TEKO+plus K86 CI-8B Geiger Counter

by Atomic.dave Atomic.Dave@yahoo.com
This is yet another one of a kind, custom hand-made Geiger Counter built by Atomic.Dave. It is based on a kit
designed by John Giametti (username: Brohogan) I have been building his DIY Geiger counters for over two years having
built and sold over 80 of them. Much of the information for this kit is available at the developers website. This is more of a
kit for someone who knows a little bit about electronics but doesnt have the time or patience to build it, or would rather
someone else do all the dirty work. Having been built by me, of course there may be some imperfections, although as
minimal as possible. This particular unit not only has a wireless remote control for in field programming, it also has the very
sensitive pancake Russian tube, the CI-8B (SI-8B). Please remember to use averages and know that with the extremely
large diameter of the mica window, the background rate is much higher than other units. Approx 120 cpm.
OPERATION
Four Triple Pole switches- ALL OFF IN CENTER POSITION.

UP
MIDDLE
DOWN

SELECT
ALARM
SCALER

ALARM
ON
OFF
ON/OFF

LIGHT
ON
OFF
ON/OFF

POWER
ON
OFF/USB
CHARGE

SOUND
TONE
OFF
CLICK

NULL
TONE
RESET

Two momentary switches

are described in these two
grey boxes. The Select is to
the left of the tube, and the
NULL reset is to the right

A. SELECT (RED to the left of the tube) momentary switch does 2 things. When you first power on the unit, you will see:

Atomic.Dave K86
TEKO plus V10.2
This customized first welcome window can easily be changed if you want, by doing a little programming in Arduino.
Refer to the DIY site for directions at the SOFTWARE section. But the default is now set Atomic.Dave K86, and the second
line is the Meter Name, and the version of software that the AT328 chip is running V10.2.
The second window will show on first line the current uSv to CPM conversion rate. For this extra large pancake tube,
the CI-8B, after some research online, it was calculated that the conversion rate is 440.

440 CPM=1 uSv/h

Running at 5.58V
I have preset this for your Tube, but later if you wanted to you could change this rate with either Arduino, or with the Sony
wireless remote control which I will explain later. The second line refers to the current voltage that your system is running
at. This is a 5 volt system. The 3000mAh 3.7v lipo battery is boosted to 5v with a pololu booster. Everytime you start up
your GC (geiger counter) it will show you this so you will always know your current voltage.
The third window will show this:

Alarm Set ?
Now at 500 CPM
At this point, you can push the Select button to incrementally change the Alarm threshold number. Once you stop hitting the button and wait, it will be set to the current number shown on the screen and will stay there until you change it either again restarting and waiting for this part, or by using the included remote control to change it. You can also choose
from units of measurement such as CPM or uSv/h for the Alarm with the remote. It also acts like a stopwatch starter for the
scaler mode. It has two preset times of 1 minute and 10 minute averaging. You can change this with the remote, or the
sketch when connected to pc. Although it is much easier with the remote obviously.
B. ALARM switch controls the Alarm LED and Piezo. Up for both on, Middle for both off, and Down for LED only on. This
makes for a silent visual alarm.
C. LIGHTS switch controls the Event LED (GREEN) and the LCD Backlight. Up turns ON both, Middle turns OFF both,
and Down turns the LED on, and the Backlight off.
D. POWER switch controls the power and charging of the unit. Up turns on the unit, Middle turns if off, and Down is for when
you charge the unit. When the unit is charging, the tiny RED LED on the upper right side will remain constant RED while
charging, and when charging is complete, it will turn OFF. If you wish to power the unit with the USB in, and bypass the batteries for extended periods. Switch in middle position, and flip up switch on top right of unit next to the mini USB port.
E. SOUND switch controls the Event speaker. Up for tone mode, Middle for mute, Down for Standard Click Mode. More on
Tone Mode later.
F. NULL (RED to the right of the tube) momentary switch and works only when in Tone mode for the event speaker.
When you are scanning in Tone mode, you can push this to reset the sensing to zero. More on this later.
LEDS
Right away, you will hear the clicking of the speaker as your GM tube picks up radiation events. There are two LEDs below
the LCD. The Right is GREEN which is for radiation events and coincides with the clicking speaker which can be muted
with the mute switch. It can also be turned off by the Light switch. The Left one is RED for the Alarm which will only light up
when a set alarm threshold is reached. It can also be turned on or off.
OTHER SWITCHES, BUTTONS, PORTS, DIALS
NEW- Added 2 new switches to the side left and right of the unit. The left one is used to turn on and off the internal
IR for the remote control (located just above the tube). LEAVE THIS OFF WHEN NOT USING THE REMOTE TO PROGRAM THE UNIT. If you leave it on, the IR has a tendancy to pick up signals from other remote controls and will
cause the unit to not function properly. The right side switch is used to power the unit with the USB cable plugged
in. This must be DOWN when charging the unit. Flip this up to turn it on. Down when not powering the unit with the
USB. When powering the unit for long periods with the USB, please flip the main POWER switch to the middle OFF
position. There is a toggle switch across from the BNC connector. This double function toggle is to chose internal
or external GM tube, as well as to switch between the corresponding uSv to CPM conversion ratio.
A. At the very top left side of the meter is the MULTI-PORT used for Geiger Bot (with the included G-Bot cable), and
for Geiger Graph and RAD OSX (with the optional 3.5mm to USB cable) Just plug in the Geiger Bot cable into this with the
3 conductor plug, and the 4 conductor into your iphone or ipad. Or plug the included 3.5mm to USB cable into the port,

