Solar Powered Wireless Radiation Monitor

Like the Geiger Kit in the previous post, this project is going to get too big to properly handle in a blog format.


So it's introduced here, but the function and build details are posted on this website.


Listening to what people want in the way of radiation detection, it appeared that there are 3 types of needs:

1.       a portable device that gives instant readings - the classic Geiger Counter

2.       a portable device that logs readings, and maybe location

3.       a stationary monitoring device that is always displaying, and logging readings

I think I’ve covered the first two with the GK-B5 and the GK-Plus Geiger kits. So this project is intended to cover the 3rd need - a stationary monitoring device.

[March 2017] Let's stop right here! Since this was written I have created severial new stationary monitoring kits based on the ESP8266. So they are WiFi rather than RF as described below. Radiation data can now be sent to severial IOT sites. One of the kits looks like this ...

 There is more information on these new "RadMon" kits here.
Sorry to interrupt - to continue ...

The idea is simple – a box outside with a Geiger counter and radio transceiver (solar powered as an option) talking wirelessly to a box inside with a display and an SD card.

the outside piece . . .

the outside piece outside . . .

the inside piece . . .

Again, you can find all the details on this website. However, I'd appreciate any comments you'd like to leave here.

Geiger Counter Kit - Part 3

Please visit this web site if you want to purchase or learn more about the Geiger kit I am offering. [Edit 10/04/24] The kit associated with this project is no longer available.

I'll leave the pics and video here, but you'll find all the details about the kit through the link above. However, you can leave a comment here if you like.

Geiger Kit PCB  . . .

The video gives a pretty good introduction to the GK-Plus

Accelerometer & Compass

No, it's not a B/W TV from the 50's. However Felix the Cat was one of the very first images transmitted to a TV screen.



I wanted to mess around with an accelerometer and this is what I came up with - before getting waylaid making Geiger Counter Kits.

From the beginning, I have to say that this was one of the most frustrating projects I've ever worked on. I consider myself a "completer" but several times, I had the desire to just dump the damn thing in a box, and say to hell with it. I'll try to spare the details of that side of the project.

I had a few goals in mind:

• to learn about accelerometer and compass modules
• to make a LiPo battery operated project
• to use a graphic LCD and a menu system
• and maybe make something I could put in my car

Lets start with the battery side of the thing. I wanted to be able to charge the LiPo, and I also wanted a constant 3.3V for Vcc and the Aref voltage. For the LiPo charger I used a MAX1555 wired per the datasheet.

Since the voltage on a LiPo can vary on both sides of 3.3V (3.0-3.7V), I decided I needed a "buck-boost regulating charge pump". (It's possible I didn't need one, but the name was so cool . . ..) I discovered the MAX1759 and also wired it per the datasheet. Soldering the tiny uMax package to a piece of proto board was an exercise in tedium.

I didn't want a toggle or slide power switch. I wanted a push button On/Off and I also wanted to Pololu Pushbutton Power Switch - it does all those things. I am working on a homemade version of this switch using an ATtiny85 that I will post here soon.  I added an ATmega328, with all pins broken out, and LCD and FTDI connectors.
automatically power it off from the uC if there was no movement for awhile. And of course, I didn't want to use much power to monitor the switch when the power was off. The solution was the

At last! A shield that actually looks like a shield! This round board fits over this square board. After cutting two notches in it to access the LCD and FTDI connectors it was actually fit for a Gladiator - at least until I added the HMC6352 compass (I2C), MMA7361 accelerometer (analog) and DS1621 temperature sensor (I2C).

Finally, the graphic LCD and joystick. After a few flaky Nokia cell phone faceplates, I got a less flaky version of the Nokia 5110 graphic LCD. For the joystick I used a neat trick I learned from nuelectronics that switches resistors with the joystick so the 5 positions can be sensed by only one analogue input.

A wise man once told me "a project is only as good as it's case". (Actually no one told me that.) Long ago, I made a faceplate out of copper clad PCB board. Why not a whole case? 3D soldering! I also had some vintage phenolic board and some copper foil. I cut the copper clad board and mitered the edges. I soldered the box up from the inside. It solders very well. (I cranked up the iron to 425C.) I used the copper foil to attach and solder the phenolic board on the bottom. In a lot of ways, the case was the most rewarding part of the project. If there's anything worth learning here, this technique might be it.

