Did anyone try to read the Russian book on these displays that I mentioned in a previous thread?
When I was in contact with Russian people over at the Radiokot.ru forum they mentioned that these displays were designed to run at low intensity as to not pollute the nearby environment with light that could give you away in a war situation so they should be run at a low intensity to preserve display life they said. I never translated the book nor much on the forum but made some tests with these displays and by adjusting frequency, waveform and voltage I could get them to run at low intensity without any discernable loss over a few months time - it was just a test setup to see how they worked and nothing more than a small transformer and a few resistors and capacitors connected to a waveform generator to produce the necessary signal. /Martin On Sunday, 18 January 2026 at 03:39:32 UTC+1 Michail Wilson wrote: > I would be interested in what you come up with. > > I believe the power supply was the biggest issue for me. > > > > I posted this video test several years ago. > > https://youtu.be/j0fvadiuw-4 > > > > > > > > Michail Wilson > > 206-920-6312 <(206)%20920-6312> > > > > *From:* [email protected] <[email protected]> *On Behalf > Of *gregebert > *Sent:* Saturday, January 17, 2026 1:50 PM > *To:* neonixie-l <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [neonixie-l] Re: Anyone want to collaborate on > electroluminescent display projects ? > > > > Weird coincidence....I literally was thinking about this earlier today. > Anyways..... > > > > 1. No, I have not made any PCBs yet or completed the design. > > 2. These are the 2 displays I plan to use: IEL-0-IV, and a much larger > I-195. If anyone here is interested in participating, and has a different > display they want to use, let me know ASAP and provide me the datasheet. I > may need a mechanical sample to make a PCB footprint when that time comes. > > 3. The basic architecture I follow is a modular design > > - Display driver board. This will generate the non-sinusoidal waveform > for the displays. I am planning to use triangular waves around 2kHz. The > frequency will be adjustable, most likely via software control. This board > is controlled by a 10-signal serial bus I call IOLINK, which basically > looks like the control signals for an HV5530 driver IC, and operates at > 12V > signal levels. > - CPU adaptor board. This provides the power for the Raspberry Pi Zero > W (or zero 2W), level-shifting for the IOLINK, onboard ADCs for monitoring > the power supply voltages, socket for a DS3231 RTC module, connector for a > PIR sensor, connector for an I2C interface, which I currently use for temp > sensors, connector for a logic analyzer (lets hope we dont need it...), > connector for an FPGA (we wont need that). I have all the software running > for using all of those interfaces (written in C). > - Display adaptor board. This is unique for the type of E-L display. > For the I-195, it will be 1 display per board (soldered-down), and the > boards can be edge-abutted. For the smaller IEL-0-IV, there will 4 per > board, side-abuttable, with the option to leave any location open and > replaced with green LEDs for a colon. These will connect to the display > driver board. > > 4. If you dont want to use the Raspberry Pi Zero W (or zero 2W), there is > a 10-pin serial interface (IOLINK) that I use for my projects that uses 12V > signal levels. You can easily level-shift to 12 V from your favorite > controller. > > 5. The PC boards will be 4"x4", or smaller, to take advantage of low cost > fab at PCBWay or JLCPCB. My cost is about $1.50 per board, so the PCBs will > be a negligible piece of the overall cost. I will make the PCBs, software, > and documentation available, but I wont be providing any kits or assembled > clocks. > > > > Now, for some bad news....after running E-L displays for a few months, > they get some burning, but they still work. Guess which one has been > tested, and which one hasnt.... > > > > So, for those who are still interested, let me know which IEL display you > have and what you would like to help with in the project. > > On Saturday, January 17, 2026 at 9:39:08 AM UTC-8 bogdan paduraru wrote: > > 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 > > > > On 17 Jan 2026, at 19:12, Keith Moore <[email protected]> wrote: > > 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. > > > > On Fri, Apr 5, 2024 at 2:55 AM Michail Wilson <[email protected]> wrote: > > 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 <(206)%20920-6312> > > > > *From:* [email protected] <[email protected]> *On Behalf > Of *gregebert > *Sent:* Tuesday, April 2, 2024 11:23 AM > *To:* neonixie-l <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [neonixie-l] Re: Anyone want to collaborate on > electroluminescent display projects ? > > > > 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. > > > > > > 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! > > > > On Mon, Apr 1, 2024, 5:24 PM gregebert <[email protected]> wrote: > > 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. > > > > -- > > 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/d07a2249-b58a-4b4b-8769-f04ad827a80bn%40googlegroups.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/d07a2249-b58a-4b4b-8769-f04ad827a80bn%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/f0a44f8d-9c21-4e6d-a0f5-110b07630132n%40googlegroups.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/f0a44f8d-9c21-4e6d-a0f5-110b07630132n%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/SA0PR01MB6170D0E7D11FEAC8EEE8C90F823E2%40SA0PR01MB6170.prod.exchangelabs.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/SA0PR01MB6170D0E7D11FEAC8EEE8C90F823E2%40SA0PR01MB6170.prod.exchangelabs.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, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/e787fa55-e4e5-4c52-83bc-0d903cfd1950n%40googlegroups.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/e787fa55-e4e5-4c52-83bc-0d903cfd1950n%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, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/6d71bd23-ae4e-4f61-a0d4-81e9746c0cfbn%40googlegroups.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/6d71bd23-ae4e-4f61-a0d4-81e9746c0cfbn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. 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