and into a USB on your mac or PC, then follow instructions to run those programs. It also serves as an audio output for
silent listening with headphones, or with the included 3 conductor to 3 conductor M-M audio cable, you can run sound
based data logging software.
B. Below the Multiport on the same side is the IR power switch. Up for on and down for off. I found that sometimes the
sensitive IR (located just above the LCD display inside the case) would pickup my neighbors remote and strange things
would happen for no reason, so I would suggest keeping it off and on only when programming.
C. Next is the LCD contrast dial. As the LCD is used, it might get to a point for you to readjust the contrast for it. Not a
big deal, while the backlight is on, gently take a small screwdriver and turn it to the left or right until it appears to have the
best contrast.
D. On the top Right of the meter is the Mini USB FTDI output/input for programming in Arduino. This also is used to
charge the internal Lithium Ion battery (with the power switch in the bottome position.) Or it can be used to power the GC
for extended periods, however when you power it this way, I would advise to turn off the LCD backlight. But its ok to turn it
on once in a while, but I wouldnt leave it on for extended periods. When uploading any new changes to the program
sketch, you will need to have this switch in the up position white it is plugged into your pc with the USB cable.
E. Below that is the USB power on/off switch. Up for on, and Down for Off. This is used for powering the unit for long
periods and bypassing the internal Lipo battery. Put the GC Power switch in the middle position before using this power
method. I would also suggest turning off the LCD for long periods just to save the life of the LCD.
F. Directly below the USB power on/off switch is the charging LED indicator. RED for charging, and BLUE when
charging is complete. Protective overcharge circuitry is built into the include Lithium Ion rechargeable battery.
REMOTE CONTROL SYSTEM: TURN ON THE IR WHEN PROGRAMMING THE SYSTEM. TURN OFF AFTER.
This adds many conveniences such as the ability to adjust certain things on the GC without the need to plug into your
PC or mac. It is already setup to work. All you have to do is point the remote towards the IR window, and push the power
button to start. As soon as you do that these options will pop up. Use the channel button to move thru each option, and
use the volume buttons to move up or down within those options. You can also use the number pad to input numbers
rather than using the up down of the volume. After you reach the desired amount you push ENT to enter it into the system.
After you are done, hit power again to get out of this mode.
The keys on the Remote Control perform these functions:
On/Off enter or exit the menu system. "DISP PERIOD (MS) is the first prompt you will see.
CH Down moves to the next menu option
CH Up moves to the previous menu option
VOL Up increments the value already set for the current option or toggles an option
VOL Down decrements the value already set for the current option or toggles an option
ENT finalizes the entry in the current menu option if changes were made
When used out of the menu, it acts like the "null" button to reset the tome.
