :D You could use Statistics integration in HA and Min/Max sensro to play with values - later on has median values, that can maybe be used here.
@@BeardedTinker I figured it out already, there is a jumper on the board, near the buzzer - I took it out and now it's silent ;) also changed the update interval from 15s to 60s which is more than enough for me and it stabilized the readings. Thanks again for the tutorial:)
Too bad. Despite correct comparison and transfer of the data to the ESP, my Geiger counter clicks but it doesn't output any data. :-( The only difference... I have a tube with the designation J315 28 euros for the garbage can PS: ESPHOME now requires the line: allow_other_uses: true under the PIN number line if the same PIN is used/listed again, otherwise there is an error message!
Interesting fact took. I took the device outside and CPM went up almost 4 times due to the sun, in shadow it's not like this. Took a powerful led flashlight and pointed it at the tube, nothing happened. Took an UV led flashlight pointed it at the tube and CPM went up again.
Yes, it should be kept away from direct sunlight. And I learned it hard way - got alarm on all devices and speakers. 😂 Then I took time to read a bit more on it and move it to more permanent and secluded space.
@@BeardedTinker First of all, thank you for the detailed project! One question: Should the circuit board be in a closed plastic housing or should it be open? Does it make sense to use it indoors or outdoors?
@@knallaff you can keep it in plastic housing. As for placement, I recommend you avoid placing it in the sun (direct sunlight) as sun radiation will have impact on measurements. Indoors and shade is preferred.
Sorry, its now working for me... - platform: rest name: Radiation in Nitra station resource: rewidget.jrc.ec.europa.eu/v3/objects/point?id=L11855 scan_interval: 1800 # check every 30 minutes unit_of_measurement: nSv/h value_template: '{{ value_json.avg.val }}' headers: Content-Type: application/json - platform: rest name: Radiation in Nitra station Max resource: rewidget.jrc.ec.europa.eu/v3/objects/point?id=L11855 scan_interval: 1800 # check every 30 minutes unit_of_measurement: nSv/h value_template: '{{ value_json.max.val }}' headers: Content-Type: application/json only I need an area code for my contry... Nitra area in Slovakia ... polygon id...
Nice, how did you manage to get ID for Nitra (btw - I know Nitra, was thre few times ;) - lived in Bratislava for a year). Did you register to get personalised RSS feed?
It's good to know how to build and program, I've been doing it 50 yrs so far, another input sensor is nice to add to a micro port, I went from 6502 Forth in the mid 80's with Rom, Ram and Latch FF, when I worked from Ampex Corp Redwood city, CA. Silicon Valley 400 engineers in my building to the Easy building projects of Picaxe much later with imbedded on board, to the yrs forward projects of Arduino projects
Fascinating how it changes through the time but gets easier to work with.
I would love to add this sensor. You never know if your area is contaminated. I just started using ESPhome and bought my first ESP32 and setup a bed sensor. Works great.
Congrats on entering ESP world!
I have this one setup now for over a month and it's working great (well I hope as it does provide some data but I have no way of verifying accuracy). Just need to find a way to have it permanently powered and "out of sight" .
@@BeardedTinker Yea. My esp32 is taped to the side of the bed frame. Wish the red led could be disable. I can see it glow on the wall. I ordered a DHT22 temp sensor. Will add it to the esp32 for a temp check in the room.
Did you try putting black masking/electrician tape over the LED? Only other way to disable it that I know of is to cut/desolder it.
Great video and superb idea!!! Thanks! As soon as I saw your video I ordered kit :). This is must have for us diy-guys in our region :))
I'm currently working on one full DIY kit - it will be more or less same thing, but will work with Zigbee protocol :) To be honest, that's not my idea, just found it and had to do it :)
@@BeardedTinker Watching your video it came up an idea on radon detection. I think radon is more likely to kill us than nuclear power plant, but you never know :) Did you thought about radon as well?
I did look but briefly - sensors were too complicated for things I've seen.
There are even full DIY versions that capture Radon, but you have to dispose of it later .
