On 23 Jul 2013, at 01:21, gregeb...@hotmail.com wrote: > The recent IV-11 posts have aroused my curiosity, so does anyone have > firsthand experience with long-lifetime VFD displays ? > I'd want to keep mine on all the time. Obviously the filament is a concern, > and I'd be tempted to crank down the current as much > as possible before the segments are no longer uniformly illuminated. > > I admit I'm spoiled by the long-life Burroughs nixies; is there any hope that > a VFD would last anywhere near as long ?
I suppose the Futaba VFD displays used in Gottlieb pinball machines offer a good comparison to the panaplex style displays used by WIliiams, Bally and Stern. Generally it has been found that the VFD displays have outlasted the gas plasma displays in games of a similar era, starting in 1977. The game Cleopatra was the first VFD Gottlieb in 1977, introduced with the slogan "What's new is blue". Early Gottliebs used either Sprague UDN6118A or Dionics D1513 drivers. Often a dim pinball VFD is regenerated by burning the crud off by whamming 12v through the filament for about 7-12 seconds on 6 digit displays, or 8v for the 4 digit displays. I don't know if this ultimately shortens display life, but I have heard of people repeating this once a year to keep them looking bright. So in answer to your question, there is lots of hope that VFDs last as long or even exceed gas plasma. John S -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/11151A7A-5F09-45D6-89FA-0F31E25E28F5%40jsdesign.co.uk. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
