Nice one, I did mine a different way using a transistor from the LED to drive an active piezo buzzer.. This should have been a standard feature of any radiation detector!
Hi, Thanks for the tip about adding the particle clicks. I actually opted to use a 100nF cap instead, so it gives clicks even f the alarm is active. BTW You might want to take a look at the review of the GC-01 I just released on my channel. Sadly the product has just switched to a far inferior GM tube and this even includes the white-label versions of this device. I contacted the company here in China (where I am based) and they confirmed the change. Such a shame, its was pretty OK for a low cost counter...
But a word of caution. Disconnect the battery the first thing you do, before you start soldering. This is to reduce the risk of a possible mistake causing serious damage. Maybe I'll also add 2 wires that I can connect to the microphone input on my computer and log the activity
Good job. You make it look easy. I may do your method. Also may try putting a high value trimmer/variable resistor in parallel with the LED resistor and adding a larger (25mm piezo, 2.5khz) there. Dual-purpose mod. I want the LED to be brighter and have a nice loud click. The good news is it's no big loss if I burn out the LED but I won't crank it up too brightly. These geiger counters are cheap enough to experiment with. One could also add an SBM-20 geiger tube for better low energy beta response (from uranium glass/orange pottery, some rocks). However, it would mess up factory calibration/dose rates. CPM display mode would still be fine, and more sensitive to low beta emitters.
@@christianchevrier8191 I also used a 2.2K Resistor. The beeps are not very loud but enough to hear. Probably one could get louder ones with less resistance or build in a switch to turn them off if not needed. But I dont know when the circuit would get overloaded.
I've been looking for this mod, Thank you. Anyone trying this, BE CAREFUL !!!! I not only failed to solder in the resistor, but I also cracked the screen. OOPSIE. :(
Its a job only for people with plenty of electronics experience and used to working on SMD components. Also there is high voltage on that GM tube and perhaps some caps still charged up to 300-400 Volts. My one (not GC01) uses 600 Volts, although very low current (micro amps).
@@HowardKlein1958 I've got plenty of electronics experience, just not SMD. My eyes are shot and my hands shake these days. I grew up working with valves. A lot easier to handle. LOL.
it depends on production date and size. For example new longer J-305 are more sensitive than SBM-20. New chinese tubes are sometimes more sensitive than old soviet metal tubes.
@@fotongammadosimetry Please let me know what is the current rating of the device's output to the J321 Geiger tube? I would like to add two tubes to increase sensitivity, but I'm not sure if the circuit will be overloaded. According to the specifications of the J-321 tube: Recommended working voltage: 380V, Starting voltage: < 350V. Since the tubes are connected in parallel, the voltage across each tube will be the same, i.e., 380V (V = IR) to calculate the current draw (I) for one tube is 38mA, two tubes operate in parallel, the total current draw for both tubes will be 76mA. If the device can safely provide at least 76 mA, then it should be able to efficiently power both tubes. If the device's current rating is less than 76mA, connecting two tubes may overload the circuits, I'm afraid! So, I would be grateful if you could measure for me if it's possible! Thank you!
@@fotongammadosimetry Hello! Today I did the total upgrade to the device! There is no need for a separate resistor for each tube anymore! Detach the tube from the socket and press the feet of the socket inside downwards at a 90-degree angle, placing a strip of insulating tape over the pieces to prevent them from touching the parts on the board! Then you put both tubes side by side in the same socket and solder them leaving a distance of 1 mm between them! From the back cover, cut out a rectangle of 8cm x 2cm, the size of both tubes, and it will result in a rectangular hole which you cover from the inside with a curved piece of transparent plastic cut from a Coca-Cola bottle and glue it with hot glue with the curve on the outside! This way both tubes will be visible and protected at the same time! For particle sounds, instead of the ceramic 100nF capacitor, you put one Electrolytic of 1000uF 6.3V! Remove the original buzzer from the board and solder two wires leading to a Dual Channel Power Amplifier Module 2.5V-5.5V 3W+3W PAM8403. It's small enough to fit in the case! On the left channel, you place a 4-8Ω speaker.Distortion: 0.5%Frequency responserange:200-20K Hz Sensitivity SNR: ≥ 89dB.Speaker unit size: 35mm x 2mm. On the right channel, you can put a small vibrator motor like the one in a phone and a blue LED! In this way, particle impacts will not only be heard but also felt! Place the blue LED near the tubes behind the transparent window! The speaker can be glued inside with hot glue to the back cover, making holes in the cover that can be covered from the outside with a round metal mesh taken from a mini portable phone speaker, from where you can also take the speaker! The battery can be replaced with one of 2000 mAh of the same size, just slightly thicker! I'm sorry I can't post a picture here for you to see how great it looks and how awesome it sounds and lights up when particles hit the tube! Here the link for the Speaker : www.amazon.co.uk/Portable-Speaker-Wireless-Travel-Battery-Black/dp/B08LG72F9X
@@fotongammadosimetry a no dlatego mam nadzieję, że jak ktoś wstawi mniejszy i będzie dzialać bez zarzutu podzieli się tutaj informacją jaki rezystor wstawił i czy jest zauważalna różnica. Ale mimo wszystko i tak jest o niebo lepiej niż bez dźwięku - bo co to za licznik geigera, który nie klika😉.
