Even though the B5025 has the same pinout as the ZM1030, the electrical characteristics are bit different. The ZM1030 has the same levels as normal (non-biquinary) nixies. Strike at ~170V, and maintain ~130V. The B5025 strikes ~130 to 150V, and maintains ~100V. Also the ZM1030 is a mercury enhanced, and therefore "long life". The B5025 has no mercury.
1- the screen should be attached to some mid level. 40 to 50V is a good start point 2- the even stack is behind the odd stack. I think Ronald used different anode currents, to even out the brightness. The even stack has higher current. With the B5025, you'll either need a lower supply voltage, or higher resistor values. 3-Ideally, you can omit the cathode "mid-pull" resistors. In reality, however, mid-pulls divert leakage currents, which is more important with biquinaries, since the "off" cathode of the selected pair, has a tendency to also glow. For a B5025 go to the lower portion of that range. Between 40 to 80V. 4-1/2W is safe. 5-Cathodes that are never energized, will eventually develop cathode poisoning. Should you have a utility that exercises them ? That's really up to you. If these tubes are to stay in this item for the rest of their lives, it shouldn't matter. On Friday, January 25, 2013 7:04:31 PM UTC-8, Planetariophage wrote: > > Hello. I'm very new to nixie tubes in general but I want to be able to > drive a few B5025 tubes that I have lying about. > > I'm using this site as a reference: > http://www.dos4ever.com/nixie1/nixie1.html > > Figure 2 shows the recommended driving voltages, and Figure 3 shows a > simplified version that has a small amount of glow on adjacent numbers. I > want to try using the simplified circuit, but I have a few questions: > > 1) The simplified circuit does not show any voltage on the screen. Was > this assumed to be just at 50V or did the author leave this pin unconnected? > > 2) Why are the resistor values on the odd and even anodes asymmetrical? > > 3) Being new to nixies, I want to make sure I have the fundamentals here > correct: If I apply 180V through a 27K resistor to the odd anode of the > nixie tube, and connecting a single cathode to ground with everything else > unconnected, should the single corresponding digit light up? Figure 2 shows > all the cathodes being pulled up to 40-110V when not enabled, so I was > unsure if I can leave them unconnected. > > 4) What is the wattage recommended for the 27K or 15K resistors? I guess a > better question is how much voltage does the nixie tube consume? > > 5) I read about cathode poisoning. To clarify, if I drive only a single > digit on the nixie tube and never drive the other digits, would the other > digits eventually be unable to function? And am I correct in that I should > "refresh" the tube periodically by turning on the other digits for a bit of > time? > > Thanks for the help! > -- 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/-/GzwZfBrz4JUJ. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
