Help needed: Thermo Fisher IdentiFINDER

[ziouranio]

Hello everybody!
I wasted my spare money into a piece of ebay junk that looked nice: one handheld isotope identifier IdentiFINDER made in Germany from Thermo Fisher.

identifinder

I found a datasheet online :

IdentiFINDER brochure.pdf

identifinder datasheet

(89.85 KiB) Downloaded 288 times

But I found no manual or software for data exchange. Who might help me on this please do!

According to the datasheet, my model (ultra-NGH 3n) has built in 1.4”x2” NaI(Tl) scintillator, a He3 neutron detector tube and a Geiger-Muller tube (a tiny one right under the He3 tuber in the pictures). The NaI is a Scionix Holland integral block.

identifinder NaI + He3 detectors

identifider He + GM tube

There is even a 3nCi Cs-137 source on top of the NaI:

Cs137 source

I powered it from the mini-USB connector, label says 9V 2.5A and I found the pinout for power supply is the standard for USB (red + black -). However I believe that the remaining two contacts are not USB but likely a RS232 serial interface. In fact their connections on PCB are routed to a TTL/RS232 transceiver. I also had to cut some plastic from the sides of the plug to fit the narrow groove in the housing.

Improvised power adaptor

mini-USB plugged

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There is no battery pack. There are connections for all the battery poles, so I guess it should be a Lithium-Ion battery pack. If anyone has information about the battery type and capacity please help!

battery pack connection pads

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battery pack room

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According to a blog post that I saw when evaluating the purchase (but I cant find it anymore !!!) it might work with Theremino. If anyone had more detailed information they would be very welcome....

Although the item was sold as functional, when powered up it remains stuck at initializing. (Crying).
If anyone can provide hints and more information, such as the user/service manuals, the communication software or more I would be extremely grateful.

Have a nice and ionizing weekend!

[James Luck]

Hello ziouranio,

I'll take a gander at my computer files, somewhere I should have that manual.

As for the sorrow of the meter not fully starting up, last time I took a look the manual didnt exactly go into depth of ways around the start up screen.
On start up the meter runs diagnostics, and also calibrates itself to it's own test source, hense the one taped to the crystal.
The manual does mention that the meter can be ran without the self calibration, again not much about getting around the start up screen.

Some speculation I have is either the source which is rather small has passed its useful live for the meter, or the main computer glitched out.
Both get expensive quickly and ultimately end with you sending the meter in for service.


On the topic of the battery, the meter either can use a lithium polymer or a sled that carries 4 double A's.
The sled is the cheapest item, but still $190 usd.


Best of luck I'll take a look threw my files.
-james

[ziouranio]

Thank you very much.
Having at least the manual will be really a help, if I can run the diagnostics I may have some hints.
I will attempt a repair as soon as I have some free time.

[ziouranio]

Latest update:
I was able finally to repair the unit. I found that the self-calibration didn’t go through because the LED source for self-test of the photomultiplier didn’t flash.
One of the the leads of the led was broken, but luckily still long enough to solder it to back the wire.
The repair was done without disassembling the unit since the tube is fixed in place with some sort of glue.
The led is inside the cavity in the foot of the tube, the wires are long enough to partially extract the led and repair it with a thin tip of the soldering iron, passing through the PMT leads.
No the unit powers up and goes through the self calibration.
Anyone can help with a copy of the user manual?
This would be appreciated!

[Sesselmann]

Well done, always satisfying when one finds a simple fix. 😊

Someone chucked it out because they didn't have the skills to fix it.

Steven

[ziouranio]

Since it seemed that the luck of James Luck hasn't been enough to find the manual, I did a deeper search online.

Luckily I found a copy of the manual here:
https://www.nukeworker.com/study/instru ... manual.pdf:


Now, the identifinder is said to be compatible with WinTMCA32
(https://www.reddit.com/r/Radioactive_Ro ... wintmca32/)

Anyone can provide help for downloading WinTMCA32 and connecting the PC to the indentifider?