Digits 0-9 for direct entry of values (instead of Volume or Arrows) must use Enter after using digits.
PERIOD enters a decimal point - used when setting the ratio.
MUTING used when out of the menu mutes the speaker when in "tone mode"
RECALL used when out of the menu - switches between the main screen and the scaler screen
Menu Options:
Initially, menu options are set to defaults. Settings made will be stored in EEPROM on the ATmega328, so they will be in
effect when you power back on. Here is a brief description of each menu option:
DISP PERIOD (MS) The number of milliseconds before the display refreshes. 5000 (5 sec.) is a good setting.
(Display counts are based on a "running average" I do not recommend settings of less than 5 seconds.)
LOG PERIOD When to write the CPM, 'dose', and MCU voltage to the serial output. Zero means logging is turned off.
CPM->[DOSE] RATIO Sets that ratio for the type of GM tube used. Note this ratio will depend on the dose unit being displayed - see DISPLAY UNIT. Use the DEC PNT or AV/TV key to set a decimal point.
ALARM THRESHOLD When the CPM or DOSE units is greater than this value the alarm is triggered. Unlike the button,
any value may be entered.
DOSE UNIT Use the arrow keys to select the name of the unit for the dose value - "uSv/h", "uR/h" or "mR/h".
ALARM UNIT Sets whether the alarm is based off of CPM or the DOSE unit. Use the arrow keys to select.
SCALER PER (MIN) Sets the period for the second scaler.
BARGRAPH MAX CPM Sets the CPM that will give a full scale reading on the bar graph. This also affects tone mode
TONE SENSITIVITY Determines how sensitive the tone is to changing activity. Low numbers are more sensitive.
USE RADLOGGER? When "Yes" serial output is compatible with Radiation Logger application - see Android / PC BT
Graphing page.
REG. VOLTAGE Displays the voltage powering the MCU (Vcc). To a large degree, this represents the state of the battery.
Note that each menu setting has a minimum and a maximum setting. Entries that are out of bounds will revert to the minimum or maximum.
DISPLAY BAR GRAPH:
The display has a new bar graph style with placeholders and is much more responsive. It now updates 20 times per second. The tone is also updated at this rate when used.
Auto-precision - decimals are dropped from the displayed dose rate as it gets larger.
Beginning with v10.1 the LOG PERIOD can now be set to intervals of less than 1 minute. Valid settings are OFF, 2s, 3s,
4s, 5s, 6s, 10s, 12s, 15s, 20s, 30s, and 1 minute intervals up to 720 minutes.
"Tube Select" is still supported where grounding I/O pin 9 will use an alternate ratio for CPM to Dose unit. The CPM>DOSE RATIO in the menu will set and save which ever ratio is selected at the time it's used. This allows setting of both
the primary and alternate ratios.
The current state of the the mute button and the scaler mode are saved in EEPROM and the Geiger kit will come up in
those states the next time it's powered on.
A "reset all" #define can be set. When uploaded the EEPROM is reset to all the default values. This may be useful if the
EEPROM contains invalid data from a previous release.
Another #define can put the counter in a test mode. 360 CPM is simulated. Interrupts are not producing the count so it
can be affected if tone mode is on.
Major restructuring of the code base including use of tabs and memory saving techniques.

