I did some basic testing of the ionization voltage, with the tube inside a closed box, and found that it would consistently ionize around 122-123 volts, and then the normal glowing would kick-in with the tube operating normally, though at a low current (about 500uA). I was expecting a much higher ionization voltage; regular NE2 bulbs have a much larger difference between the ionization and extinguishing voltage, on the order of 30 volts. With the tube exposed to ambient light, the ionization voltage was about 1-2 volts lower, which I did expect.
Though I did not test every cathode, the 3-4 that I did test were in the same ballpark. This suggests that if you have a 160V anode supply, you should have plenty of margin with these tubes. Once I get a clock built, I will collect data again and then see if it changes after a few years of operation. -- 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/6a1e0a5d-c9aa-4076-a694-fea783f2c0c7%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
