I thought that there was actually an exchange of matter between the cathodes going both ways when all the cathodes are on alternatively. Which means that if only 1 or 2 cathodes are used, theses cathodes erode faster. I don't know if the sputtering on the glass in the front is also worse on the first hours digit?
But I also understand that the lifespan of a nixie is mostly a sum of the lifespan of each cathode. In some datasheets you can find the lifespan if only 1 digit is used or if the same digit is on for a long time (the datasheet I just found says every 100 hours though...). Page 6 of the PDF from Telefunken for example : http://www.tube-tester.com/sites/nixie/dat_arch/Telefunken_01.pdf Perhaps the cathode poisoning prevention can prolong the lifespan a little, but the first hours digit will inevitably fail first simply because in every case the same 1 or 2 cathodes are on much longer than the others. So for me the question remains. Let's say there is a way to switch the position of the nixies without risk, by moving them with their sockets for example : Is it better to change the position regularly and have the 0s and 1s fail (much?) later but on all nixies more or less at the same time, or is it better to "sacrifice" one nixie, knowing that it will have to be replaced much more often? -- 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/30c54fcd-2f7e-4c4d-aba1-c1958a94d8cc%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