You're going to blow your battery, that is an I sand way of doing this, you need at least a single transistor and a diode to prevent any possible feedback and overvoltage, DO NOT DO THIS
Explain your comment and warning. Output from whatever is driving the LED is likely sourced from the microcontroller chip, then probably amplified by a transistor. His mod does add load to whatever is driving the LED, but the duty cycle (a click) is so short that I doubt that it really puts much appreciable load on the output device. All this is “LED driving 101”. He is not doing a crazy mod to the unit that involves the battery directly or the high voltage side. I think it’s quite an elegant solution that most anyone with intermediate soldering skills can do.
@@phonotical He's using the MCU output to the LED to drive the base/gate of the trasistor for the pizo. It'll all be 3.3V and any noise from the pizo will be handled by the pizo driver circuit that he didn't modify. This modification won't effect the life of the product in anyway.
Nice one, I did mine a different way using a transistor from the LED to drive an active piezo buzzer.. This should have been a standard feature of any radiation detector!
First i used an optocoupler, but if it work with single resistor, it have no sense :D
Do you have any pictures and details on the parts you use. I'm about to do this to mine and it would be helpful. Thank you
Hi, Thanks for the tip about adding the particle clicks. I actually opted to use a 100nF cap instead, so it gives clicks even f the alarm is active.
BTW You might want to take a look at the review of the GC-01 I just released on my channel. Sadly the product has just switched to a far inferior GM tube and this even includes the white-label versions of this device. I contacted the company here in China (where I am based) and they confirmed the change. Such a shame, its was pretty OK for a low cost counter...
I tried it and it worked out! Thank you very much for this tutorial! Finally my counter is complete.
But a word of caution. Disconnect the battery the first thing you do, before you start soldering.
This is to reduce the risk of a possible mistake causing serious damage.
Maybe I'll also add 2 wires that I can connect to the microphone input on my computer and log the activity
Followed your instructions and it works great. Quiet like you said, but nice to have.
Good job. You make it look easy. I may do your method. Also may try putting a high value trimmer/variable resistor in parallel with the LED resistor and adding a larger (25mm piezo, 2.5khz) there. Dual-purpose mod. I want the LED to be brighter and have a nice loud click. The good news is it's no big loss if I burn out the LED but I won't crank it up too brightly. These geiger counters are cheap enough to experiment with. One could also add an SBM-20 geiger tube for better low energy beta response (from uranium glass/orange pottery, some rocks). However, it would mess up factory calibration/dose rates. CPM display mode would still be fine, and more sensitive to low beta emitters.
Thank you. Yes, they are cheap, so we dont have to worry too much modding it :)
I've tried this mod with a 2k resistor and it works well. :)
Good video !
It finally beeps! Thanks for the great video!
What is the resistor value ?
What resistor did you use
@@christianchevrier8191 I also used a 2.2K Resistor. The beeps are not very loud but enough to hear. Probably one could get louder ones with less resistance or build in a switch to turn them off if not needed. But I dont know when the circuit would get overloaded.
@@MarkxTube that switch idea I like to see that is a great idea when you want silence
dziekuje
Parabéns 🎉🎉😊
I've been looking for this mod, Thank you.
Anyone trying this, BE CAREFUL !!!! I not only failed to solder in the resistor, but I also cracked the screen. OOPSIE. :(
Its a job only for people with plenty of electronics experience and used to working on SMD components. Also there is high voltage on that GM tube and perhaps some caps still charged up to 300-400 Volts. My one (not GC01) uses 600 Volts, although very low current (micro amps).
@@HowardKlein1958 I've got plenty of electronics experience, just not SMD.
My eyes are shot and my hands shake these days. I grew up working with valves. A lot easier to handle. LOL.
Thanks for the MOD.
yours is still working good? Did you notice if the battery drops faster?
Everything working ok. Ther is no power supply on that part of circuit in standby mode, so it not drain battery.
@@fotongammadosimetry My GC-01 arrived today, already did the modification. besides the low volume it Works great! thank you!
Super! I have used a transistor instead
Which transistor did you use?
@@nzsvusJust about any NPN. 2N2222, BC108 etc
Nice mod. Maybe I could add a switch so I can turn it on and off.
Hi! Isn't SBM-20 geiger tube better instead of J321? It is much more sensitive.
it depends on production date and size. For example new longer J-305 are more sensitive than SBM-20.
New chinese tubes are sometimes more sensitive than old soviet metal tubes.