If you manage to find any sensor for that, let me know 😉
Wd love if there was a version of this board for Alpha radiation. That would mean a truly affordable (and fun) means of monitoring the air in my home which is in a strong Radon area.
Have you worked on improving this idea? I'm thinking of building it myself, but I had to ask before ordering components.
I've assembled one additional DIY Geiger counter, that is working via Zigbee. Not my project though, picked it off of Russian site. (there is video about it on my channel) This, original board died few months back. Thought that tube died, but no, board died. As it's still connected haven't bothered to look at what failed. It worked for almost 2 years, so not bad for money. Comparing results from those 2 they were actually really close in readings.
Hmm, where does that 123 divider come from? I'm looking through the datasheet of the M4011 tube on the board, it says you need to divide the number of counts in a minute through 151. For 15 seconds, it should be consequently 37.75. And you apparently need to subtract 25 counts per minute of self-radiation.
I got that when researching coefficient of the J305 tube. For M4011 I found coefficient of 153.8 here: sites.google.com/site/diygeigercounter/technical/gm-tubes-supported
Super video! 👍
Thank you!!!😀
hi, great job! compliments! I bought the kit seeing your video, to integrate it on Home Assistant! Now I have a RadiationD-v1.1 (CAJOE) kit, slightly different, I have only one number provided and it is placed on P100 (what is it for?), On the test terminals I have nothing, do I have to move it? can I connect a Wemos D1Mini instead of your ESP32, if so to which pin? At the end of the video I see a calibration, the second red clamp is not clear to me what it connects, one clamp goes on the sensor hook and the other why on the plastic number of the Test bridge?
From what I remember, this board is similar to one I used. Do you have P3 with GND, 5V and VIN? From photo I've found it should have it. Wemos should be connected there - and VIN is used as signal/pulse port.
I didn't try or test this setup, but it should work. But I also had some problems with puls counter on 8266 so decided to go for ESP32 because of that.
@@BeardedTinker thanks for the answer, I will try the configuration with the wemos and then I will update you. as for the calibration, can you explain the connection of the second red cable between the sensor connector and the plastic number? from the video I seem to see it like this. thank you. you are very kind
I think there is a test pin on the right side of the board.
@@BeardedTinker sorry, at 25:00 minute (not the PIN test) thanks again and sorry for being very insistent 😆
@@antoniolespaul5409 exectlly as it says on 24:32 - J2 😁😂- there should be pin with that name next to test (J4). And as for the plastic - it has wire at the top so it's not going on plastic but on connection between test pins.
Does this Geiger tube detect X-ray radiation? what are the safety precautions for touching & using this Geiger tube for avoid radiation expose
No, afaik it doesn't detect that one.
Hi, I am from Germany (bad English) and I bought this counter. I use it without a programme, I almost need the signals from the Board. The problem is, the light near the on/off switch doesn’t work on my counter. It worked only a few minutes. Is this a sign that the Geiger counter will get unfunctional? Actually, the counting light works, but is the not working LED near the switch a problem ?
Hi!. Not sure. Mine board died a month ago. If you can hear clicking sound from speaker, than everything is working OK. Power LED is not mandatory to work, if speaker is working.
Hi thanks for the video, assembled my own counter and connected it to Home assistant in no time. Have got 2 questions though.
1) My tube is J305 where can I find the multiplier for it?
2) When calibrating I see voltage of 60V not 6V, guess it is a different version of the device, unfortunately could not find any documentation with the correct voltage. Printing on the board says RadiationD-v1.1(CAJOE). Google is not really helpful, same as the seller, any ideas.
thanks! help is really appreciated.
I have same tube - check multiplier in videos description.
In terms of calibration. I think it should be around 60V because tube works with up to 300V - if I remember correctly.
Haven't played in a long time with it and can't check currently mine as it's a bit out of reach in permanent location.
