With most DC voltmeters you can safely assume that it measures the average. So having average voltage drop on anode resistor and resistance you can calculate average current, and then multiply it by 6 (if there is a dimming/anti-ghosting dead time between tubes, you might want to take it into account) to get the pulse current. Nixie tubes can operate in multiplexed mode with pulses of current higher than nominal current - as long as you aren't pushing average current over the nominal current, it should be OK. In IN-18 datasheet I found information, that the average current in pulse operation should be a bit lower than during DC operation.
Anyway, if your tube is specified for 2mA and you multiplex 6 tubes, I think you can safely use 5-6mA pulses (~1mA average current) without damaging the tube. But it would be less guessing and more solid information if you would specify which tubes are you using. W dniu poniedziałek, 5 czerwca 2017 04:06:15 UTC+2 użytkownik scotth napisał: > > First of all, thanks for accepting me to the group! > > I've built a functioning nixie clock that uses a nixie driver to multiplex > all six numbers. Due to my inexperience, I just figured out the resistor > that I needed to drive a single nixie tube at the correct voltage an > current, which landed me at 22kOhms. However, as I'm sure you all know, my > numbers were much dimmer once i got the multiplexed clock working with the > same 22k resistors. Because of this, I decided to check the voltage drop > and current of my nixies and got some numbers that can't be correct, as it > is below the operating specs of the tube. Is it some sort of average or > something? > > I've seen another thread on here where this is mentioned and I learned > that I could get a more accurate reading of voltage and current using a > scope (which I don't have). What I'm wondering is, is there a way to > calculate what the current should be without measuring it? I'm not > horribly dissapointed that the numbers are dimmer than driving a single > tube, but I'd like to make sure I'm operating at the nominal current in > order to maximize my brightness without significantly decreasing the > expected life of the tubes. Any help is greatly appreciated! > > Below is a picture of my anode driving transistor circuit (?) not sure > what the best way to word that is. > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Pw6L5BQQbpU/WTS8TDyz4QI/AAAAAAAAAWs/-k91FOy1jiEE3Dirye3vQ5PH8oK1_ugLwCLcB/s1600/Capture.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/da0a907f-82cd-4d99-97dd-75570ec882ca%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
