Introduction: Geiger Counter for Arduino With SSD1360 Display

This sketch collects and displays the ticks of a connected Geiger-Counter on a connectd tiny 0.96'' Displays based on SSD1360

The output on the screen shows the average ticks per minute on a different timebase,

the devider TPM2UNIT lets you re-calibrate the tics to your desired unit:

  1. The average result over the entire runtime.
  2. The average result of only the last minute
  3. The average result of the last 10 minutes
  4. The average result of the last six hour.
  5. The average result of the last day.

Every 2 seconds instead of the values for each value the history is shown in form of a tiny bargraph.

The bargraph shows the values in the buffer substracted by their minium value and then scaled to fit into the line. This is meant to very easily see, if the tick-rate is changeing overtime.

The display outputs starts on the first measured tick, assuming that there was a tick right on powerup.

I created this thing to find out about non statistical changes of radiation in my environement at different places.

I have found out, that during the day, the dose is around 20% increased compared to the night.

I have also found out, that the dose is about 20% higher in the rooftop-floor, related to the basement (3 floors lower in my house). So best would be to stay in the basement at night, to be exposed to as less as possible dosis.

I wonder if the tube does not find out about Radon contamination, of the air in the basement. Radon exhales from the ground and moves into the houses. And the German BFS (the german Federal Office for Radiation Protection) recommends everybody to check for it in his enviroment.

Supplies

Get a Geiger Counter with a logical output. I got one from Banggod, which is also sold on ebay. See photos and search for geiger counter. Best is to buy a ready made one.

It should start making tic-sounds immediately after powersupply is connected.

Get an Arduino Uno

Get one of these tiny 0.96 inch OLED-Displays compatible to SSD1360 with 128x64 pixels. Like this.

Step 1: Download the Code Into the Arduino Microcontoller

  1. Use the Arduino IDE and create a skech.
  2. Copy and paste the attached cpp file into the editor
  3. connect the arduino to the usb port
  4. Select the usb port for your arduino from the menue.
  5. Enable the adafruit SSD1360 Oled Library using the library manager.
  6. Compile your sketch and download it.
  7. Connect the logical level to the Pin 2 of the Arduino and the power supply for the geiger counter to the arduiono.
  8. Connect the oled display to the arduino too
  9. Connect
  10. The display should show the results.
  11. Let the device run for a while and at different locations.
  12. See, if you also encounter a difference between top floor or basement, in the airplane or on the ground, after sun flares (Yes, they are coming back) or a silent sun.
  13. See if you can find shielding material and let us know!

Attachments