Hi! Paul - could you please share the source of that information? I would like to look at it.
My experience is that Hg is absolutely necessary in nixie tubes. Few tests I made: 1. two tubes - one with, one without Hg. Both running at 5 times rated current on cathode 8. After few weeks, Hg free tube sputtered so much metal that it caused internal short between 8 and anode, test ended. The Hg free tube was heavily poisoned on unused digits, they were all practically black. The 8 had 50% metal sputtered away. The Hg doped tube was visually just like a new tube, no black deposit, the 8 was slightly more matte than other digits. Light poisoning on unused digits, quick healing reverted it all back to 100% condition. 2. Comparison of poisoning development between Hg and Hg free tubes. Two clocks, 6 tubes with and 6 tubes without Hg, no anti-poisoning routine, rated current. I wanted to see whether the Hg only slows down poisoning development or it has also other impact on the tubes. After 12 months, the Hg free tubes were all black inside, even tubes (2,4,6) had no poisoning on cathodes, 3,5th tubes had heavy poisoning on 6-9, other digits ok. 1st tube had cathodes 0,1,2 thinner, 1 being half eaten away. Other digits heavily poisoned. The Hg doped tubes had poisoned 1st tube (3-9 digits), odd tubes had slight poisoning on 6,8,9. What is interesting - the poisoning patterns (location of the poisoned segments) were different between Hg free and Hg tubes - this suggests some other differences happening inside - I’ve set up more tests that are being run right now. My conclusion is that a Hg free tubes are difficult to keep without poisoning and also recovery from poisoning at rated current is usually not possible. I have photos and more tests - will post next week.. Regards! -- 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 view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/71c0adf3-5c41-4472-b2c5-af338cf44d90o%40googlegroups.com.
