I'm using SZ-8 nixie tubes in my dekatron-based clock as shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK276xZWyo4
I find I have to replace the nixie tubes more often than I expected. Most of the failures are in the '7' digit. The wire from the insulator stack to the '7' cathode starts to glow faintly, and brightens over time until it is full-on bright and the '7' is not glowing at all. It leaves a dark smudge on the glass where the wire sputters away. The other failure is with the '1' and '5' digits. They start to glow simultaneously, first dimly shadowing each other but again brightening over time. I direct-drive the tubes, with a 170v supply and a 20K anode resistor. Individual cathodes of the A101 dekatrons are tied through resistors to the base of MPSA42 NPN transistors, the transistors switch the cathodes of the SZ-8 nixies. Should I be using a higher-value anode resistor? Would a different nixie (QS30, ZM1022) work more reliably? Thanks! -- 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 [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/1b491d6d-0a0e-43b3-b981-0e1ee3c6ac3f%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
