Greetings! Good news.. the first small batch run of production boards has been completed! Picture of one is here: http://neonixie.com/Z57XM6DV2/07-31-2022-Z57xM6D-prototype-4-pcb-possible-production-board.jpg
A request for anyone who is interested and can help.. I would like to do a small pre-sale shipment of these boards, to try and iron out any minor issues, such as missing documentation, firmware tweaks, etc and to just get more public feedback. I anticipate no further changes to the PC board. I would like another 2-3 people who can help me on this, in exchange you will get a discounted kit. Needs to be in the US and I would really like to hear back within about a week of receiving the kit. If you are interested and have time to help, please PM me. You must be experienced with soldering, nixie tubes and high voltage, and if you know the Arduino environment/ESP32, even better. All the surface mount soldering is done, other then the tubes there are only about 5 components that need to be soldered. I would consider this a fairly easy and quick kit to build. The ESP32 controller has been working great.. but on the Pi side of things.. I've not yet tested the new production boards with the Pi Zero. The only operational Pi I have has headers soldered in a non-standard way and makes it not easily usable with the clock. If you happen to have a spare Pi Zero 2 W or a Pi Zero W and are willing to do a partial trade for a clock kit please PM me as well. I would like to get the board properly tested with a Pi on board. Thank you and be well! Regards, -Moses On Sunday, June 12, 2022 at 10:53:10 AM UTC-7 Moses wrote: > Michael, > > Thank you! And yes, I remember you coming to my actual store to pickup > items! > > I've seen your clock before. There is something cool about hand-built > circuits on perfboard! > > Update on the clock reboot.. the latest prototype is now out to beta > testers. Thanks to advice from Roger Brinkman on the list I was able to > find a suitable solid polymer capacitor and now the clock has nothing to > dry out! > I've ordered and received production quantities of the critical parts, > which is a bit of a pain these days. All my testing is done. I'm just > waiting for beta testers to get back to me. So should have these available > hopefully in another month or so. > > The first one with a Raspberry Pi is now running! Picture at the bottom of > the page as well as some updated info on the website. > http://neonixie.com/Z57XM6DV2/ > > Regards, > -Moses > > > > > On Saturday, June 11, 2022 at 9:20:36 AM UTC-7 MichaelB wrote: > >> Hi Moses, >> >> YES, Glad you're back. I do like this clock will most certainly buy one. >> >> I built my 1st Nixie clock using your controller, based on your >> Schematic. Still running to this day!! >> http://badnixie.com/The_%22Utilitarian%22_Nixie.html >> >> >> On Tuesday, May 17, 2022 at 11:17:24 AM UTC-7 mo...@neonixie.com wrote: >> >>> Hello Everyone! >>> >>> My name is Moses. This is my first post here on the new *google* >>> neonixie-l list. I used to be on the list when it was on yahoo groups, 20 >>> some odd years ago. I never switched over to the google group until now. >>> Like they say, life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. I >>> hope some of my old friends from the list are still here, and I'm sure I'll >>> meet some interesting new ones as well. >>> >>> A little background on myself. Back in the early 2000s after loosing my >>> job. I'm not exactly sure how or why.. but I ended up traveling to the >>> other side of the world, many times, roaming through dusty old Soviet >>> warehouses looking for nixie tubes. Those stories can go on for days, I'll >>> keep it short for now and tell you it was an incredible adventure! >>> I brought those old tubes back here to California and started selling >>> them on ebay. I would eventually make several clock kits using the tubes I >>> had, including a 4 digit IN-17 kit, and 4/6 digit kit with Z57xM tubes. I >>> never made the riches that I had anticipated, but it put food on the table >>> for while and it was fun work. I am the original owner of the domain ' >>> neonixie.com' and you can see some of my original clock kits there. >>> >>> Fast forward to now. I've decided to redesign my most popular kit, the 6 >>> digit Z57xM kit. You can see the original here: >>> >>> http://www.allspectrum.com/store/digit-red-filtered-z57xm-nixie-tube-clock-kit-p-130.html >>> >>> I've kept the size of the board the same as before, but everything else >>> is new. Some features: >>> - Controller choices. The board will accommodate an ESP32 or a Pi Zero. >>> I've picked these two boards because of their popularity and the fact that >>> they have wifi. It is so nice not having to set the clock! Wifi and NTP! >>> - Modern HV drivers, HV5122/H2222 >>> - The tried and true MAX1771 for the HV supply >>> - Pinout for optional DHT22 temp/humidity sensor >>> - Pinout for optional BH1750 light level sensor to dim the tubes at night >>> - Prototype area for custom sensors/etc. >>> >>> Pictures here: >>> http://neonixie.com/Z57XM6DV2/ >>> >>> The actual pictures are of the first prototype with an ESP32 attached. >>> The 3D rendering is of the second prototype which I am about to order. I >>> believe the second prototype should be very close to the production version. >>> >>> Now on to the point of this post. Before I order the second prototype, I >>> would like to know what people think of it. >>> >>> Comments about the overall design or any specifics, what you like or >>> don't like about it. Any changes or additions you would make? >>> >>> There is still time for me to make changes.. so if there are any other >>> standard pinouts (like for the light sensor/etc) that I can easily add I >>> will. This was my first real experience with the ESP32 board and it works >>> well in the design along with the Pi Zero which has a big following. >>> >>> I appreciate your advice and comments in helping me make this a nice kit! >>> >>> Thank you! >>> >>> Regards, >>> -Moses >>> >> -- 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 view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/94bbc25b-390d-4601-b7f0-3ec2db4a9cf8n%40googlegroups.com.
