I bought a couple of IN-13 tubes a few weeks ago for my pending clock project. After reading this, I thought I better hookup a couple just to see what problems I can expect :-). Initially the tube would only light up to about 80% of full length at a current of 4.7mA (SMPSU). I then pulsed (by hand) the tube on/off say 5 seconds on, 3 seconds off. Every time the tube would light about 1 millimeter more than the time before until it reached the full length.
Sometimes the primer cathode really helps and sometimes it doesn't and the beam moves up the tube. I assume that using the 100Hz rectified mains will solve that problem, but I haven't tried that yet. Michel On Saturday, January 5, 2013 10:14:53 PM UTC+11, Grahame Marsh wrote: > > Hi Alex > > I've only used the IN13 (the one with the primer electrode) and they all > did as you described initially (despite the primer). I wrote the > microcontroller code to repeatedly sweep the tube current up and down > over about a second and left a batch of 8 running continuously. I think > it was several days before the "worst" tubes started to behave > correctly. Rinse and repeat until my purchase (a few dozen only) were > nearly all working. I have a couple that I couldn't unstick. I only > used a modest overcurrent at the top end. Since then the seven I have > in service (a "Jon Ellis" giant 7 segment clock) have operated without > fault. I don't know if the sweeping was an effective method or whether > it was just the exposure time. > > http://www.sgitheach.org.uk/ss.html > > Grahame > > > On 05/01/2013 09:54, Alex wrote: > > Hi guys, > > > > I have been stock piling bar-graph tubes for a while now due to > > their relatively cheap price and potential for interesting looking > > clocks or other animated displays. > > Due to a few being smashed in a recent shipment I decided to sit down > > and work through testing all 450 or so IN-9's that I have to see what > > they are like. > > > > Now, the first interesting point is that it seems that the white > > topped IN-9 can be either Neon or Argon, it seems most of mine are > > Argon which is quite annoying as the neon is a much richer red! I > > actually paid a bit more for a couple of purple topped argon tubes > > assuming them to be a lovely purple colour hence I was disappointed to > > find they are identical to about 70% of my conventional IN-9's (and > > badly cathode poisoned)! > > > > This brings me to the second point and a quick question, has anyone > > got any advice on getting these things to behave a bit better, some > > have fairly epic cathode poisoning with the glow starting in the > > middle or snapping to / hugging the other end or making large jumps up > > the tube. Are these things usually quite awful or have I just got bad > > batches? I have tried burning some in at upto about 40mA which has > > resolved some of the minor issues but on some seems to make them even > > more keen to glow from the other end... > > > > I have a few hundred IN-13's to test as well soon and am just hoping > > they are not as bad as these have turned out to be... > > > > Any advice on these tubes would be appreciated, hopefully a 64 channel > > VU meter will follow before long ;-) > > > > - Alex > > -- > > 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]<javascript:>. > > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > [email protected] <javascript:>. > > To view this discussion on the web, visit > > https://groups.google.com/d/msg/neonixie-l/-/W7oabYSL9SgJ. > > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > > > > -- 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]. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/neonixie-l/-/S74gmIMT1QsJ. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
