This hardware device is designed to be compatible with as many common software platforms and hardware systems as possible. GGreg20_V3 is compatible with any of the following systems: Arduino, ESP8266, ESP32, STM32, Raspberry Pi, ESPHome, Home Assistant, Tasmota, MicroPython, NodeMCU, Node-RED and many others. All you need to connect the GGreg20_V3 is a system with a pulse counter on the GPIO and a timer to measure time.
We've been planning to post a GGreg20_V3 configuration example for the Raspberry Pi Pico W since ESPHome started supporting this wonderful controller with wireless support. But after users started making projects for RPi with GGreg20_V3, and after Tom's Hardware wrote about a project using Pico W, we also made our own full-featured configuration example.
The main features of this example configuration compared to our previous ones:
- two types of tubes are taken into account and supported: J305 and SBM20. The user can switch between the two types of tubes with a convenient selector to calculate the values directly during operation, via the frontend, for example, through the Home Assistant dashboard widget.
- the Geiger tube internal noise compensation mode was taken into account and offered. This mode can also be switched directly during operation via the frontend.
- the calculation of internal noise compensation also takes into account the situation when the number of pulses is not enough to compensate. In this case, no compensation is performed. Please note that our example contains the coefficients provided by Geiger tube manufacturers: for J305: 0.2 pulses per second; for SBM20: 1 pulse per second.
- the configuration creates a separate text sensor that automatically shows the current status according to the radiation level: normal / warning / danger.
- The text status sensor also supports the situation when no pulses are received from the GGreg20_V3 module. In this case, this sensor will have the text value sensor error.
Special thanks to our Friend, Sboger! Without your experiment, we would not have purchased the RPi-Pico-W and made this example.
Team IoT-devices, LLC
- Geiger counter GGreg20_V3 module
- Geiger counter emulator GCemu20_V1 module
- High voltage converter DCDC_3V3_400V_V1 module
- Product description https://iot-devices.com.ua/en/product/ggreg20_v3-ionizing-radiation-detector-with-geiger-tube-sbm-20/
- Datasheet https://iot-devices.com.ua/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ggreg20_v3-datasheet-eng.pdf
- RPi Pico W Pinout https://datasheets.raspberrypi.com/picow/PicoW-A4-Pinout.pdf
- ESPHome https://esphome.io/components/rp2040.html
Wiring description:
- RPi-Pico-W Input Pulses - Pin 4 (GP2) <=> GGreg20_V3 OUT
- RPi-Pico-W Common Ground - Pin 3 (GND) <=> GGreg20_V3 GND
- RPi-Pico-W VCC - Pin 36 (3V3(OUT)) <=> GGreg20_V3 BAT +
- RPi-Pico-W Common Ground - Pin 38 (GND) <=> GGreg20_V3 BAT -
We have developed such a file for Raspberry Pi Pico W with GGreg20_V3 and posted it here for free download and use by anyone who needs to connect GGreg20 to Home Assistant via ESPHome.
The YAML file is a common text script file in Home Assistant (in this case dedicated to ESPHome) which is used as config when building the firmware.
Let's look on the main parts of the rpipicow-ggreg20-v3.yaml file prepared by us:
To calculate the value of the ionizing radiation power in CPM and in microsieverts per hour, we used Pulse Counter Sensor - an API-component of the ESPHome plug-in: https://esphome.io/components/sensor/pulse_counter.html
This part of the yaml code is responsible for that:
sensor:
- platform: pulse_counter
pin: GPIO2
unit_of_measurement: 'CPM'
name: 'Ionizing Radiation Power CPM'
count_mode:
rising_edge: DISABLE
falling_edge: INCREMENT # GGreg20_V3 uses Active-Low logic
use_pcnt: False
internal_filter: 190us
update_interval: 60s
accuracy_decimals: 0
id: cpm_value
filters:
# - offset: -12 # if J305 is used, it has background noise 0.2 pulses / sec x 60 sec = 12 CPM (Counts per minute)
- lambda: "if (id(noise_comp) == 1 and id(conv_factor) == 0.00332 and x >=12 ) return x - 12; else return x;"
- lambda: "if (id(noise_comp) == 1 and id(conv_factor) == 0.0057 and x >=60 ) return x - 60; else return x;"
- platform: copy
source_id: cpm_value
name: 'Ionizing Radiation Power uSv/h'
unit_of_measurement: 'uSv/h'
accuracy_decimals: 3
id: usvperh_value
icon: "mdi:radioactive"
filters:
# Uncomment this to get MA-5 values
# - sliding_window_moving_average: # 5-minutes moving average (MA5) here
# window_size: 5
# send_every: 1
# 0.00332 - J305βγ glass GM tube (datasheet sensitivity at 60Co, 44 CPS per mR/h) conversion factor of pulses into uSv/Hour
# 0.0057 - SBM20 GM tube conversion factor of pulses into uSv/Hour
- lambda: return x * id(conv_factor);To calculate the total radiation dose received in microsieverts, the Integration Sensor, also a component of the ESPHome API, is used: https://esphome.io/components/sensor/integration.htm
This part of the yaml code is responsible for that:
- platform: integration
name: "Total Ionizing Radiation Dose"
unit_of_measurement: "uSv"
sensor: usvperh_value # link entity id to the values above
icon: "mdi:radioactive"
accuracy_decimals: 5
time_unit: min # integrate values every next minute
filters:
