Ian, Yes, the picture is overexposed. I've found it's pretty difficult to take good pictures of numitrons!
The diode is just a plain silicon version, I put a jumper pad on the bottom to bypass it if desired. When in line it drops about 0.8v, so my input of 5v becomes 4.2v and the segments are using about 20ma each. Bypassing it and providing 5v to the segments gives 24ma. There is PWM dimming, so a maximum current option is easy to add to the firmware (on top the the default brightness settings). During normal clock operation it's running about 600ma, so I'm burning about 0.5w in the diode. It's not very hot, but I will add some more copper on the PCB if the diode remains. I did think about adding a switching converter, but that adds more parts to solder. Assuming a switching converter would be 90% efficient.. I go from burning 0.5w to 0.2w. Is saving 1/3 of a watt worth the additional parts cost? I'm not sure. I'm trying to go with a low parts count without sacrificing much. Yes, it's a bog standard 'clock in a box' type kit, haha. But I think I'm ok with that right now. Could move everything to the bottom.. that's always an option. I used to socket everything.. but now my thinking is with modern semiconductors, once it works it's likely good for a few decades I would hope! It's feels like I'm adding another point of potential failure. Cool clocks on your site! I did look at the Wemos D1 too.. but decided for this iteration I'll go with the controller I already know. For something smaller I was also looking at the Adafruit QT Py as well as the Seeed Xiao boards. I couldn't figure out how you power your IV-9s. Regards, -Moses On Friday, December 9, 2022 at 2:47:58 AM UTC-8 Ian Sparkes wrote: > Nice work! > > I'm not sure if it is just your picture, but they look over-driven to me. > It's perhaps just the exposure - I guess D1 is a Zener to provide some > stability on the drive to the filaments, maybe you need to drop the voltage > on that. The Zener is a pretty wasteful way of stabilising the voltage - > you're going to need to provide for about an amp at full blast (42 segments > at around 20mA = .84A), and to dump the excess over the life of the clock > amounts to a lot of energy. > > That's also a fairly hard set up you have there to find a nice case for, > with the big dev board standing way up. Also for kits, you're going to want > to put those drivers in sockets and they will also stand proud and too > close behind the tubes to make an attractive casing easy. > > Here's my take on it - feel free to nab a few ideas there. (These are not > for sale at the moment - stock trouble). > > https://www.nixieclock.biz/StoreNumitron-6Digit.html > https://www.nixieclock.biz/StoreNumitron-4Digit.html > > BTW, when I was still delivering these, I would usually deliver them with > the USB connector and the NeoPixels already soldered and tested. > > On Fri, 9 Dec 2022 at 05:21, Moses <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hi Everybody, >> >> I'm happy to say the first prototype PCB has arrived and has been >> assembled! Some pictures here: >> >> http://www.neonixie.com/IV-9-6D-RR/ >> >> Some details.. >> - I purposefully picked all through hole parts as this will be in full >> kit form. >> - I ended up choosing the TI TPIC6C596N driver. It does everything I need >> and is pin compatibility with PN '595N and possibly a few others. I've been >> testing software that keeps the unlit segments 'warm' by PWM'ing them to >> just barely invisible.. not so sure if this is going to make a big >> lifespan difference. These are being driven by a 74AHCT125 for the logic >> level shift (3.3v to 5v). >> - The controller is a ESP32 original dev board from Espressif, the same >> one I use for my previous nixie clock. This gives me a known good working >> part number and software carry over from my prior nixie clock. Most of the >> features of that clock will carry over directly to this one, including the >> BH1750 lux module and AHT20 temperature/humidity sensor. >> - Input is 5v via a common DC barrel jack. I did order a few USB-C input >> jacks, even found a through-hole one. I decided against using it in a kit >> due to the more delicate soldering required, as well as the unknown quality >> of all the USB cables and power supplies I generally run into. This runs >> the IV-9s directly and optionally through a diode to run them at a slightly >> lower voltage of ~4.2v if desired. >> >> I am ordering more parts and should have a few beta boards out before the >> holidays. Hopefully production kits will be ready sometime in January! >> >> Thanks to everyone who provided advice and feedback! >> >> Regards, >> -Moses >> >> On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 3:06:41 AM UTC-8 [email protected] >> wrote: >> >>> If Richard is in-So am I š >>> >>> Peter..insidiousnixies:Utube >>> >>> >>> >>> *From: *'Ian' via neonixie-l >>> *Sent: *Thursday, November 17, 2022 5:52 PM >>> *To: *[email protected] >>> *Subject: *Re: [neonixie-l] Re: Any interest in IV-9 numitron clock kit? >>> >>> >>> Iām in >>> >>> On 17 Nov 2022, at 04:28, Richard Scales <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> I have built several numitron kits from nixieclock.biz and am a big fan >>> of numitrons, I have only had them running far a couple of years and then >>> for only half a day at most. I have heard that their tube life is 'long' >>> but have not seen any actual numbers. I have also re-worked the design for >>> other numitrons like IV-19 and DTF104B. >>> >>> >>> <RCS_5954.jpg> >>> >>> - Richard >>> >>> >>> On Wednesday, 16 November 2022 at 22:26:36 UTC [email protected] wrote: >>> >>>> Hi Everybody, >>>> >>>> I seem to have enough IV-9 tubes to where I can produce a batch of 100 >>>> or so 6 digit numitron clocks. Thinking ESP32 powered like my last one >>>> (Thank you to all those who gave suggestions, the kit came out great!). >>>> I'm >>>> thinking maybe try for a full through-hole solder kit with some shift >>>> registers. >>>> >>>> I know nixies are more popular.. but anyone interested in a numitron >>>> clock kit? >>>> >>>> Oh, one question I do have, anyone have long term experience (ie, >>>> years?) running this particular tube? How do they fare? >>>> >>>> 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 [email protected]. >>> To view this discussion on the web, visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/421b1cfd-f165-49ad-a63b-1afae649b1ebn%40googlegroups.com >>> >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/421b1cfd-f165-49ad-a63b-1afae649b1ebn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> . >>> >>> <RCS_5954.jpg> >>> >>> -- >>> 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/6975019D-E714-4B91-94DC-878BE396B531%40yahoo.co.uk >>> >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/6975019D-E714-4B91-94DC-878BE396B531%40yahoo.co.uk?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> . >>> >> -- >> > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the >> Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. >> To unsubscribe from this topic, visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/topic/neonixie-l/KK9P2jsFon8/unsubscribe. >> To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to >> [email protected]. >> To view this discussion on the web, visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/dbf54f53-6b8c-4a09-8766-a7c4c9b2b887n%40googlegroups.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/dbf54f53-6b8c-4a09-8766-a7c4c9b2b887n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- 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/9bf97940-4caa-4da6-ad5c-68ab98ede91an%40googlegroups.com.
