Re: [neonixie-l] Multiplexing nixies in a tube preamplifier

2013-01-06 Thread Alex
Quick question,

Why would you need a soft / slow rise time on the anode cut off to reduce 
switching noise when the cathodes are toggled repeatedly by the 74141? 
Surely that introduces just the same switching noise that would be produced 
with just a high side switching FET or BJT? Or does the 74141 feature a 
slow transition on its output? I can appreciate the optical isolation for 
the high side switching as being a nice part of the 
opto-couple solution though!

- Alex

On Saturday, 5 January 2013 15:48:05 UTC, jrehwin wrote:

  Given this extra information, your multiplexed design makes sense. As 
 long as you keep the Nixies physically distant from the amp input signals 
 and tubes, and give yourself the option of steel shielding if needed, you 
 should be OK with the Tayloredge supply and multiplexing. 

 One of my favourite tricks for this is to use optocouplers for anode 
 switches - they switch slowly (radiating fewer harmonics), and the level 
 shifting is done for you by a light beam. 

 - John 



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Re: [neonixie-l] Multiplexing nixies in a tube preamplifier

2013-01-06 Thread Alex
Ahh, of course. The whole topic being on multiplexing should really of been 
the clue there. silly me...

On Sunday, 6 January 2013 14:58:32 UTC, jrehwin wrote:

  Why would you need a soft / slow rise time on the anode cut off to 
 reduce switching noise when the cathodes are toggled repeatedly by the 
 74141? Surely that introduces just the same switching noise that would be 
 produced with just a high side switching FET or BJT? Or does the 74141 
 feature a slow transition on its output? I can appreciate the optical 
 isolation for the high side switching as being a nice part of the 
 opto-couple solution though! 

 It's the sequence of events that makes it work.  The cathodes are switched 
 (hard) by the 74141, but no current flows (and noise is not radiated) as 
 the anode isn't powered yet.  Then the anode is turned on (soft) by the 
 optocoupler, and the current rises gently, producing minimal radiated 
 noise.  When it's time to switch the digit off, the same thing happens in 
 reverse, the anode is turned off (soft) by the optocoupler, smoothly 
 reducing the current, then the cathodes are again switched while the 
 current is off, thereby not producing switching noise. 

 - John 



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Re: [neonixie-l] Multiplexing nixies in a tube preamplifier

2013-01-05 Thread Jon
 On Friday, January 4, 2013 11:06:35 PM UTC, zapro wrote: 
You CANNOT blank the nixies with the 74141's you need to use anode 
transistor or disable the PSU.
 
Actually it depends on the nixie and the '74141'. My experience is that 
IN-12 blank just fine using the K155ID1 Russian version of 74141. But I 
pick up from comments here and elsewhere that other nixies such as ZM1000 
seem to be less forgiving. Compatibility depends on the leak current that 
the chip output transistors permit in the off-state (which will be 
influenced by the anode voltage you choose) and the sensitivity of the 
nixie.
 
Jon.

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Re: [neonixie-l] Multiplexing nixies in a tube preamplifier

2013-01-05 Thread John Rehwinkel
 Given this extra information, your multiplexed design makes sense. As long as 
 you keep the Nixies physically distant from the amp input signals and tubes, 
 and give yourself the option of steel shielding if needed, you should be OK 
 with the Tayloredge supply and multiplexing.

One of my favourite tricks for this is to use optocouplers for anode switches - 
they switch slowly (radiating fewer harmonics), and the level shifting is done 
for you by a light beam.

- John

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Re: [neonixie-l] Multiplexing nixies in a tube preamplifier

2013-01-05 Thread Tim
That is exactly what I have done with the design I am working on.  It makes 
allot of difference.

Tim


 One of my favourite tricks for this is to use optocouplers for anode 
 switches - they switch slowly (radiating fewer harmonics), and the level 
 shifting is done for you by a light beam. 

 - John 



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Re: [neonixie-l] Multiplexing nixies in a tube preamplifier

2013-01-04 Thread Tim
Hi,

Thank you for your reply David.  My reason for multiplexing was due to not 
having enough spare pins on the PIC, however having givin this considerable 
thought I have the IO pins that were being used to switch the MSD and LSD 
anode transistors and a third IO pin which was available to control the 
enable pin for the tayloredge SMPS, so by using these three pins allows me 
to to have 0 - 7 on the MSD which is great as I wanted 64 steps to 
indicate  the volume control potentiometer position.  

Sadly there is a but to this (is there not always) I need to be able to 
blank the digits which normally involves using all 4 bits of the 74141.  
Now as I do not need 7 - 9 I was thinking I could shift all the digits 
along one position, so 0 in the nixie is connected to 1 on the 74141 1 to 2 
and so on.  This results in being able to blank the nixie by sending 000 to 
ABC and having D permanently tied to ground.  This digit shift being easy 
to work around in the firmware.

I can position the SMPS in such a way that it will not interfere with the 
audio signal path so I would like to try and stick with it for the nixie HT 
supply as the valve HT supply has a delayed start to give chance for the 
soft started heaters to warm up. I want the volume indication to come on at 
power up with a possible count down on it to show the remaining warm up 
time. Additionally to this I am trying to keep the analogue and digital 
power rails separate from one another.

