Kit built & working

Support forum for the mightyohm.com Geiger Counter.
http://mightyohm.com/geiger
Post Reply
thegrendel
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Aug 18, 2013 4:33 pm

Kit built & working

Post by thegrendel »

I just finished the kit -- took my time with it because I didn't want any mistakes
and because I wanted to slowly savor the sheer joy of building it. Put in the batteries
and adjusted the voltage pot, and . . . beeps and flashes. So, what did I do right???

Some suggestions:

* Add to the documentation that when connecting to a computer USB port,
the batteries have to stay in. I at first mistakenly believed that the GC could
get power from the 3.3 v line (pin 3) of the serial connector. Apparently this
just powers the CPU, not the HV supply.

* I soldered a 6-pin bent header instead of the straight-pin header supplied.
It's better for hooking up the cable for the TTL-to-USB cable.

* For a case, a $1 "cream cheese storage container" from Big Lots
works fine, and if I get caught in the rain, it will keep the GC dry.
It's 5" x 2-7/8" x 1-1/2" (height).

---

I'll soon be experimenting with interfacing this baby to an Arduino.
And after that, I'll try building a Hackduino running at 3.3 v, which
is out of spec, but seems to work with many of the hole-through
ATMega328s. This will simplify adding a Nokia 5110 display,
without needing a level shifter.

---

In summary, this is a well-designed kit and easy to build.
User avatar
mightyohm
Site Admin
Posts: 1064
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2009 10:29 pm
Location: Seattle, WA
Contact:

Re: Kit built & working

Post by mightyohm »

Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad you enjoyed building your kit!
Post Reply