Help fixing Soviet (radiation) Dosimeter charger

Discussion
1

I have a long held interest in cold war technology and equipment, and over the years have collected a number of items (most of them Soviet).

One is a radiation dosimeter kit (with ZD-6 charger and ID-1 dosimeters) from the 1980’s, sourced originally from Ukraine.

Unsurprisingly I have not had the chance to test this (as I have no radioactive materials) and to my knowledge we have not yet had a nuclear winter.

You can read up on the principle that these systems operate here on wikipedia.

The problem: the ZD-6 charger is broken and does not appear to charge the dosimeters (some of which still have a charge).

I have taken it apart and cannot see anything that is clearly broken, and it appears to be vacuum tube based technology.

This is beyond my abilities as far as electronics is concerned, would anyone be interesting in having a go at fixing it with me?

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2

That’s kinda crazy ЗД-6 is mechanical generator making up to 320 volts output, proper post apocalypse. Not sure what’s there electronically, but canhelp with translations if you need some

3

legacy of doomsday instruments… I can also help with translation.

4

Thanks.

I do have some more radiation monitors, some soviet, some western that APPEAR to work (they turn on) but I don’t have a radiation source to test.

I could also bring them, I imagine it would be interesting to look at and play around with as well (let me know).

I’m not sure when I’m in next.

5

I should be in tomorrow morning and afternoon, so hopefully see either of you then.

6

How strong does the radiation have to be to trigger? Some old camera lenses with yellowing thoriated lenses are often discussed as a source of radiation as a matter of concern for owners, but I’m presuming these levels are trivial compared to all out nuclear confrontation?

7

Yeah, I don’t think they would even register on the scale of these dosimeters (start at 5 Roentgen).

On top of that alpha and beta radiation will have no effect (these devices are encased in some metal alloy), so we’re only going to be measuring ionising gamma.

8

Well, it would be nice to fix for sure! But let’s all be happy if you will NEVER be able to test it! Hahah

1 Like
9

I have a friend who works with uranium for his PhD, I don’t think his samples would be that radioactive but if you manage to get them charged I could ask if he could take them into the lab to see :joy:

10

:joy: So much radiation just floating around.

That’s cool, let’s hope we can get the charger up and running.

11

Did you ever manage to get this working? I have a friend with an old pocket watch that has radium on the dial, might be enough to register on this when right next to it.