# obtained dose. Converting from uSv/hour into uSv/minute: [uSv/h / 60] OR [uSv/h * 0.0166666667].
# But if cpm_value is used in CPM (instead of usvperh_value), then for J305 [0.00332 / 60 minutes] = 0.00005533; so CPM * 0.00005533 = dose every next minute, uSv.
- multiply: 0.0166666667We also made a text sensor that displays the current state of the radiation level and also indicates a sensor error if less than 3 pulses per minute are received from the GGreg20_V3 module. The following ESPHome component is used to solve this task: https://esphome.io/components/text_sensor/index.html
This part of the yaml code is responsible for that:
text_sensor:
- platform: template
name: "Ionizing Radiation State"
icon: "mdi:radioactive"
lambda: |-
if (id(usvperh_value).state <= 0.01) {
return {"sensor error"};
}
else if (id(usvperh_value).state > 0.01 and id(usvperh_value).state < 0.3) {
return {"normal"};
}
else if (id(usvperh_value).state >= 0.3 and id(usvperh_value).state < 0.6) {
return {"warning"};
} else if (id(usvperh_value).state >= 0.6) {
return {"danger"};
} else {
return {"unknown"};
}
update_interval: 60sAnd finally, we added several auxiliary components to ESPHome that allowed us to provide the user with the ability to select the type of tube (J305 / SBM20) and switch the mode of compensation for internal noise of the tubes without rewriting the code, i.e. runtime. Global variables, selectors, and two additional sensors are responsible for this:
globals:
- id: conv_factor
type: float
restore_value: yes
initial_value: "0.00332"
- id: noise_comp
type: int
restore_value: yes
initial_value: "0"select:
- platform: template
name: Tube noise compensation
id: tube_noise_comp
restore_value: yes
options:
- "Off"
- "On"
initial_option: "Off"
optimistic: True
on_value:
then:
- if:
condition:
lambda: 'return id(tube_noise_comp).state == "Off";'
then:
- lambda: "id(noise_comp) = 0;"
else:
lambda: "id(noise_comp) = 1;"
- sensor.template.publish:
id: noise_comp_sensor
state: !lambda |-
return id(noise_comp);
- platform: template
name: GM-tube type
id: gm_tube_type
restore_value: yes
options:
- "J305"
- "SBM20"
initial_option: "J305"
optimistic: True
on_value:
then:
- if:
condition:
lambda: 'return id(gm_tube_type).state == "J305";'
then:
lambda: "id(conv_factor) = 0.00332;"
else:
lambda: "id(conv_factor) = 0.0057;"
- sensor.template.publish:
id: gm_tube_convf_sensor
state: !lambda |-
return id(conv_factor); - platform: template
name: "GM-tube Conversion Factor"
id: gm_tube_convf_sensor
accuracy_decimals: 5
lambda: |-
return id(conv_factor);
update_interval: 60s
- platform: template
name: "Internal Noise Compensation Mode"
id: noise_comp_sensor
accuracy_decimals: 0
lambda: |-
return id(noise_comp);
update_interval: 60sThe ESPHome plugin has sufficient documentation for these components with examples, so we will not go into detailed explanations.
On Tindie: https://www.tindie.com/products/iotdev/ggreg20_v3-ionizing-radiation-detector/
IoT-devices Online Shop: https://iot-devices.com.ua/en/product/ggreg20_v3-ionizing-radiation-detector-with-geiger-tube-sbm-20/
IoT-devices YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHpPOVVlbbdtYtvLUDt1NZw/videos