The cat is still glowing fine! at what voltage is the cat glowing? not 170 vdc? -----Original Message----- From: neonixie-l <[email protected]> To: Digest Recipients <[email protected]> Sent: Thu, Jun 7, 2012 1:36 am Subject: [neonixie-l] Digest for [email protected] - 10 Messages in 4 Topics Today's Topic Summary Group: http://groups.google.com/group/neonixie-l/topics Z5680M - dark grid [4 Updates] Arduino-based FLW [2 Updates] Abridged summary of [email protected] - 3 Messages in 2 Topics [3 Updates] Nixie multimeter [1 Update] Z5680M - dark grid kay486 <[email protected]> Jun 06 11:22AM -0700 Hi there, i just bought one Z5680M tube pretty cheap and now im waiting for it to arrive. The thing is that it has dark corners on the anode grid. So im bit worried that it might not function. Does anybody know what could be the problem, and if it affects the tubes function? (see the picture) Jeff Thomas <[email protected]> Jun 06 11:31AM -0700 It appears to have a few hours on it, although it should be an easy task to remove any oxide buildup (cathode poisoning) from the digits. They're scarce these days, so handle with care :) Regards, Jeff On Wednesday, June 6, 2012 11:22:26 AM UTC-7, kay486 wrote: kay486 <[email protected]> Jun 06 11:36AM -0700 Yea i know you can fix cathode poisoning quite easily, but whats with that dark anode? On Wednesday, June 6, 2012 7:31:31 PM UTC+1, Jeff Thomas wrote: MichaelB <[email protected]> Jun 06 09:24PM -0700 I have several with similar darkening, and they are just fine. But, like Jeff says, it most likely has a few hours on it. It may be fine and then again, it may not! No way to tell until you get your hands on it. I can tell you this, most of the 5680's I have that have this sort of darkening did require some "rejuvenation" on my part. On Wednesday, June 6, 2012 11:22:26 AM UTC-7, kay486 wrote: Arduino-based FLW Matthew <[email protected]> Jun 06 04:13PM -0700 Many thanks again for the help on this. Somewhat improbably, I now have a working LED-based prototype on the breadboard - it includes the modes of the original and a few new ones too. I have multiplexed it for now - to save space and bits at least - I started out the hard way but then discovered the timer interrupt of the Arduino chip which makes it much easier. But my display is fairly well abstracted from the rest of the code so if it turns out I want to direct drive, it's not rocket science to change it. So my circuit is fairly simple - In each multiplex cycle, the Arduino writes out to 3 74HC595 shift registers: * 1 controls the anodes of the 14 segment displays (just one at a time in this case) - these go through 2N3904 transistors, since the total draw of one character is more than the register can handle * The other two control the segments; for now I'm using resistors such that the 74HC595 can sink the current so they are connected directly to the cathodes. Now thinking about moving up to the tubes. Very simplistically, I'm seeing the eg B7971 as a bigger version of the common-anode LEDs I'm using - just requiring a higher voltage and current, so needing to be driven through appropriate transistors. I'm sure it can't be *that* simple though - can anyone broadly summarise what other things I need to consider? Adam Jacobs <[email protected]> Jun 06 05:12PM -0700 Another stepping stone you might consider (although it is completely backwards) would be a 16-segment VFD based FLW. I know that I personally would be very interested in such a device, given the significantly higher VFD availability than B7971. VFD's are common cathode and are voltage regulated rather than current regulated as nixies&LED's are. As for how to drive Nixies versus common anode LED's.. They're pretty similar. Just as you say: Higher voltage & higher current. In both cases you are sinking current through a voltage limiting resistor. Your current limiting resistor calculations will be different, your supply voltage will be different, very likely your driving IC (or transistors) will be different. They easy NPN transistor that is commonly used is the MPSA42. Other than that, there are tons of different options for driving the nixies ranging from the antiquated 74141 to the supertex parts to all kinds of solutions. -Adam On 6/6/2012 4:13 PM, Matthew wrote: Abridged summary of [email protected] - 3 Messages in 2 Topics ron <[email protected]> Jun 06 05:52AM -0700 Getter in the gazeotron: Dieter: Do you have any info on the pellet getter used in that tube? I have not seen that kind of getter and would like to know how it works. No nixie tube making the last week as I was building my gas charging manifold and vacuum gauge. It's now all done and the fun begins! Update on the epoxy sealed cat nixie: The cat is still glowing fine! There is a slight receding of the getter but no white areas. Possibly just residual outgassing. Remember: this is cheap JB weld epoxy, not the industrial stuff! I am surprised that it is holding up like this! ron (glasslinger) Dieter Waechter <[email protected]> Jun 06 04:49PM +0200 Hi Ron, You got the Account work! Great ;-) I will check if I find anything about the pellet getter an post here later (I'm on a business trip) Dieter Am 06.06.2012 14:52, schrieb ron: "Dalibor Farný" <[email protected]> Jun 06 05:02PM +0200 Hi Ron, it should be non-evaporable getter, based on ZrFe compound.. All nixie uses some kind of this getter, no one I have ever seen uses a evaporable (flashed getter) as You use for your experiments. Look on z566m on the back side - there is another type of non-evaporable getter. I still owe You an email as a reply ;-) Dalibor 2012/6/6 ron <[email protected]> Nixie multimeter Dekatron42 <[email protected]> Jun 06 01:53AM -0700 Don't forget to measure half-wave rectified signals to see what results you get (square, sine and triangular) as that is something that many RMS meters fail on. /Martin You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Group neonixie-l. You can post via email. To unsubscribe from this group, send an empty message. For more options, visit this group. -- 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. -- 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.
