Hi Grahame, Thanks got the great explanation, i appreciate it.
I forgot about the light sensitivity of neon bulbs and that conversely, the absence of light can be just as bad. I remember, to play with that I once flashed my photo flash at my nixieneon clock and list up about a third of all the lamps. It blew the little fuse I have in the clock. -joe On Saturday, July 25, 2020 4:58:53 AM CDT 'Grahame' via neonixie-l wrote: > Hi Joe > > The design is based on the Philips Z70U/Z70W (single trigger/dual > trigger) application note and the nixie display design by JBDance. The > reset to zero tubes are just a U tube in parallel with the U zero tube > and act in the same way as the dual trigger version W tube. The W tubes > are like hen's teeth so the trick of using two U tubes in parallel is a > good dodge. The carry tubes act as a pulse shaper and, no doubt, a > driver for the next ring. They appear in the Philips designs and I saw > no reason to try to remove them as the effect on cost and size would be > minimal. The only complexity in the design was the hours counter that > resets to 00 when a count to 24 is made. > > The great advantage of the Z70U trigger tube is they have both a trigger > electrode and a stay alive primer electrode. The stay alive electrode > means the clock will function in the complete dark which was something I > learned about with my first trigger clock using the XC18 trigger tube > which doesn't have a stay alive electrode (I think they were Kr85 doped > but that will have long decayed away). > > The clock intends to be a nixie read-out clock so the rings are not laid > out to be time readable. You could make a Z70U read out clock but the > bulk of the light comes out of its bottom wire end and not the top so > some thought would be needed to make an effective clock. > > All good fun > > Grahame > > On 24/07/2020 19:58, Joe Croft wrote: > > > > Hi Nick, > > > > I thought I remembered sending a kit to you. I guess old age took away > > the memory of the 2nd kit. How are the clocks running? I have two that > > I built way back in the day but every year or two I have to replace a > > ring of lamps. > > > > The 8 & 12 groupings of the lamps confused me. It makes a little more > > sense after reading Grahame's site. It is interesting that the rings > > have reset and carry tubes. Especially the carry tubes. Is that > > because of loading issues with the last bulb needing to trigger two loops? > > > > -joe > > > > On Friday, July 24, 2020 10:25:15 AM CDT Nicholas Stock wrote: > > > > > Joe, > > > > > > > > > > I've built a couple of your neon counter clocks....many moons ago. > > My Father still has one too...they're great devices! > > > > > > > > > > It is a clock, if you look to the far right in the video, you'll see > > another couple of nixies (hours), but the clock was in test mode > > deliberately sped up to test one of the trigger counters. > > > > > > > > > > You can find details of the predecessor on Grahame's website.. > > > > > > > > > > www.sgitheach.org.uk/nixie8.html > > > > > > > > > > Nick > > > > > > > > > > Sent from my iPhone > > > > > > > > > > > On Jul 24, 2020, at 07:21, Christian Elzey <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Yo there's a Nixie version of that that's tempting for sure > > > > > > > > > > > >> On Fri, Jul 24, 2020, 10:13 AM martin martin <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > > >> Reminds me of this project > > > > > >> https://makezine.com/2008/06/18/transistor-clock-kit-uses/ > > > > > >> > > > > > >> > > > > > >> > > > > > >> > > > > > >> > > > > > >> ~ > > > > > >> [email protected] > > > > > >> > > > > > >> > > > > > >>> On Fri, Jul 24, 2020 at 4:21 AM Joe Croft <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > >>> Nick, > > > > > >>> > > > > > >>> I like it! What is the final target for this, going by the > > counts of bulbs in the rings (8 & 12) it doesn't seem to be a clock. > > Unless it's from Mars.... ;) > > > > > >>> > > > > > >>> Not to make this a pissing match, I know there are even prettier > > and more complex, ring counter clocks and not to mention it's > > yesteryear's news, but,I didn't exactly avoid punishments myself in > > the past. I did come up with the NixieNeon clock. > > > > > >>> > > > > > >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSaHHKSnvfI > > > > > >>> > > > > > >>> 7 ring counters with a total of 60 lamps . Not as many in total > > as yours, but they don't have the convenience of a trigger wire. The > > rings free run counting down the 60hz to the 12 bulb hour ring without > > the help of the processor,. The processor is only there to run the > > green lamps, the 5 minute eye candy and set to the time (assuming you > > have the RTC). > > > > > >>> > > > > > >>> My point of my previous email was that assembling 384 little ass > > SMD boards was no small feat. I doubt I would've lasted through it. > > > > > >>> > > > > > >>> My favorite ring counter clock of all time it this one! It is a > > great looking clock, I love the point to point wiring. I bet the 60 > > second ring was a nightmare to get counting so well! > > > > > >>> > > > > > >>> > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4v7IDIYiNQ&list=PLcg96zVhEST67yy294qhAUgrr7ijZnUGe > > > > > >>> > > > > > >>> -joe > > > > > >>> > > > > > >>> On Thursday, July 23, 2020 4:55:50 PM CDT Nicholas Stock wrote: > > > > > >>> > Let's try that again....movie was too large.. > > > > > >>> > > > > > > >>> > https://www.instagram.com/p/CCPMzuOjdBs/ > > > > > >>> > > > > > > >>> > On Thu, Jul 23, 2020 at 2:52 PM Nicholas Stock > > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > >>> > > > > > > >>> > > Speaking of glutton for punishment.... > > > > > >>> > > > > > > > >>> > > A follow on to Grahame's original Trigger tube > > clock....aptly called > > > > > >>> > > 'Neon'...that we're both working on....no > > semi-conductors.....the video > > > > > >>> > > shows one of the minutes boards fed with a 10Hz pulse for > > testing of the > > > > > >>> > > counters, hence the speed.... > > > > > >>> > > > > > > > >>> > > The ticking is from a couple of relays. > > > > > >>> > > > > > > > >>> > > > > > > > >>> > > > > > > > >>> > > On Thu, Jul 23, 2020 at 2:38 PM celzey11 > > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > >>> > > > > > > > >>> > >> Allegedly there's some neon bulbs that actually act as > > thyratrons that > > > > > >>> > >> can be used to make large scrolling displays...haven't seen > > any of those > > > > > >>> > >> IRL though > > > > > >>> > >> > > > > > >>> > >> -- > > > > > >>> > >> 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/04517e2c-4681-49a6-ad0c-d6d4da3a706ao%40googlegroups.com > > > > > >>> > >> . > > > > > >>> > >> > > > > > >>> > > > > > > > >>> > > > > > > >>> > > > > > > >>> > > > > > >>> > > > > > >> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. 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