Geiger counter battery

[pentium]

Today I saw for $10 a locally made (assembled in Vancouver) geiger counter.
It looks in good shape (I have yet to see if the tube is still good) but it uses one of those oddly shaped batteries.

I have no idea what the battery type is and I doubt they still sell the things for anything less than $50 a battery. What is the actual make of the battery and what could I use to substitute it with say, a few D cells?

[Wizard]

Re: Geiger counter battery

AWESOME. You found it in tube era! That's wax capacitors!

Cheers, Wizard

[pentium]

Re: Geiger counter battery

Ir also came with a really nice (and really old) headset.
Now about that battery....

[Scenic]

Re: Geiger counter battery

any model numbers or something else written on those batteries to search for on google?!

[pentium]

Re: Geiger counter battery

Ther is a stamp inside the case that tells me:
Model: 5
Serial 102
Volts...

I don't get it. the required voltage is not stamped on the thing.
I honestly don't have the slightest clue on what it needs and the company who built this went out of business a long time ago.

[Scenic]

Re: Geiger counter battery

umm... i meant under the sticky tape on the batteries, not somewhere else

[pentium]

Re: Geiger counter battery

There was no battery installed when I got the unit and those two yellow things are, as mentioned, wax capacitors.
The battery plugs into the black and red leads seen in the photo.

[pentium]

Re: Geiger counter battery

Also, the capacitors are rated for 600 Volts....

[Wizard]

Re: Geiger counter battery

Wax caps can give problems and simply replace it with electrolytic.

Um, Anything else on that could say what brand of and model?

Cheers, Wizard

[kc8adu]

Re: Geiger counter battery

probably some sort of radio "b"
battery.
45 or 90 volt

[zandrax]

Re: Geiger counter battery

Running at zinc-carbon battery was too expensive since they were (and are) disposable and NiCd were expensive in the '50s and '60s (the era of your conter judging from appeareance: NiCd batteres arrived in Usa from Sweden in 1946), so I suppose it uses plain lead-acid batteries, the most common and cheap rechargeable battery at the time: there should be a transformer upping the tension from battery to 400-500 V range. Still unsure about voltage: 6, 12 or 24 V? Maybe more photos can help us.
You wrote it was manifactured in Vancouver: according to an hobbyst site, there is Canadian counter manifacturer, Bicron Instruments now Thermo Scientific, but I don't know when and where it settled. The "model 5 - serial 102" means there was a small production and this was the fifth model made: no other information at all?

Zandrax

[zandrax]

Re: Geiger counter battery

10 min time limit ...

Hmm, KC8 may be right: never heard of B battery untill now but size and tension may be compatible.
Pentium, there is a battery holder in your counter, isn't it?

Zandrax

[pentium]

Re: Geiger counter battery

There is no batery clip in the thing at all. Looks like it just big enough to fit in the unit and didn't move around much when the cover was on.
As for getting more photos, there is really nothing left to see. Aside from those two large caps, a knob, a resistor, another smaller capacitor and the tube there is pretty much nothing else in the thing.

[zandrax]

Re: Geiger counter battery

No other text except the model/sn sticker and the Made in Vancouver?

Zandrax

[andrew77]

Re: Geiger counter battery

I don't have any information about the batteries, but maybe this link will help figure it out?

link

[arneson]

Re: Geiger counter battery

It's possible that you have only the probe, and the counter was a shoulder strap unit that contained power?

[pentium]

Re: Geiger counter battery

Aside from a plug that you connect your headset to, a handle, three holes underneath the box that are covered in bakelite (the tube is on the other side) and the knob I mentioned earlier, there is really nothing else special about the box aside from a tag that reads:
Frederick Goertz Ltd.
Instrument makers
Vancouver, B. C.
It's a complete unit, it just needs a battery.
I would post more photos but my camera is currently charging.

[kc8adu]

Re: Geiger counter battery

if you can find out the voltage you can rig up something.
a friend has a pocket radio with tubes he had as a kid.
i restored it and made up a set of 9v battery snaps to hook 5 9v batteries in series to make a cheap b battery.
heaters run on a d cell.
he can rebattery it for about $1 with biglots deals.

[pentium]

Re: Geiger counter battery

And that is the thing.
I can't figure out what exactly the voltage needed is.

[arneson]

Re: Geiger counter battery

This surplus shop has a couple battery clips and some gieger counter owners manuals at the bottom.
I don't think it's helpful with yours but it could lead you down the right road.
http://www.surplustuff.com/radiolog.html