ABOUT DOSE UNITS:

The menu allows you select the name of the dose unit that appears on the display. However, to be clear, there is no built in conversion between them. Instead
the CPM->[DOSE] RATIO is adjusted depending on the name of the DOSE UNIT selected. For example, 175.43 is the default set for the SBM-20 with uSv as the
dose unit. Suppose you pick "mR" as the dose unit name, and want to measure in milirems. ("mR" more correctly abbreviates as milliroentgens but is used to save
display space.) The rem is defined as .01 seivert. Therefore, to use the same ratio that was designed for the tube, you would multiply that ratio by 10. You would
enter a CPM->[DOSE] RATIO as 175.43 x 10 or 1754.3. Likewise if you wanted microrems ("uR") you would divide the ratio by 10 and enter 17.54.
If you do want to use roentgens (used in older instruments) this source states that they are .96 rem in soft tissue. So the CPM->[DOSE] RATIO for actual mR
would be 175.43 x 10 x .96 or 1684.1. (for uR it would be 16.84)
PLEASE REFER TO THE DIY GEIGER COUNTER DEVELOPERS WEBSITE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
http://www.sites.google.com/site/diygeigercounter/
ARDUINO Software and Serial-USB connection information:
ON the cd you will find the FTDI driver and Arduino program version 1. Install both and restart your mac. Copy the Geiger Sketch folder to the same folder as your
Arduino program is and remember where that is as that will be where you go to save your sketch everytime you make a change to it. There will also be a Library
folder that will also need to be in the same folder. Just remember that the folder has to be the same exact name as the sketch name is. And also within Arduino, you
will have to go to preferences and show Arduino where your default sketch folder is.
ARDUINO SETTINGS: Brohogan Software system version 10.2
1. Open Arduino
2. Open the saved sketch .ino file, connect your Geiger counter to the USB with power switch off.
3. Verify the file by clicking the little check mark icon.
4. Click TOOLS, and Select Board type as Arduino UNO, and select serial port as the top tty choice.
5. Click Serial Monitor (top right looking glass icon). Set Baud rate to 9600 and you should see the CPM, uSv and geiger counter voltage data coming up once per minute.
For more info go to website under Software section on the DIY geiger counter website. Or go to Arduino.cc
GEIGER BOT SUGGESTED SETTINGS: (You may have to play with it to get it just right) GO TO: https://sites.google.com/site/geigerbot/

Select options

Select Geiger Counter

Select LND712 CS137

Adjust Conversion
factor to your tube:
123 for LND712
175 for SBM-20
360 for LND7317
Select I/O Settings

Auto Adjust OFF

(you may need to play
with this setting)
RMS Window 1
Delay Window 30
Volume Thresh 20000

OTHER SOFTWARE LINKS:

http://www.blackcatsystems.com/GM/download.html
http://www.imagesco.com/geiger/geiger-graph.html
GEIGER GRAPH FOR PC NETWORKS: (software cost is about $60. This is a PC only software.) optional Cable $20)

Ultrafast Rates ON

HARDWARE
1. DIY Geiger counter kit V5.3 by Brohogan, Running operating system 10.2
2. Internal CI-8B Pancake Geiger Muller Tube.
3. Power System by Panasonic, Sparkfun and Pololu (please charge the unit until the RED light goes out)
A. You can power the Geiger in a couple different ways
1. With internal Lipo battery (Power switch in UP position)
2. With PWR switch OFF (middle), USB cable plugged into USB port on RIGHT side of geiger, USB PWR switch on right side of unit switched UP, then plug
USB cable into:
a. Computer or laptop USB
b. Wall charger block (included)
c. Standard 5v USB Cigarette adapter
d. To power and operate the unit this way for long periods, TURN OFF BACKLIGHT To save LCD Life.
POWER and OTHER SYSTEM ITEMS: This system is capable of producing 900+ volts, so be careful or you may get zapped when handling the system
while it is powered on.
A. Panasonic 3.7v 3100mAh Lithium Ion Battery, NCR18650A
B. Sparkfun 5V mini USB LIPO charger basic, PRT-10401
C. Sparkfun 5V FTDI Basic Breakout
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9716
D. Pololu 5V Step-Up Voltage Regulator U1V10F5
http://www.pololu.com/product/2564
ENCLOSURE
Dimensions: New Age Enclosure - S784114 - 7.8" x 4.1" x 1.4"
http://www.newageenclosures.com/files/784114_r5_2.pdf
REPAIRS:
If the unit fails for some reason with six months from purchase, I will be more than happy to do any maintenance you need at no charge except shipping.
PACKAGE CONTENTS:
In your package you will find: Geiger Counter with Russian CI-8B Pancake Tube with Aluminum Cover, handmade grill the sharp edges were purposely covered with
hot glue to avoid cutting your fingers, lead disc (3) Cables: Geiger bot 3 to 4 conductor, Audio 3 to 3 conductor, Mini USB to standard USB2 with FREE wall charger.
CD with software and documents, Manual, RAD stickers, and extra faceplate labels. Sony RM-EZ4 Remote control.s
RUSSIAN GEIGER TUBE COUNTER CI-8B NEW, OLD STOCK.
The slope of the plateau of the counting characteristics,%, not exceeding:
Sensitivity of the counting rate, imp.s-1.A-1.kg:
Sensitivity of the counting rate (imp / uR):
The slope of the voltage-current characteristics,%, not more:
Amplitude voltage pulse, V, no less than:
Own background, imp / s, max:
Effectiveness of registration of beta radiation,%:
Current sensitivity, uA:
Operating range voltage, V:
Maximum operating speed counting, pulses / s:
Maximum operating current, mA:
The maximum permissible exposure dose of gamma radiation, A / kg:
The maximum permissible exposure dose of gamma radiation (R / h):

