The aim of this project is to enable easy integration of the GQ GMC-500+ Geiger Counter device into home automation systems (e.g. openHAB).
The software reads data from the device via USB and transfers the data to a MQTT host.
Since most home automation systems support the MQTT protocol, sensor integration should be straightforward.
The bridge software can be compiled for Windows and Linux. See also the installation section for Raspberry PI 3 and 4. You can also download a ready to use executable for Raspberry PI OS.
For compiling the software the installation of the latest version of the GO programming language is necessary.
- Get the latest version of Pi OS.
- Run sudo apt update then sudo apt upgrade
- Follow the GO installation instructions
- Run go build inside the source folder. If everything went well you will get a gqmqtt executable in the src folder.
- Make sure the Geiger Counter device is switched on and is connected to your Raspberry Pi via USB. Use only the supplied USB cable if possible.
- In the device settings the option Third party output must be switched off. Baud rate should be set to the default value (115200).
- Make sure user is member or group "dialout"
- For a quick test start your software with the command ./gqmqtt -v, this will start the bridge in verbose mode. Type --help to get an overview of all available command line flags.
- If your mqtt broker runs on another host you will need to set up the host url with the -h flag (e.g. -h tcp:https://192.168.178.25:1883)
- You can also install the software as a service for automatic start and restart.