You could try this instead of a PIR: rcwl-0516. It works through some materials.
On Thursday, January 4, 2018 at 5:38:01 AM UTC-5, Nobutaka wrote: > > Hello people. > > I recently discovered the Nixies, and instantly falled in love. > > I decided to make my first Nixie clock, so I bought 6 IN-18 Nixies, a > Nixie tester/Healer from fleabay and a Nixie clock kit from PV Electronics. > > The idea is to quickly build a Nixie clock (I've gotta have one!) so that > I can start toying around with the Nixies. > > At the same time I would like to design my own clock device, so I already > started to devour information about Nixies, and then, oh man, is when > questions arise. > > First I will try to explain my objectives and backgrounds, and I will > leave the questions to the end. > > I plan designing a clock: > > - *using IN-18 tubes* (the largest that I know of, if you don't take > into account the ones made by Dalibor, which are unfortunately out of my > reach). > - *using a RasberryPI* to control everything, including NTP time > synchronisation and even creating a web-based configurator for the clock. > I > feel very confident using linux and C/C++ as I use them (not R-PIs) on a > daily basis. > - *Nixie tube lifespan is an absolute priority*. I would like to > design the watch so that it wouldn't require periodical tube changes, as > they are very valuable and getting harder to source. > > I studied electronics in university (20 years ago) and since then I > basically worked with computers (banking, nothing to do with electronics), > but I liked very much electronics (digital electronics better), and I > thought doing Nixie projects could something cool and rewarding. > > So, after some reading, I got some questions: > > - *Direct drive or multiplexing*? Multiplexing seems to be the most > common solution; it uses lower power consumption, but on the other side > some people complain about 'noises' and nixie flickering. Direct power > supply means more power consumption and brighter Nixies, but lifespan > should be reduced as well, so I think my design should use multiplexing > too. I think this is an eternal debate in these forums that now I will > have > to face too. I think multiplexing/direct drive is not as important as... > - *power supply*? For what I read, even though IN-18 are rated to be > cathode powered with 180V, some recommend lower voltage ratings (170V or > even 160V) in order to improve lifespan. Also there seems to be a > dramatically importance in the mA constantly supplied by the power source. > > For what I could learn, an insuffient power supply that could not provide > a > stable amperage, would lead Nixies to cathode poisoning problems. I would > like to control the powersource voltage from the raspberry (to > increase/reduce voltage to make the Nixie brigther/dimmer), any hints on > where to start looking would be appreciated. > - *Other big size Nixie recommendations*? As I found trouble finding > IN-18, maybe there is a better Nixie alternative, specially if I want to > test and abuse the nixies. Something that can be easily found and that is > not going to have supply shortage in the near future... > > I hope my questions don't offend anyone. I tried to answer them by myself > but got a bit stuck here. > > -- 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/8c338f84-e9d6-495b-b306-2117f444b8d7%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