8 distance)

0,3
1.3 * 10E12 ... 1.9 * 10E12
(350 500)
1,25
20
2
50 85
8 15 (at P = 12.9 * 10E-10 A / kg (5 uR / s))
360 440
3400
18.2
21.5 * 10E-6 (for 1 min)
(300) (for 1 min)

10mm

30mm
16.5mm

80mm

70mm

65mm
mica window

ALARM
M

TEKO+plus
TEKO
+plus

POWER
POW
WER

CI-8B
A

IV

A
s BET

HA

S E N SIT

LIGHTS
LIGHT
TS

AM

U
MA s

SOUND
SO
UND

atomic.dave

RADIATION
ADIA
DIA
ATION DETECTOR
CTO

FTDI 5V

LIPO Chrg USB POS

LIP
P
PO
LIPO
CH
HA
HARGER
CHARGER

In

O
ut
Out

LCD Diode
V
o
oltage Limiter
Voltage
Band to left

Do
5V Up/Do
Up/Down
Inwn
BOOST

L
LIPO

300 OHM
RESISTOR
RESISTOR

300 OHM
RESISTOR
RESISTOR

ON/ON
OFF
ON/OFF

AL
ARM
ALARM
LED

ON/ON
OFF
ON/OFF

EEVENT
VENT
LED

ON
OFF/USB
OFF/
/USB
CHARGE
CHA
ARGE

ALARM
Threshold
Timer
Timer

ALARM

Red LED POS

BRD Pin 15

Red LED POS

LIGHT

OP
PEN
OPEN

LC
CD Jump L
LCD

LC
CD Jump R
LCD

POW
WER
POWER

Blue LED POS

LED BRD POS

LIPO Chrg 5V Out

OPEN

Blue LED POS

5V Boost IN

SELECT

3.5mm
SSocket
ocket

O
OPEN

O
OPEN

.1 uF C
ap
p
Cap

56K OHM
M
RESISTOR
RESIST
OR
R

1K OHM
RESISTOR
RESIST
OR

ALARM
PIEZ
O
PIEZO

OPEN

BRD Pin 15

Alarm Piezo POS OPEN

O

TONE
OFF
CLICK

SOUND

Piezo Jump B

Piezo Jump A

Board Pin 12
2

G
1

TONE
Reset

NULL

C
D

FTDI

AM

U
MA s

atomic.dave

CI-8B

TEKO
+plus
TEKO+plus

SOUND

POWER

FG

IR SENSOR

ADIA
DIA
ATION
T
DETECT
CTO
RADIATION
DETECTOR

LIGHTS

ALARM

14
15
16
17
18
19

OPEN

7
6
5
4
3
2

A s B E TA

8
9
10
11
12
13

S E N SIT

IV

A
PH

E
L

L R

OFF

ON

IR SENSOR

USB
Charge
Charrge

USB
Power
Power