I am also interested in having a more compact tester for these displays . Keith, if you are interested in some trades I might have some cool spare modules for a collector , you could drop me a private message if interested I forgot all about this thread. I have some of these displays. Did the PCB/design ever get off the ground and flying? Any info will help. I am a collector and builder/maker, not a designer. So I'd love to make these displays glow. Thanks for the help.
On Tuesday, April 16, 2024 at 9:45:21 PM UTC-4 gregebert wrote:
Here's the current status as of April 16, 2024. The test display has been running for a few weeks now at low intensity, using my waveform generator (1kHz) and a reverse-wired power transformer. I'm not noticing any degradation of intensity yet.
The inverter design has stalled for a bit while I wrap-up another clock (uses IEE projection-type displays). SPICE simulations of the inverter are showing a lot of ringing, which has been a challenge to get rid of, and there is a mysterious asymmetry into the transformer. This is causing imbalance, and that results in a net DC current, which is not only wasteful but also will cause saturation of the transformer. I'm also trending to use a triangular waveform, rather than sinusoidal, because it results in constant current (well, at least theoretically...) for the display.
Opto triacs are easier to use than regular ones, so I expect to go with those and drive them from a serial chain of shift registers. I standardized a serial link for my projects using 10-conductor ribbon cable, using the same signals/levels as used by the HV5532 (and similar) drivers. Each IEL-0-IV display is 8 segments, so 48 bits will control a 6-character display via direct-drive. I wont use, or attempt to use, multiplexing. Adding more characters is as simple as adding more serial devices. Right now I think I will have 2 displays per board; keeping the PCBs less than 100mm/side (4 inches) keeps the price way down at PCBWay. A run of 10 boards is around 14 USD ($5 total for the 10 boards, $9 for shipping).
As far as controlling the serial link, I use a Raspberry Pi Zero W. I'm sure any controller will work as long as you use a level-shifter for the serial interface.
On Tuesday, April 16, 2024 at 2:56:07 PM UTC-7 Nick Andrews wrote:
Okay, so after realizing my search parameters were off, I found and bought 10 of the same 'Predator" style EL displays. Supposed to be here in 5 or so weeks... So I'll be interested.
That is the type of burn in I have experienced as well.
Not just on the small one you have, but on the various sizes.
Michail Wilson
206-920-6312
There are some on Ebay right now (I have no affiliation with the seller). Do a search for IEL-0. I suggest shopping around for awhile to get the best price. I'm a bit nervous about the IEL-0-IV displays. After 10 days of basic testing,
my test device has noticeable burning, though I cant confirm if the luminous output has dropped. I need to build a photometer and do more testing. Prior to using it, the entire screen was the same color.
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On Tuesday, April 2, 2024 at 8:46:06 AM UTC-7 Nick Andrews wrote:
Has anyone seen any of these for sale in the last few years? I'd be interested in the project if I had some!
Right now it looks like there will be 3 different PCB's: One for the HV power supply, one for a single I-95, and another for 2-4 IEL-0-IV (I havn't sized the board yet, but it needs to be less than 4" per side).
I use a modular design approach, and everything is connected with a 10-pin ribbon-cable serial bus I call IOLINK. So if you are willing to adapt your favorite controller to the IOLINK interface, which uses 12V signalling (2 inputs, 5 outputs), these boards
will be workable for you.
On Monday, April 1, 2024 at 7:59:59 AM UTC-7 Keith Moore wrote:
I am interested but not much help with the design. I'd love to use my displays though.
On Thursday, March 14, 2024 at 1:43:24 PM UTC-4 gregebert wrote:
I'm finally at the point I have time to work on a design for my Soviet-era electroluminescent displays. I have 2 types, the smaller IEL-0-IV, and a much larger I-195. Both are the 'alien' style formats, and will make unusual clocks.
I have done some very initial testing on the smaller one, and it appears to be burning the phosphor after just a few hours of usage. It's not lit very bright, so I dont know if this is a common burn-in phase, or not. Documentation is pretty
limited, and I've been running a 50-page document page-by-page thru google translate; so far nothing has come up regarding burn-in.
If anyone out there is working-on IEL's, or planning-to do so, please chime in so we can start a discussion here.
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