Weird battery change in Geiger counter

Hi! In my video 'Three Geiger Counters Challenged', the Gamma-Scout was not doing well. It needs a new battery. Seems simple to change a battery but in this case it involves soldering on a live circuit with a high-voltage part. I will however attempt to do it. It will also give us a chance to have a peek at the inner workings of a Geiger counter. Geiger-Müller tubes need high voltage to work so don't poke around inside a Geiger counter unless you know what you're doing. Also be aware of the inherent risks of radioactive samples. Oh! And thionyl chloride batteries are more toxic than your average battery so dispose of them properly. The battery inside the Gamma-Scout is 3.6 volts from new, and it actually still reads 3.5 volts. Seems like enough, but near a hot sample the low-battery icon turns on and the screen starts flickering. It gets even worse with the ticker turned on. The voltage doesn't seem to be live updated, but I can still test it under load. 2.27 volts... Yeah, this battery is more depleted than my uranium. I bought my Gamma-Scout more than 9 years ago. I'm really supposed to send this back to them for a battery change and recalibration but I have other Geiger counters now. I also asked you if I should change the battery myself and make a video about it. Not surprisingly, most of you voted yes. Since it is after all the only interesting option for you. But I agree! It is worth an attempt and I believe I can do it somewhat safely. By the way, this will not be an instructional video. I can't guarantee for the safety of you and your Geiger counter if you attempt the following yourself. First issue is that the Gamma-Scout cannot be turned off. It simply doesn't have an on/off button. Looking online, people seem to be worried that removing the battery could ruin the Gamma-Scout. The processor locking up and loss of calibration data are the typical concerns. I doubt that will be the case. They don't warn about a battery change in the manual. It says, I just have to press the reset button inside the unit after a user battery change. Only the logged radioactivity measurements can be lost. I don't need these but let me make a backup of them for good measure. My unit is an early model. You can tell it by the count per second button being marked with Becquerel. On newer models, it is marked with CPS instead. The firmware on mine is version 5.38 so they don't have the software for it available on their website anymore. Luckily, I still have the old version of the software on a CD. This is old-school and after an hour of troubleshooting, installing drivers manually, restarting, switching to all available USB ports etc. I gave up... I just couldn't get it to work. Maybe this is the reason that hundreds of you voted for letting it RIP. The software on their website only works with firmware 6 and up. The firmware can not be upgraded and the included software from 2008 doesn't seem to work well on modern computers. But I don't use the data-logging feature anyway. Time to change the battery. As usual, warranty is lost by opening the case. But my warranty already expired seven years ago, so here we go. - Huh?!?!? - Uhmmuuh... All right. Did I manage to fix it? I may have a reputation of destroying stuff. I'm not sure why... But hopefully the Gamma-Scout is still working. The voltage reading is basically the same as before the battery change. Not exactly a promising sign. Let's test it with the hot sample again. First with the ticker turned off. Much better! No low-battery sign. No dimming of the screen. The readings are all over the place, but that's not the battery's fault. My unit has always had problems with intense radiation - as seen in earlier videos. And now for the big test, where the ticker is on. This draws a thousand times more current from the battery. Yes! I see no battery problems. It does cheat a bit with the ticker but now it works as when it was new. I am pleased with the result. Looks like I did manage to fix my Gamma-Scout. Can I get a like to celebrate it? Stick around for some bonus info at the end but first an important message. Thanks to all my patrons. Keeping niche videos like this one coming is not easy on my own but luckily some of you help me keep going through Patreon. It's really appreciated! Not just by me but also by my many viewers who don't have a dollar to spare. In case you can and want to help me out I have a link for my Patreon-page in the description. Thank you! Thanks for watching. Bye for now.

Channel: Brainiac75

Views: 254,800

Keywords: battery, change, DIY, GammaScout, Gamma-Scout, Gamma Scout, Geiger, counter, science, fun, interesting, educational, learning, soldering, 3.6, 3.6v, LiSOCl2, lithium, thionyl, chloride

Id: iySEdxbDuMU

Length: 9min 21sec (561 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 30 2019