I didn't know until now that Dan had posted the request to the nixie list as well.
I've been working remotely in the UK through the last week and my reply was somewhat brief. Here's what I sent Dan as a recommendation: Alright Dan, so you want to stay with the WWVB clock. I had a look at the original schematic while away, and have a means to offer you. If you want to switch the HV supply to the tubes, you can go the cheap and easy way by breaking the connection between the transformer secondary pins 2 and 3 (see the pdf schematic). Install a small TRIAC between the two connections (available from radio shack) and control it with a 5v logic level signal or motion sensor. A TRIAC is very cheap, and very effective. And there won't be any noise that may back flush into the receiver that would affect it's reception. Regards, Jeff On Jan 23, 9:23 am, tunes <[email protected]> wrote: > *Its been a long time since I built the wonderful Jeff Thomas WWVB Radio > Controlled Nixie Clock. I was never able to get the modified Quartex module > to get a reliable receiver lock to keep the time accurately and I > reluctantly retired the clock over 5 years ago. Recently however, I was > able to source another receiver and for the hell of it removed the larger > ferrite antenna and tank cap and replaced the one in the modified Quartex > module. The clock synchs perfectly now and it is keeping time to the second > even through a snow storm for more than a week. I am amazed that it was > just the antennae. I have two more unpopulated PCBs and parts and plan to > build 2 more beauties.* > > *The only problem now with the clock is that the tubes are very expensive > and I want to preserve their longevity.* > > *I wonder if anyone can help me interface either an IR remote control to > switch the HV to the display on and off to permit continued time keeping > with the display off. This would increase tube life since I am never home > from 7AM to 7 PM and can turn off the display during the day. > Alternatively, an IR/Heat sensing PIR motion detector could, via a small > relay, turn the display off and on with movement in the room. Perhaps this > would be a more sophisticated solution. Looking at the attached schematic it > appears that the switch could be placed between the step up transformer HV > rail either before or after the Neon indicators. If placed after the > indicators the neons would stay lit indicating the clock was still running > albeit in display off mode. Thanks for any help or providing another > resource to help me solve this issue.* > > *The schematic can be seen here > **http://www.amug.org/~jthomas/wwvb.html*<http://www.amug.org/~jthomas/wwvb.html> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/neonixie-l?hl=en-GB.