So that's the hardware side. I'm less proud of the software side. I discovered that coding for the accelerometer and compass quickly make you wish you didn't sleep on your desk during geometry. In addition there's the low pass filtering, running average and . . . the dreaded Kalman filter (actually I didn't use one). I'll post the code at the end here, but if your smart, you won't download it. The menu system is sorta nice though. I got the basis from nuelectronics. I also wrote some simple graphic utilities.

Functionally - well, it needs some work, but he's a rundown of the screens . . .

The main menu . . .
(The accelerometer screen is boring. So is Debug.) The calibrate screen calibrates the compass - 2 revolutions in 20sec.

The compass screen shows degrees and ordinals.
There is also a temperature display.


The performance screen shows acceleration (right of center) and deceleration (left of center.)
The line through the bar sticks at the max recorded.

The roll and pitch screen shows, you know what.



Here's the sketch.

X10 Remote Temperature - Redo

I became interested in the ATtiny85 processor recently. Up till now, my projects were based on the ATmega328 or the ATmega644. The  ATtiny85 is just that, tiny - only 8 pins vs. 28 on the ATmega328. The photo on the left shows the new  X10 temperature transmitter, with the DS1621 temperature chip on the left and the ATtiny85 on the right.
(The CM17A X10 RF transmitter is not shown.)

This board replaces what I had in the original X10 Wireless Temperature Transmitter which I've been using for the past year and a half.  (post is here)

So why the redo? The rational part of the answer is that I wanted the batteries to last longer.

The original temperature transmitter drew a whopping 2.2mA while in sleep mode. It was powered by 2 NiMH AA batts stepped up to 5V with a boost inverter. I'd change the batteries every month or so.

The redo board draws about .07mA while in sleep mode. It's running directly on 4 NiMH AA batts.  I'm guessing I'll change the batteries every 1.5 years or so. I choose AA batts over a 3.7V LiPo because it's easier to replace the NiMH batts with fresh ones, and I wanted the higher voltage for better range on the X10 transmitter. However, it's worth noting that the processor draws less current at lower voltages.

Most of the power savings can not be attributed to using the ATtiny, however. Along the way, I discovered a few things.

The first had to do with how I was reading the temperature on the DS1621. I was using "continuous mode" (most examples use this mode) which would give me a reading as soon as I asked for it, but at the cost of almost 1mA! I switched to "one-shot" mode which makes me wait ~750ms for a reading, but at a huge savings.

The second thing I found is that the CM17A library I made left the RTS & DTR lines high after transmitting. Setting them low, results in about a .5mA savings. Note that if you are using this lib and want to try it, be sure to give a nice delay before transmitting after you set the lines high. (There's always a trade off!)

I always use sleep mode for the lowest power usage when not transmitting. It's set to transmit about once every 6 minutes. There are several sleep mode routines for the ATmega processors, but the ATtiny needs entirely different registers set. I found good info on sleep mode, and good tutorials for the ATtiny at brownsofa.org and Inside Gadgets.

The way to do the things mentioned above will be much clearer when you look at the the example code, which will be provided later in this post. But now, I would like to describe how to go about using the Arduino environment to work with the ATtiny85 chip, and most of all, how to get I2C working on them so you can communicate with the DS1621, real time clocks, and even 2x16 displays - all with an 8 pin chip!

The first thing you must do is to get the ATtiny "core files" for the Arduino environment. There are several out there - each supporting more or less of the standard Arduino features. Core files, and instructions on how to get started with the Tiny85 can be found here, however, I prefer the core files from here.

You can use the ArduinoISP as a way of downloading the sketch into the ATtiny. I've used it and it works fine - just be sure to disable the automatic reboot after load! For me, an easy way to do that is to use a serial cable instead of the USB cable. However, there are other ways to do it. Keep in mind, you only need to hit reset when you load the ArduinoISP on to your Arduino. Once it's an ISP, change the Board type to ATTiny85, and just hit "Upload" (don't press "reset"). After you work with the ArduinoISP a while, I think you will want a real ISP Programmer to load the ATtiny. They are cheap and much easier!

Finally, get at least the TinyWireM "master" library for this project. I made a Playground article that explains this library and has a link to download it. The Playground article is here.

OK, almost done. To get the source code for the new X10 Remote Temperature Transmitter, you can download it here. (a new version as of 3/13/11)

 [1/18/15] You can get a schematic for this project here.