I know that footguns are broadly "on-brand" for the flipper zero ecosystem, but exposing high-voltage leads like that without any warning whatsoever seems a bit much .
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Flipper Zero Geiger Counter
51–60 of 86 posts
Re: Flipper Zero Geiger Counter
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you want to actually measure radon concentration quantitatively what you are describing is not the way. Typically devices simply measure alpha count rates coming from air, radon diffuses very effectively and no filtering or extra flow is necessary. Your technique would show "hey look there is a little bit of something radioactive here" but would be very difficult to turn into a concentration without a lot of extra…
The relevance of the fan with filter is that it is analogous to your lungs which can also trap radioactive particles, like radon, causing say lung cancer.
Radon is a gas.
Re: Flipper Zero Geiger Counter
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you want to actually measure radon concentration quantitatively what you are describing is not the way. Typically devices simply measure alpha count rates coming from air, radon diffuses very effectively and no filtering or extra flow is necessary. Your technique would show "hey look there is a little bit of something radioactive here" but would be very difficult to turn into a concentration without a lot of extra…
The relevance of the fan with filter is that it is analogous to your lungs which can also trap radioactive particles, like radon, causing say lung cancer.
Practically every radon measuring device on the market does it the way I described because of the reasons I described.
Re: Flipper Zero Geiger Counter
#54This project is neat and OP did a good job, but I think the interest in Geiger counters among hackers needs an update. The Geiger kit on Adafruit (Yes, I know that makes the cost a lot higher to be from them instead of Ali, but I think is a good baseline for "finished good" price) is $99. Meanwhile, Raysid or Radiacode let you do full on gamma spectrometry, for about 2.5x the price. And, like, yeah, 2.5x the price. I…
I gave a more detailed comment already, but price/performance is not a simple two axis thing. No consumer grade gamma spec device measures high dose rate which is needed for emergency use. Depending on the intended use case something lower cost than radiacode might make sense. For example the radiacode 110 ($400) has the same volume and type of scintillator, with very high sensitivity, as the better geiger S2L ($200), so both are good for handheld search for radioactive objects, but S2L has something like 30x higher maximum dose rate range which makes it more capable in emergencies, whereas the 110 has Bluetooth, mapping, and gamma spec... Which are very fun for hobbyist but have little true "practical" real world value. Different interests and different budgets would point people in different directions.
Re: Flipper Zero Geiger Counter
#55Is there a maximum level to the measurement? Asking for a friend… “3.6 roentgen. Not great, not terrible.”
Re: Flipper Zero Geiger Counter
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
but how many amps though?
How many is safe? I don't mean that facetiously - do you have a good understanding of a safe power limit on a source at hundreds of volts?
15mA is the limit in my brain. Im sure someone will chime in with a different number but its around here.
The thing to remember is the output impedance. You can have 1000's of volts at a node, but its sourced by a VERY high impedance output. so when you touch it with your hands (which is like 100kohm on a dry day), the voltage collapses because of the voltage divider your hand created.
But if the output impedance is low (transmission lines), well its game over.
Re: Flipper Zero Geiger Counter
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
The relevance of the fan with filter is that it is analogous to your lungs which can also trap radioactive particles, like radon, causing say lung cancer.
Practically every radon measuring device on the market does it the way I described because of the reasons I described.
ah you are right, I mixed up, been awake for 2 days straight... I think it was one of the decay products or parent isotopes being trapped
Re: Flipper Zero Geiger Counter
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Practically every radon measuring device on the market does it the way I described because of the reasons I described.
ah you are right, I mixed up, been awake for 2 days straight... I think it was one of the decay products or parent isotopes being trapped
No worries, I hope you can get some rest :)
Re: Flipper Zero Geiger Counter
#59Hypothetically speaking, how useful would something like that be in a nuclear weapon fallout scenario? Can such a contraption detect the important isotopes and give the user an accurate idea of the level of danger they're in, does that change over time as isotope composition changes through decay?
tl;dr not useful. To make a long story short, max range is very important and these cheap tubes saturate easily, and they don't give energy-corrected dose rate. They also cannot do gamma spec (isotope identification), but that is not needed for a fallout scenario because fallout contains basically every isotope under the sun, no need to do any gamma spec. I have a very long detailed video about this topic on my youtube channel BetterGeiger
Re: Flipper Zero Geiger Counter
#60Is there a maximum level to the measurement? Asking for a friend… “3.6 roentgen. Not great, not terrible.”
I am not certain but this tube looks like an M4011 which typically measures up to 1 mSv/hr for a reference Cs-137 source. Pretty low maximum level, not suitable for emergencies.