Ok, found an answer to second question. The voltage depends on Voltmeter, if its resistance is 1M ohm then you need 6,5V, but when it's 10M ohm you need to set 57,0 V. More details here github.com/2969773606/GeigerCounter-V1.1/blob/master/En_Calibration_GMv1.1.pdf
@@GlebGrigorian Thanks, I had the same "issue"
Hi I like the look of this project so thanks for preparing this video. Before I commit to buying the geiger component I wanted to try and get understanding on a couple of points. Firstly, I am not using secrets file on HA and assume I can just use my own home SSID and p/w when I set up the ESPHome geiger file. Also, I don't understand what the fallback hotspot is. Where does it come from and where is the password set up. This info seemed to be there when you submitted your basic set up info to ESPHome. Is any hardware needed for this? Sorry if questions are a bit basic. I have successfully done quite a few ESPHome setups but this seems different.
Thank you very much for your comment Neil!!!
Yes, you don't need to use secrets file. You can just type them in directly in ESPHome.
Fall back hotspot is just added feature of ESPHome - it turns device into Hotspot if it can't establish access to your access point. That part is not needed and although I never (had to ) use it, it's also it can be helpful.
Thanks for clarifying
Can you make a video on how to create and setup a MQ-9 sensor to HA?
I don't think I have that sensor exactly, but something similar, also gas sensor. I'll try to do video very soon.
This sensor seems relatively affordable. Do you think there'd be any point in getting two or more for improved accuracy (or alternative reducing the sampling period)? Or alternatively put a second one outside, since concrete seems to have good blocking properties?
You need to wait for one of my next videos :)
But, there is one DIY project that can utilise 1 or 2 tubes. And if 2 are present, it should improve efficiency of the counter.
One thing I'm sure, you need to keep this sensor in shade - sun will mess reading and give false data. At least for all the sensors that use glass/transparent tubes. Old USSR style tubes are not acceptable to those problems.
Hi - You use a DI mini esp32. Unfortunately I don't have one of those and it will take about 4 weeks to buy from China. I do have plenty of ESP12F - they have 16 pins including 5v and ground. However they don't have a SUP GPIO36 pin (not sure what that is). Also have plenty of esp32, but they don't have a 5v pin but do have a GPIO36 pin. Is there any alternative to your DI mini?
This can be done with 8266 too - I think I used GOIP4 when testing.
@@BeardedTinker Thanks, my ESP12F is a derivative of ESP8266 and had a GPIO4 pin - all worked out, good fun project.
Got a ESP8266 and to my disapointment it does not provide 5v. can i use a separate powersupply to the geiger kit?
Haven't tried it and I would have to say no. Connection to/from ESP only really requires signal wire. But if I'm not mistaken it also needs common ground. You could try connecting those 2 wires, skipping power and then inject power from batteries or power supply. It could work, but I would bet against it 😂
@@BeardedTinker thanks for answering! I was wrong thinking the board does not provide 5v. After a little research i found the VIN pin is providing it. I also see some people say it is 0.5v under 5v because of the sharing to 3.3v but my multimeter says 4.95v so i am going to go with that. Not recevied the geiger kit yet so cant say for a few days if it wil work. Anyways great video :)
I did try to calibrate my device. I was surprised because I had 60V instead of 6.5V.
I dig a little bit and the correct value is 57V for multimeter with internal impedance 10MOhm, 6.5V is for multimeter with impedance 1MOhm.
Awesome - hope all is working and speaker is (slowly) clicking ;)
@@BeardedTinker I have got second Geiger meter (portable) and the readings does match pretty well.
I bought a smoke detector (it contains minimal amount of radioactive material) and in proximity range both detectors are ticking more.
So if you don’t sure if it works look around, maybe somwhere is smoke detector and you can check your device.
@@gabrielcwik146 great!!! I do have one other too, but that one is also DIY - zigbee version. A lot of surface mount components soldering were required, but it works :)
Does it also work with an normal ESP32 or an other ESP Board? because it is hard to get an presolded ESP32 D1 Mini in the EU.
You just need to be careful of PINs - it should work. ESPHome needs to be changed according to the board that you use. Can't remember if 8266 can work, but any ESP32 version should work.
