Internet-connected Geiger Counter Happens to Detect Solar Flares

August 9, 2012 By

[Guy] is “Living Sustainably” and has created some great projects such as his Solar Hot Water Heating System and Electric Car Mods. His latest project involves a Geiger counter and some unexpected applications of radiation detection systems. Guy built an Internet-connected Geiger Counter so he could monitor the radiation levels near his home in Maine.

Internet-connected Geiger Counter

“The Geiger-Muller tube is rated to detect alpha, beta and gamma particles.  This means that while it can be used for local testing of radiation, it should also be able to detect astronomical events such as the radiation from solar flares.  So I interfaced it to the web using a spare port on one of my ioBridges so that I could see charts of radiation over a 24 hour and 7 day period.”

Geiger Counter CPM ioBridge Chart

The normal “clicks-per-minute” is 9-12 in his location in the United States. But, one day the radiation level jumped to over 20 CPM! The unexpected jump in radiation was due to a coronal mass ejection (CME) which is better known as a solar flare. Sure enough, there was a reported solar flare that coincided perfectly with the data collected by his Geiger counter.

For more information this project, visit Guy’s website where you can check out the live radiation levels in Maine from his Internet-conencted Geiger Counter.

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Upgraded Chart Widgets and New Chart Types

August 25, 2011 By

We have upgraded our charts!

The charts have been upgraded to support many new features, including axis labeling, chart types, local timezone support, and enhanced browser compatibility. And here’s the best part… the new charts are available now.

New Chart on ioBridge Dashboard

The advanced charts have many new chart types available: Line, Spline, Step, Area, Column, and Bar. Depending on your application, you may find a chart type more suitable to represent the data. For example, if you are monitoring power or water, you may find that the Step or Column chart types convey more information at a glance. Now you have the perfect way to visualize your sensor data.

Visit the ioBridge Wiki to get more information on getting started with the new charts.

Let us know what you think. With our new charting platform, we have many new options at our disposal!

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Remote Monitoring of Solar Hot Water Heating System

April 7, 2011 By

Engineer extraordinaire Guy Marsden of ART TEC has created a web monitoring system to keep track of his solar water heating equipment. Guy installed temperature sensors at various points in the system and connected them to the ioBridge IO-204 web gateway module. The IO-204 pushes the sensor data to his data logs and from there he can report the data as chart and gauge widgets.

“The ioBridge monitors the solar water heating system temperatures of the 40 sq. ft. Solar Heat Collector, the 40 gallon storage tank, the outside air temperature, and indicates when a solar powered circulation pump is operating.”

Guy decided to share his setup and also give you the ability to see the real-time values on his blog by embedding the ioBridge widgets. Here is a screenshot of the custom user interface that he created with the ioBridge widgets. Click on the screenshot to see his live data.

ARTTEC Solar Heating System User Interface

ARTTEC Solar Heating System User Interface

Check out Guy’s blog ART TEC for more information about this project and see other really interesting projects that he has created in the name of “Sustainable Living”.

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Data Logging Your Water Usage

May 11, 2009 By

Jason has released a new ioBridge project that monitors water usage for his whole house in real-time. The system uses a water meter, an IO-204, and ioBridge data logging services. His first system monitored power usage, sunlight, and temperature which included a live demo mash-up with Google Charts.

Water UsageOn one channel of the IO-204, the water meter is connected to the digital input. On a digital state change, the module sends that data to the ioBridge servers. Included with the free user account is the ability to log two data feeds from your module. In this case, the type of log is a Digital Input Counting Log. Evey count is the equivalent to one gallon of water used. The project is rather interesting and the next step in conservation. Knowing water usage and finding your high water use times will help curb use in the long run. Details on the water meter project can be found on Jason’s blog and Instructables.


Web Based Water Metering with ioBridge

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