My clock has been running constantly for about two years. The zero cathode in the tens-of-hours digit is on for eighteen hours a day. It is now noticeably shorter than the other cathodes, as its metal has been sputtered away. It still works, but I've recently re-wired it so all the even cathodes are zero and the odd cathodes are one. This will let the clock randomly choose a cathode to represent zero, extending the life of that tube.
I'm using A101 tubes for all the counting, no microprocessors or other integrated circuits. My cathode current is a bit on the low side (~0.33 ma), but still within spec. I might get longer life out of more current, as more of the cathode would glow. But then again with more of the cathode glowing I'd get more sputtering, which would shorten the life. When I actually have to replace a tube I'll first try changing the current-limiting resistor to bring the current to the "typical" value (0.4ma). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK276xZWyo4 On Tuesday, June 7, 2016 at 9:03:31 PM UTC-4, John Perkins wrote: > > > Hi, are there any rule-of-thumb upper limits for dekatrons either: > > powered-on spinning time? > > holding a single value? > > I'm interested in using them for a clock. > -- 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/7fc80bf1-8b3b-4978-b4a3-2f6f20e8096d%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
