I too have a rather long 6844A saga to tell! Back in 2010 I built a 6844A clock. It works fine, the tubes are fine. They do not have mercury, therefore the color is more orange with no blue outline. This clock has a toggle switch on the front to shut off the readouts. I only run the tubes when I want to see them, otherwise they stay dark.
This clock keeps the best time of any of them. It's a free-running clock, not connected to any time synching source such as WWVB or GPS. It holds up the correct time within about +/- 1 second per year. The biggest problem I had with the 6844s was with the sockets. There is a certain type of socket which very easily cracks the glass from way too much sideways force on the pins. There is another type of socket which has much more supple forks which are mounted in nice generous holes so they can move around to accommodate the pin spacing. Found this all out the hard way after those "tube-killer" sockets ruined (2) of my NOS 6844A tubes!! At least my 6844a saga taught me the difference between real sockets and cheap imitation junk sockets which are no good. In my opinion, building a 6844A clock with the tubes mounted in sockets out the front is well worth doing! Chuck > > >---- Original Message ---- >From: [email protected] >To: [email protected] >Subject: RE: [neonixie-l] 6844A saga >Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2017 08:06:53 -0700 (PDT) > >>Hi all, >> >>I recently bought some 6844A tubes of ebay - I fancied making a four >tube >>clock with round top-view tubes. In my head I had assumed that these >would >>be doped with mercury, but they aren't. However, before I found that >out I >>bought four Raytheon JAN 6844A tubes and 2 Burroughs 6844A tubes - I > >>figured if I changed my mind and wanted to make a six tube clock, I >might >>as well have the extra tubes lying around. Another assumption: They >would >>have the same mechanical specs, but they actually look very >different - I >>prefer the look of the Burroughs tubes. >> >>All of them are NOS. >> >>So, I tested them and the Raytheon tubes are fine. One had Cathode >>poisoning (NOS? It was in the original box!). That was easily fixed >with >>some over current and it was fascinating to see that work - this is >the >>first time I have had to do that. >> >>The Burroughs tubes are quite a different story. On one of them, >half the >>digits don't light up, but the leads to the digits do! I have posted >some >>pictures below. On the other one, none of the digits light up - only >the >>leads. Well, I'm going to put this down to experience - I am >probably not >>going to build a clock with tubes that aren't doped with mercury - >but I >>would like opinions as to what might be going on with the Burroughs >tubes. >>Note that the behavior is independent of the actual anode current - >other >>than how brightly they glow! >> >>This one shows just the lead lighting up: >> >><https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-z6PoJP4nnLg/WNPjcEjdM3I/AAAAAAAA >AgM/ZNebX4kd688dm4tLHQctcx4gKlWhKQ4VQCLcB/s1600/IMG_1285.JPG> >> >> >>This shows the digit 3 and the lead lighting up: >> >><https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-FqBjwt1dVbQ/WNPjh-0kJoI/AAAAAAAA >AgQ/Y3dHcwgftdcZzKl_Hdq-hV6CSKo_Pf9KQCLcB/s1600/IMG_1286.JPG> >> >> >>This shows a lead and a 'not connected' pin lighting up: >> >><https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-RxhpDHCFwfY/WNPjmNaOt7I/AAAAAAAA >AgU/Qpm6i0ZEfQg2-FVLJq-dDXwgij2bSoSOwCLcB/s1600/IMG_1287.JPG> >> >> >>This shows the digit 2 behaving itself! >> >><https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WsXz-S9LjuY/WNPjUwcZxiI/AAAAAAAA >AgI/IqMWFM_bOCI8zIcgPCgBH98EAZQwRW_0gCLcB/s1600/IMG_1283.JPG> >> >>-- >>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/d4b55acf-389d-46cd-9d71- >0109ace4e35c%40googlegroups.com. >>For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> $4.95/mo. National Dialup, Anti-Spam, Anti-Virus, 5mb personal web space. 5x faster dialup for only $9.95/mo. No contracts, No fees, No Kidding! See http://www.All2Easy.net for more details! -- 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/380-220173423155952731%40all2easy.net. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
