- Is there some other reason I should avoid blanking by - turning off all cathodes? - Will I burn something up over the long run?
You're not going to kill any parts. Its the protection clamping on those 74141s that do the leaking, intentionally. But, over time, when parts become leaky-er, you may eventually see some ghosting. I'm assuming this is a direct drive clock, and there is NO anode circuitry other than the anode resistors. Blanking is done only to adjust brightness, and/or add cross fading effect to the display. In this case, a simpler anti-ghosting [prevention] measure, would be to add alternate paths (for the leakage) around the tubes. Basically adding resistors. Simplest, would be to stick some high value resistors from anode to each cathode. Something between 220K to 1M. One per used cathode. 44 or 45 max for a six digit clock. Keep this suggestion under your hat, if one day, you notice some ghosting. -- 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.
