On 2020-Jan-01, at 6:14 PM, Anders Nelson via cctalk wrote:
> I'd love to see examples of driving circuitry if it's not too much trouble.
Remarkable that Tom found someone with spec sheets for the same type.
Two examples of in-use are here (see the linked PDFs under tech data):
http://madrona.ca/e/eec/calcs/SanyoICC83.html (display construction
looks similar to the type you have)
http://madrona.ca/e/eec/calcs/CommodoreUS10.html (Beckman Panaplex II
display)
You'll have to wrap your head around the various voltages and non-standard
ground-references, to look instead at the actual potential differences.
In one of them the 'high-side' is the anodes, while in the other the
'high-side' is the cathodes (high-side being whichever is at high potential
difference from the logic). In either case, the high-side has to be
voltage-isolated from the logic and the switching level shifted across that
potential difference. In both cases here, that's accomplished via capacitors.
(It was sometimes done with pulse transformers. Today, opto-isolators would be
an option).
> On 1/1/20 4:42 PM, Anders Nelson via cctalk wrote:
>> I snagged one of these Nixie-like displays (from a calculator I assume) and
/pedant
Please don't call them Nixie-like. Yes, they have a gas-discharge glow like
Nixies, but Nixies are a very specific thing and very distinct from segmented
displays. 10-15 years ago when nixies started becoming retro-cool, ebay
listings for vacuum-flourescent displays started started referring to those as
nixies.
A little history: Nixies were popular in the 60s for test equipment and the
early desktop calculators. 7-segment displays started to take off in the
early-70s, and nixies came to be passe/old-fashioned.
For the first few years the segmented market was dominated by 3 types:
vacuum-flourescent, gas-discharge, and LED. All 3 of these went through stages
from single-digit modules and then multi-digit modules. Lesser players were
incandescent (Numitrons, Minitrons) and electro-fluorescent. LCDs came in
starting in the mid-70s. GD was eventually wiped out of the market due to the
HV requirement and driver expense.
/tnadep
On 2020-Jan-01, at 2:55 PM, Tom Uban via cctalk wrote:
> Not exactly it, but may be helpful:
> http://www.tube-tester.com/sites/nixie/dat_arch/Sperry_01.pdf
These are the 'other series' of Sperry GD displays I was alluding to.
They are like the Beckman Panaplex II displays in that the anode is a
transparent conductive coating sputtered onto the inside surface of the viewing
glass, in contrast to the type you have in which the anode appears to be a
metal electrode in-plane around the segment cathodes.
They (the 'other series') also bring out all the electrodes individually so
they can be used in direct drive or multiplexed.
