A technical update (facelift) is coming out from the Muon Hunter ST Nucleo K8 version at the end of January. 

​Happy new year!

Have rev1, but want to have some of the new features? Read on to find out how to modify your kit.

The new firmware is out for the detector and so is the new python scripts for datalogging.

What's new? Quite a lot:

• I2C based datalogging for the GM signals, too
• SQL data storage (SQLite3) with CSV export
• Database structure changed
• AVR records coincidences
  
• UI program revised
• LOG.py main datalogging script added
• export.py database to csv export script added

Check out the details here: https://github.com/mvadai/muonhunter

If you want to use this open source tool http://www.fischl.de/usbasp/ to program the Muon Hunter, here's a quick rundown on how to do it under Ubuntu.

Download the setup and programs available for the Muon Hunter kit as a single Raspbian image onto a minimum 8 Gb memory card. It's based on Raspbian Jessie.

UPDATE.
It includes the AVR programmer feature and the datalogging interface, too.
here it is (now ver v0.3). See v0.3 notes.
The installation instructions are exactly the same as the Raspberry Pi image installation instructions found here:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/installing-images/README.md

We are going to program the ATmega168 microcontroller on the user interface board using the SPI interface on the Pi, so enable SPI. I mainly adapted this Instructables for the Muon Hunter kit.

sudo raspi-config

Version information
These instructions work with v0.1 and v0.2 of the Muon Hunter kit.

This guide is for those who wish to configure their own Raspberry Pi.
If you have a working Pi skip to Step 4.

Download the full Raspbian image from here:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/

Yes. If you would like to use your GM tubes with the kit, choose the Basic kit or the Raspberry Pi kit without the Geiger-Müller tubes.

No. The best option for you is probably buying the kit with the GM tubes.

Yes. You will need a Rapsberry Pi - ideally a Raspberry Pi 2. The connectors and the datalogging program is provided for you even with the basic kit. You can download the program from here. If you order kits with the Rapsberry Pi, you will get a camera, too, see 3rd point.

No, or you already have a Raspberry Pi. Your best option is buying one of the basic kits.

Yes. Buy the kit with the Raspberry Pi and the Raspberry Pi camera.

No. Buy one of the basic kits.

It depends on what you want to measure.

If you want to use your Rapsberry to take measurements in the near infrared spectrum and you don't really care about getting true colour images, then it might be a good idea for you to buy one without the infra red filter. If you care about the colour of the pictures you're taking then probably the best option is to buy one with the IR filter.

For example:
you might be thinking about having an LED strip lighting up your cloud chamber. If you're using a camera without the IR filter, you could get some noise on the picture because of the LED emitting in the IR spectrum. On the other hand if some of the EM waves are reflected off a muon trail in that part of the spectrum, then you'll have that information in the picture, too. Check out the typical spectrum of a white LED explained by Philips or Osram.

I would consider the benefit of getting measurements in the infra red spectrum VS potentially increased noise in certain applications and not getting true colours in the images.

If you ask me I'm using a camera without the IR filter, since I don't want to take holiday pictures, but get the maximum sensitivity out of the sensor. It's more fussy, but you can always apply a filter later if need be.

Technically you can, and I have produced code for such applications, but the image quality and the response time is usually far inferior compared to the Raspberry Pi camera. The reliability is worse, too. The experimental code I wrote has to restart one of the on board chips fairly frequently to make the web cam shooting work reliably. I recommend getting the Raspberry Pi camera.

Yes, this is possible. If your camera has external trigger capability, you only need the basic kit, you do not need a Raspberry Pi. This will involve some hacking, though. The kit will give you a low trigger on the muon pin on the Raspberry Pi connector (it is labelled). All you have to do is to convert this into a trigger for your camera. If your camera takes a TTL low trigger you can connect it straight through, otherwise you'll need extra circuitry.

Probably you are using a Raspberry Pi in this case. Yes, apart from the unused Raspberry Pi header connections, there's also the PaConnector that allows one or more I2C compatible sensor to be connected to the kit.

Yes, you can, but in this case you can't order through the web shop due to technical limitations at the moment. Please leave your order in the form below and I'll get back to you.

Please refer to the shipping times here.

In 95% of the cases the problem is a loose connection. It's absolutely trivial, but this is usually the case.

So first port of call is inspecting all the solder joints. Get a magnifying glass if needed.
Are they nice and smooth? Are there any cracks in them? Do you have blobs of solder hanging off?

You will have to heat up the terminal / pin of the component and the pad on the board AT THE SAME TIME and apply the solder onto the terminal of the component. Use thin 0.5mm or less multi cored solder. To comply with European waste regulations, use lead free solder.

You can find more on soldering on this link. This is how I started out.  The video on the link is made by the EEV Blog. You can get cheaper gear. That simple Antex iron got me through the first years. I would NOT recommend sparing on the solder, though. That's the key. Also, get a wick.

Check all connections, the clips, the edge connectors.
If this doesn't work try to change the voltage by changing RV1 on the high voltage board.

The voltage is probably too high on one or both of the GM tubes. Try changing the value of RV1 to lower the voltage.