| Can anyone recommend ... information to get me started. They | seem to be like regular triode tubes but driving them seems sort of mystical
Here's a nice little primer from Noritake: http://www.noritake-elec.com/vfd_operation.html Basically, the same info I read from one of their databooks, in the early 80's. Yep, they are directly heated triodes, with a different purpose. The filament voltage is kept low enough, so that they don't glow. The anodes are painted with the phoshor, and glow when hit by electrons. Anodes are also called segments. A positive voltage is applied to the grids (relative to the cathode [filament]) in order to get conduction, but a negative potential (~-5V) is applied to ensure that they are truly OFF. Grids are often used for multiplexing, in multidigit tubes. To light one up. Apply a positive voltage to the, selected digit's, grid and the segments (anodes) that need to be lit. Voltage ~50V, in multiplexed apps. Anode current is usually in 100s of mircoamps range, but the grids can draw a few milliamps. Grids drawing current is something usually only seen in power triodes, but that's due to the positive potential. Nothing really too mystical about them. I like using two "like" technologies in a clock like application. For example, adding a dekatron, as a pendulum, in a nixie clock. Both neon. For a VFD project, how about mixing an eye tube with it. Use one, or two, as a colon separator. Eye tubes like an EM80 or EM84, usually need a plate voltage of 200 to 250V. They, however, only use about 3mA. Build a switcher that outputs 50V to 60V, then add a simple multiplying ladder (of 1N914 diodes, and low value caps; 0.1 to 10uf) to get eyetube voltgage. . -- 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.
