Thanks gregebert My HT is a 12V module and is adjustable but the tube spec says 170V so I left it at that. Are you saying that it's safe to increase the HT to get maybe 10mA?
Craig On Friday, 27 October 2023 at 05:06:34 UTC+1 gregebert wrote: > My concern is that over time as the tubes age your HV supply voltage might > be too low to ensure proper ionization. If it's not adjustable, you can > boost it with a series DC supply such as a wall-wart transformer or a small > isolated DCDC converter. Anything from +12 to +24 should work fine, and the > current is pretty low (12mA). > > Once you get the HV supply resolved, you will be able to get more current > thru the tubes. BUT......you may want to stay with 8mA. From the photo, the > tubes glow nicely. Tube wearout is an exponential function of current, so > staying at the lower currents is better for longer lifetime. At some point, > the current could be too low and you might see cathode poisoning, but > that's reversible. My gut feeling is that 8mA of pulsed current should be > fine. > > So, are you using rectified AC-mains as your DC supply ? No worries, I've > done that on several clocks and it can be done safely with proper circuit > design. > > On Thursday, October 26, 2023 at 7:28:18 AM UTC-7 Craig Garnett wrote: > >> The ongoing project of mine is coming on nicely but I need some >> reassurance with the way I'm driving the Z570s. >> >> There are two banks of 6 multiplexed tubes, from what I see from the >> datasheet these should run at 2ma static or up to 12ma as a 1 in 6 >> multiplex but that is using google to translate from the datasheet's German. >> >> The problem is that even with a 1K anode resistor I can't quite get 8mA >> from a 170V supply. >> The photo shows two tubes, the left is static at 2mA and the right is >> multiplexed at just under 8mA with a 1mS on time from a 170V supply and 1K >> anode resistor.. >> >> Is this ok or could I do it a better way? >> >> Thanks >> Craig >> > -- 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/ada069f9-5754-4c0b-94b3-b2d2bcdb878dn%40googlegroups.com.
