Dr. Bunn sent me some code written by a previous student whom he had worked with. It's code for getting data from a Geiger Counter (specifically, this one). Since Caltech students are awesome, her code worked perfectly fine one the first try when I hooked everything up =]. There's also a switch on the circuit board of the Geiger Counter. I'm assuming it's like an emergency off switch, as some elements on the circuit board are operating at a high voltage (I was stupid enough to pick up the board when it was operating and experienced the shock first hand).
^Geiger counter image from Sparkfun.
Unfortunately the Fritzing library doesn't have a geiger counter part. But here's the setup:
The pins aren't labeled when you make a custom part... But you can see their labels in the picture from Sparkfun.
Pin 1 = 5V (to 5V on Arduino)
Pin 2 = GND (to GND on Arduino)
Pin 3 = OUT (to digital pin 2 on Arduino)
The rest of the pins are not connected.
The most important part of the code is the count/s, but there's a lot of additional information in the code as well.
Current usage: 0.03 A
Project Box Ideas?
As I'm pretty much done with testing all the sensors (all that remains are the Optical Dust Sensor, the microphone (which we're not sure about how to get it to work yet...) and an accelerometer), it's time to start thinking about how to make the enclosure. Dr. Bunn and I agreed, after looking at a few project boxes, that I would machine the project box from scratch. This way, we can customize pretty much everything - fans, holes for power sources/USBs, specific mounting patterns for the sensors, etc. We're thinking of heading down to the Machine Shop tomorrow to see what materials there are and to see if we can get any tips on machining.
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