OK you don't need to shout to be heard in this list. :) 1 - You can safely assume that "Pulse Voltage" is the one supplied by your Power Supply. It is higher than the one needed for non-multiplexed operation to guarantee a faster strike.
2 - Both modes A and B are safe from an operational standpoint and are given as indicators of how far you can go with current for the target time and duty cycle (that's how PWM translates in this case). What it means is that for each 0.1ms a tube is on at 10mA you must wait 0.9ms before turning it on again or you will burn its life away quite quickly. The same is valid for mode B with 1ms and 5mA: you must wait 9ms before turning that tube again on. There is a turn-on delay and also a turn-off delay so not all of this wait-time is really so. As a reference you can read this <https://threeneurons.wordpress.com/nixie-power-supply/>, from Mike Moorrees "Pile of poo" which is an extremely good guide to multiplexing nixie tubes and quite the opposite to his name choice :) You need to be careful and stick to what the specifications say regarding to maximum voltage and currents, specially when multiplexing, or as I said before, you risk to burn your tubes lifetime quite quickly. On Monday, June 5, 2017 at 11:09:55 AM UTC-3, scotth wrote: > > The tubes I'm using for two different clocks are IN-4s and IN-8s. I found > the pulse specs you referenced on the IN-8 datasheet, but not the IN-4. On > the IN-8 datasheet, it lists two different modes, A and B. For mode A, > which is a pulse duration of 0.1ms, it gives a pulse Voltage of 200V and > current of 10mA. It also lists a PMW of 10%, what does that mean? > > For mode B, which has a pulse duration of 1-2ms, it recommends 200V at 5mA > and the same PMW. Which mode should I use? > > Is the pulse Voltage the same as my input voltage before my transistors? > > I will try to measure what current I am at later today. > > Thanks! > > On Monday, June 5, 2017 at 7:13:04 AM UTC-4, Tomasz Kowalczyk wrote: >> >> 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 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/255f6c7d-5591-497b-a680-e27243716f12%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