@@fotongammadosimetry Please let me know what is the current rating of the device's output to the J321 Geiger tube? I would like to add two tubes to increase sensitivity, but I'm not sure if the circuit will be overloaded. According to the specifications of the J-321 tube: Recommended working voltage: 380V, Starting voltage: < 350V. Since the tubes are connected in parallel, the voltage across each tube will be the same, i.e., 380V (V = IR) to calculate the current draw (I) for one tube is 38mA, two tubes operate in parallel, the total current draw for both tubes will be 76mA. If the device can safely provide at least 76 mA, then it should be able to efficiently power both tubes. If the device's current rating is less than 76mA, connecting two tubes may overload the circuits, I'm afraid! So, I would be grateful if you could measure for me if it's possible! Thank you!
@@satan2260 just place separate resistor for every tube. Geiger tubes take only microamps because resistors have values about megaohms.
@@fotongammadosimetry Hello! Today I did the total upgrade to the device! There is no need for a separate resistor for each tube anymore! Detach the tube from the socket and press the feet of the socket inside downwards at a 90-degree angle, placing a strip of insulating tape over the pieces to prevent them from touching the parts on the board! Then you put both tubes side by side in the same socket and solder them leaving a distance of 1 mm between them! From the back cover, cut out a rectangle of 8cm x 2cm, the size of both tubes, and it will result in a rectangular hole which you cover from the inside with a curved piece of transparent plastic cut from a Coca-Cola bottle and glue it with hot glue with the curve on the outside! This way both tubes will be visible and protected at the same time! For particle sounds, instead of the ceramic 100nF capacitor, you put one Electrolytic of 1000uF 6.3V! Remove the original buzzer from the board and solder two wires leading to a Dual Channel Power Amplifier Module 2.5V-5.5V 3W+3W PAM8403. It's small enough to fit in the case! On the left channel, you place a 4-8Ω speaker.Distortion: 0.5%Frequency responserange:200-20K Hz Sensitivity SNR: ≥ 89dB.Speaker unit size: 35mm x 2mm. On the right channel, you can put a small vibrator motor like the one in a phone and a blue LED! In this way, particle impacts will not only be heard but also felt! Place the blue LED near the tubes behind the transparent window! The speaker can be glued inside with hot glue to the back cover, making holes in the cover that can be covered from the outside with a round metal mesh taken from a mini portable phone speaker, from where you can also take the speaker! The battery can be replaced with one of 2000 mAh of the same size, just slightly thicker! I'm sorry I can't post a picture here for you to see how great it looks and how awesome it sounds and lights up when particles hit the tube! Here the link for the Speaker : www.amazon.co.uk/Portable-Speaker-Wireless-Travel-Battery-Black/dp/B08LG72F9X
👍😁👍
Hej! Mam pytanie czy jak wrzucę akumulator 2000mAh to też będzie ładował go do pełna bez problemu? Pozdrawiam
podejrzewam, że nie powinno być problemów z podmianą. Pewnie procedura ładowania jest klasyczna jak dla liion obojętnie jakiej pojemności.
@@fotongammadosimetry Dziękuję i pozdrawiam 🙂
What is the value of the resistor is it a 1 K please let me know : )
I statet it in the video - 2,2 kOhm (for safety), but i think 1 kOhm should work too.
@@fotongammadosimetry thank you for taking the time to answer me so quickly this mod is great
the nominal value of the resistor?
nominal?
działa! choć na filmiku wydaje się że jest nieco głośniej
pewnie można trochę zmniejszyć wartość rezystora, ale nie wiem jaką wydajność będzie miał pin procesora. Modyfikacja na własną odpowiedzialność :)
@@fotongammadosimetry a no dlatego mam nadzieję, że jak ktoś wstawi mniejszy i będzie dzialać bez zarzutu podzieli się tutaj informacją jaki rezystor wstawił i czy jest zauważalna różnica. Ale mimo wszystko i tak jest o niebo lepiej niż bez dźwięku - bo co to za licznik geigera, który nie klika😉.
You're going to blow your battery, that is an I sand way of doing this, you need at least a single transistor and a diode to prevent any possible feedback and overvoltage, DO NOT DO THIS
No. Look at resistor value.
Explain your comment and warning. Output from whatever is driving the LED is likely sourced from the microcontroller chip, then probably amplified by a transistor. His mod does add load to whatever is driving the LED, but the duty cycle (a click) is so short that I doubt that it really puts much appreciable load on the output device. All this is “LED driving 101”. He is not doing a crazy mod to the unit that involves the battery directly or the high voltage side. I think it’s quite an elegant solution that most anyone with intermediate soldering skills can do.
@@Steelplayer59 not a fan of spikes on loads? Of you don't get it, dont mess about with it!
@@phonotical He's using the MCU output to the LED to drive the base/gate of the trasistor for the pizo. It'll all be 3.3V and any noise from the pizo will be handled by the pizo driver circuit that he didn't modify. This modification won't effect the life of the product in anyway.
@@TarmanYoloSwag then you do it and see how far you get 😂
Display cannot be seen in bright sunlight - a piece of junk!