Which parts are unavailable for bGeigie Nano?

[Louis Bertrand]

Hello,

Reviewing several threads, it seems that the problem with the bGeigie Nano is a lack of available parts, most importantly the GM pancake tube and high voltage power supply.

Am I to understand that Medcom no longer supplies the iRover as a separate product?

Is the LND-7317 pancake tube still available?

For the rest, it wouldn't be easy, but there are no brick walls. The Sparkfun FIO is obsolete but the Adafruit Feather M0 Adalogger could work (https://www.adafruit.com/product/2796), or any of their Feather M0 line. The display is still available, but there are others that can be driven by the U8g2 graphics library. 

The Bluetooth module shouldn't be a problem, e.g. Adafruit (again!).

Or am I being naïve?

Thanks

 --Louis

[Rob Oudendijk]

Louis,

You are not naive. There are many ways to build a bGeigieNano.

Only the BLEBee is a problem with other BLE replacements,, you need special firmware to get it to work. 

Instead of using a BLEBee I would recommend using a bGeigieCast that can replace the BleBee and can do much more.

All the code runs fine on ESP32's too. I have built many versions of the bGeigieNano with different hardware. 

We are getting near to release the first batch of the bGeigieZen (18 we have in the production line getting ready)

regards,

Rob

[Max Cast]

The LND-7317 tubes are still available.  I just recently bought one direct.  Not cheap, but still easy to buy.

I couldn't get a Medcom iRover, but I got a circular power and TTL output board from RH Electronics:

https://www.rhelectronics.store/high-voltage-geiger-probe-driver-module-380v-550v-with-ttl-output

There are so many good ESP32 boards out now, many with LoRaWAN and uBlox GPS units.  Much less hassle to do WiFi/BT/battery-charging with these integrated boards.

[Louis Bertrand]

Hello,

Rob, thanks for the detailed answer, and Max Cast, that RH Electronics module looks like it fits the bill. Actually, I contacted IMI and they will sell the iRover separately, but you have to contact them directly by email or phone. US$90 + shipping.

My question, then, would it help to have an open source hardware replacement for the iRover?

As I posted to the Safecast-Japan list, I'm an electronics engineer looking for an open source project, and I'm disturbed by the reports of shelling near nuclear power plants in Ukraine. Who should I contact to determine the specifications? I have an iRover in my bGeigie, if that helps.

Thanks

 --Louis

[Louis Bertrand]

Hello everyone,

Answering my own post, in the Safecast Japan list, Jan informed me of the Safepulse HV supply and interface board development. I had a look at the schematic on GitHub and I must say it looks very promising.

So my question is now, how may I help?

Thanks

 --Louis

[Rob Oudendijk]

Louis

We have a need for programming of embedded devices for the integration of the bGeigieNano and the bGeigieCast into the current code for the bGeigieZen. 

Can you help with that?

Regards,

Rob Oudendijk

[Louis Bertrand]

Hi Rob,

Absolutely! C? C++? Although I have only been programming within the Arduino framework which hides the ugly details of main() and the initialization. I can handle hardware datasheets and weird bit bashing registers. 

Let me know...

Thanks

 --Louis

[Rob Oudendijk]

Louise,

Normally we use VSCode and PlatformIO for our project. Feel free to have a look and contribute if you think you can.

https://github.com/Safecast/bGeigieZen for the code.

Regards,

Rob Oudendijk