61–70 of 86 posts
Hypothetically 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?
Are you willing to bet your life on it?
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> Like, you might have a use where you ONLY need a cheap display card, but there's a reason LTT calls the 1030 eWaste from the factory. Similarly, you might get enough out of the Geiger or it might do something the Radiacode doesn't for you but for most hobbyist, I doubt it. I think the biggest difference here is that GPUs are fairly general-purpose devices. Even if you only need one as a cheapest possible way to out…
Maybe? I feel like the most in group of people who do have the discretionary income to toss $100 at a Geiger counter for fun also have enough to toss $250 at it and would rather given the extra utility. I might be wrong though. And it certainly depends as the $100 line drops. If it's $50 for a Geiger, that's a lot closer to "I don't care money" I had someone tell me a while back $100 is an adult $20. As in, what you…
For me, a $100 purchase is something I can probably justify if I think I'll enjoy it a lot. $250 is still a 2.5x upcharge, and I consider these expenditures for a long time, making sure that I really actually need it.
And then, the $100 is just an example reference. It's sold by Adafruit, whose selling point is trading some value in exchange for reliability, convenience and compatibility. When you look at the market in general, I can find countless cheap pre-built Geiger counters at prices that are a lot closer to $50. I can't vouch for their accuracy, but there are so many unique options that I imagine that at least a few will be pretty decent.
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 .
High voltage means nothing if the power source can't deliver the current. You could use a transformer to step up a AAA battery to a billion volts and it wouldn't do anything because a battery can't actually push out 1B/[your body's resistance] amps. With low voltage battery circuits the main thing you have to be wary of is capacitors because those can push out a lot more current than the battery itself. Usually you c…
It can still be dangerous though, it can trickle charge an output capacitance which will deliver the current to hurt you. A small battery only charges it more slowly, the end result is a function only of voltage (assuming the battery has sufficient capacity to completely charge the capacitance).
Cool project! My business is Better Geiger (www.bettergeiger.com), I design and sell radiation detectors. I just hope people keep in mind the capabilities and limitations of those simple Geiger tubes. Radon was mentioned on the project website, yes technically radon decay products are detectable but pracfically a Geiger tube is reacting only to terrestrial, cosmic, and other sources of radiation, not anything to do w…
Cool project! My business is Better Geiger (www.bettergeiger.com), I design and sell radiation detectors. I just hope people keep in mind the capabilities and limitations of those simple Geiger tubes. Radon was mentioned on the project website, yes technically radon decay products are detectable but pracfically a Geiger tube is reacting only to terrestrial, cosmic, and other sources of radiation, not anything to do w…
I would really like to have a geiger counter that I can put on the wall and connect to Zigbee/Z-Wave/WiFi and tie into Home Assistant. I've considered building one with the cheaper tube and ESP32, but I'm surprised that for Radon and radiation, it seems like something like AirGradient, but for radioactivity, doesn't exist.
This 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…
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004551394154.html this is 32eur
+ ~5eur for an esp32 board and some wires
+ http://docs.espgeiger.com/output/webportal
This gives you a measurement node, with mqtt support, online data export and a web interface.
For ~40eur all together, it's still very cheap.
You can get a standalone (cheap) Geiger counter like the GQ GMC-300S on Amazon (B0B541D433) for ~$50. If you're interested in monitoring radiation and have a higher budget to play with, I highly suggest stepping up to the Radiacode 103G (~$600) or the Radeye B20-ER (~$3000). The Radiacode can only detect gamma/x-ray, but is a spectrometer so it can determine the energy level of the radiation. The Radeye can do the fu…
There is a subreddit where people measure the radiation given off by random things you'll see them pointing some device at the ground or an object. Like an old glass cup
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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.
> Most short term radon tests will use activated charcoal to absorb the radon gas in the air. Various short terms tests kits will include some type container filled with activated charcoal, usually perforated or screened and has a filter to keep out radon decay products. At the end of testing, the absorber is resealed and returned to the vendor for processing and evaluation.
> When radon undergoes radioactive breakdown, it decays into other radioactive elements called radon daughters (or progeny). Radon daughters are solids, not gases, and stick to surfaces such as dust particles in the air. Dust particles carrying radon daughters can move with air.