Hey,
Is it possible to use the pre assebled GC-1602-nano board (cajoe) inc lcd
I have the following pin's were the arduino nano is conneced to
GND
5V
SCL
SDA
INT
Other pin
GND
5v
INT
so that i can use a ESP+wifi instead of the arduino nano
Thanks and keep up the great work!
I think this board also has 5V GND and INT. You should be able to use those pins, and maybe power board over it.
But, I've not tested it of course and this is just my "guess".
From INT pins on nano, not sure if any is exposing ticks from counter. You'll need oscilloscope to test it or playing with nano firmware.
@@BeardedTinker Thanks for you'r info.
i wil try it out soon and let you know.
Gr
What ESP32 have you used, with CP2104 or CH9102 driver?
If I remember correctly CP210x.
@@BeardedTinker Thanks!
@@BeardedTinker Thanks for the tutorial, I reproduced the project successfully. Is there a way to disable buzzer other than physically removing it from the board?
Also, would be nice to somehow average out the result, my home assistant shows 0.22uSv/h of natural background, 15s later it shows 0.03uSv/h, then 0.15uSv/h, etc.
Unfortuantely, no... You have to desolder it - after about 1-2 years of use I can't hear it anymore to be honest, but if I concentrate, clicking is here :D
You could use Statistics integration in HA and Min/Max sensro to play with values - later on has median values, that can maybe be used here.
@@BeardedTinker I figured it out already, there is a jumper on the board, near the buzzer - I took it out and now it's silent ;) also changed the update interval from 15s to 60s which is more than enough for me and it stabilized the readings. Thanks again for the tutorial:)
Too bad.
Despite correct comparison and transfer of the data to the ESP, my Geiger counter clicks but it doesn't output any data. :-(
The only difference... I have a tube with the designation J315
28 euros for the garbage can
PS: ESPHOME now requires the line:
allow_other_uses: true
under the PIN number line if the same PIN is used/listed again, otherwise there is an error message!
It should still work. My device died but I ordered a new one. Check that you have the correct pin on ESP board
Nice work! :) Pozdrav!
Thank you very much Rene! I naravno pozdrav i tebi!!! 😉
Interesting fact took. I took the device outside and CPM went up almost 4 times due to the sun, in shadow it's not like this. Took a powerful led flashlight and pointed it at the tube, nothing happened. Took an UV led flashlight pointed it at the tube and CPM went up again.
Yes, it should be kept away from direct sunlight. And I learned it hard way - got alarm on all devices and speakers. 😂
Then I took time to read a bit more on it and move it to more permanent and secluded space.
@@BeardedTinker First of all, thank you for the detailed project!
One question: Should the circuit board be in a closed plastic housing or should it be open? Does it make sense to use it indoors or outdoors?
@@knallaff you can keep it in plastic housing. As for placement, I recommend you avoid placing it in the sun (direct sunlight) as sun radiation will have impact on measurements. Indoors and shade is preferred.
"high voltage" I put my tongue on it.... it has practically 0 amps...
😂 it should be around 300V I think. Forgot what's the rating of J305 tube...
Sorry, its now working for me...
- platform: rest
name: Radiation in Nitra station
resource: rewidget.jrc.ec.europa.eu/v3/objects/point?id=L11855
scan_interval: 1800 # check every 30 minutes
unit_of_measurement: nSv/h
value_template: '{{ value_json.avg.val }}'
headers:
Content-Type: application/json
- platform: rest
name: Radiation in Nitra station Max
resource: rewidget.jrc.ec.europa.eu/v3/objects/point?id=L11855
scan_interval: 1800 # check every 30 minutes
unit_of_measurement: nSv/h
value_template: '{{ value_json.max.val }}'
headers:
Content-Type: application/json
only I need an area code for my contry... Nitra area in Slovakia ... polygon id...
Nice, how did you manage to get ID for Nitra (btw - I know Nitra, was thre few times ;) - lived in Bratislava for a year). Did you register to get personalised RSS feed?