Hard to say. 10,000 hours is 30 years worth of display time at 1 hour-per-day which is probably reasonable. The problem is what were the assumptions, or test conditions, that led to that lifetime ? And was it the phosphor that burned-out, or the filaments ? We really dont know. I speculated that for equipment that is used for an 8-hour shift, 5 days per week, you would have a service life of 5 years (reasonable), and roughly 1250 power-cycles if the equipment is turned-off at the end of the day. However, without knowing the failure mechanism, it's a guess on how one should operate the tubes.
I thought about getting an NOS vacuum tube, and power-cycle the filaments to the point-of-failure; not the same exact filament, but it's a useful datapoint. OK, run 2 tubes....one with inrush current limiting, and the other without. Sure as <whatever> wont be doing that with a NIMO tube...even the mere *thought* of that makes me cringe. On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 1:26:22 PM UTC-7 Nicholas Stock wrote: > A PIR is a must. Datasheet for the BA0000-P31 says 10,000 hrs at 100 > Foot-lambert (FL). Is there any reason to think that these should age > differently from a regular CRT? > > On Wed, Apr 5, 2023 at 1:19 PM gregebert <[email protected]> wrote: > >> now the BIG question......how long will the NIMO tubes last ?? I've done >> a limited amount of runtime on mine, less than 50 hours, and I can already >> see very faint phosphor burn with a UV lamp. My anode current is around >> 30ua (varies by digit, but averaging around 30ua which is the datasheet >> spec). I also wonder how long the filaments will last (each tube has two >> parallel filaments), either from power-cycling or total runtime. I have >> inrush current-limiting on the filaments so they dont get stressed as much, >> per recommendations on how radio/TV stations prolong the life of their >> expensive transmitter tubes. >> >> I have a PIR sensor to shutoff the HV after a programmable time >> (currently 100 seconds), and another programmable delay to shutoff the >> filaments. The filament timeout is the one I'm not sure how to optimize; I >> was thinking of running up to 26 hours so I could do multiple activations >> per day without cycling the filaments. I do have a front-panel switch to >> override the PIR sensor so that the display will stay off, and consequently >> force the filaments to time-out. >> >> I dont have enough NIMO tubes to experiment with and determine the best >> timeout to maximize lifespan. I'm hoping it will end-up like the Voyager >> spacecraft, which were overdesigned and have outlasted the wildest >> expectations of how long they will function. >> >> On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 12:35:38 PM UTC-7 jörg wrote: >> >>> The TH-19A is pretty interesting but unobtainium. >>> So I have switched to the green neon indicators, which I've ordered some >>> time ago at aliexpress. >>> Same type as gregebert use, I guess. I've mounted them a bit too far >>> from the center. >>> The nimos are dimmed based on a LDR, so I have to pwm the indicator >>> bulbs, to sync to the nimo brightness. >>> >>> >>> [image: nimo-colon.jpeg] >>> >>> On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 3:46:38 AM UTC+2 Audrey wrote: >>> >>>> I have automated searches setup aswell but sometimes they just miss >>>> things >>>> >>>> On Tue, Apr 4, 2023, 9:24 PM Mac Doktor <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>>> >>>>> On Apr 4, 2023, at 9:00 PM, Nicholas Stock <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Looks like they all sold out though. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> He must have just gotten them. I've never seen them before and I have >>>>> a search for "magic eye" that I check every day. I go through his stock >>>>> periodically as well. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Terry Bowman, KA4HJH >>>>> "The Mac Doctor" >>>>> >>>>> https://www.astarcloseup.com >>>>> >>>>> “...the book said something astonishing, a very big thought. The >>>>> stars, it said, were suns but very far away. The Sun was a star but close >>>>> up.”—Carl Sagan, "The Backbone Of Night", *Cosmos*, 1980 >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> 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/6C443C41-DABE-4211-959C-EC9B706E12D5%40gmail.com >>>>> >>>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/6C443C41-DABE-4211-959C-EC9B706E12D5%40gmail.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/57c25674-1765-40c4-8fd0-4688ee0ee172n%40googlegroups.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/57c25674-1765-40c4-8fd0-4688ee0ee172n%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/911c4a36-eeb7-40cb-bb51-2f234da2064an%40googlegroups.com.