This is where my questions begin:  Can I leave the cathodes 7 - 9 floating 
or do they need to be tied to something? Will floating digits ghost? I 
would also like to keep my enable signal to disable the SMPS when the 
amplifier is in standby so can I use the now unused 0 output on the 74141 
as a logic signal to drive the enable pin on the SMPS?  The only trouble 
with this is when blanking the nixie the SMPS will be disabled unless I use 
extra logic to look at the LSD bits?  (I guess it is quite environmentally 
friendly to turn the SMPS off when the digits are blank but if I was 
worried about this then I guess I would not be building a power hungry 
inefficient valve amplifier!)

Regards,
Tim



 Tim, 

 If you can afford the extra four pins on the PIC and another 74141, then 
 you can run the tubes direct (non-multiplexed) and not worry about it. 

 If you will be multiplexing them, then the power supply will not conduct 
 the noise to any noticeable extent. You will need a high anode  resistor 
 value, so you can insert a simple two-stage RC low-pass filter (10K 
 series, 0.1uf polyester shunt) between the power supply and the anode 
 resistors to eliminate noise from the anode power. 

 You will want to be careful about mounting the display unit away from 
 the input stage of the amplifier, to prevent radiated noise from getting 
 into the input stage where it will be amplified. 

 -- 
 David Forbes, Tucson AZ 



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Re: [neonixie-l] Multiplexing nixies in a tube preamplifier

2013-01-04 Thread Michel van der Meij
Hi Tim,Not that I want to influence your design but it sounds a bit odd to have the nixies go from 0 to 63 in a valve (pre)amplifier. It is really related to something digital that IMHO doesn't really match a design of a valve amplifier. I think it is nicer if it would go from 0 to 99. If you use a few latches before the 74141 that would solve all your limited I/O problems. Another thing that comes to mind is using an IN-13 bar graph tube to indicate the position of the volume button.Michelon Jan 05, 2013, Tim halfpint_ti...@hotmail.com wrote:Hi,Thank you for your reply David. My reason for multiplexing was due to not having enough spare pins on the PIC, however having givin this considerable thought I have the IO pins that were being used to switch the MSD and LSD anode transistors and a third IO pin which was available to control the enable pin for the tayloredge SMPS, so by using these three pins allows me to to have 0 - 7 on the MSD which is great as I wanted 64 steps to indicate the volume control potentiometer position. Sadly there is a but to this (is there not always) I need to be able to blank the digits which normally involves using all 4 bits of the 74141. Now as I do not need 7 - 9 I was thinking I could shift all the digits along one position, so 0 in the nixie is connected to 1 on the 74141 1 to 2 and so on. This results in being able to blank the nixie by sending 000 to ABC and having D permanently tied to ground. This digit shift being easy to work around in the firmware. I can position the SMPS in such a way that it will not interfere with the audio signal path so I would like to try and stick with it for the nixie HT supply as the valve HT supply has a delayed start to give chance for the soft started heaters to warm up. I want the volume indication to come on at power up with a possible count down on it to show the remaining warm up time. Additionally to this I am trying to keep the analogue and digital power rails separate from one another.This is where my questions begin: Can I leave the cathodes 7 - 9 floating or do they need to be tied to something? Will floating digits ghost? I would also like to keep my enable signal to disable the SMPS when the amplifier is in standby so can I use the now unused 0 output on the 74141 as a logic signal to drive the enable pin on the SMPS? The only trouble with this is when blanking the nixie the SMPS will be disabled unless I use extra logic to look at the LSD bits? (I guess it is quite environmentally friendly to turn the SMPS off when the digits are blank but if I was worried about this then I guess I would not be building a power hungry inefficient valve amplifier!)Regards,TimOn Wednesday, 2 January 2013 22:25:13 UTC, nixiebunny wrote:On 1/2/13 3:01 PM, Tim wrote: I am in the process of building an audio preamp using valves and I am using nixie tubes to indicate the volume control position. I am using two nixie tubes to indicate the volume and they are being multiplexed via a PIC and 74141. My question to you fine folk is how should I provide power to the nixie tubes. I have two options available to me: Regards, TimTim,If you can afford the extra four pins on the PIC and another 74141, then you can run the tubes direct (non-multiplexed) and not worry about it.If you will be multiplexing them, then the power supply will not conduct the noise to any noticeable extent. You will need a high anode resistor value, so you can insert a simple two-stage RC low-pass filter (10K series, 0.1uf polyester shunt) between the power supply and the anode resistors to eliminate noise from the anode power.You will want to be careful about mounting the display unit away from the input stage of the amplifier, to prevent radiated noise from getting into the input stage where it will be amplified.-- David Forbes, Tucson AZ-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group.To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com.To unsubscribe from this group, send email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/neonixie-l/-/wzW1euMoJw0J.For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.



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Re: [neonixie-l] Multiplexing nixies in a tube preamplifier

2013-01-04 Thread Tim
Hi Michel,

This is a fare point, 0 - 99 would be allot nicer, I wonder if I should 
just bite the bullet and use an IO port expander IC on the nixie display 
PCB I dont think I have enough room spare on the PCB to implement the 
latches unless I can do it with one IC (do you have any that come to 
mind?).  This would solve all my problems in one go if I can find/make the 
space for it.  I will have a look to see if I can squeeze a SM package onto 
the PCB in the remaining limited space.  

I do like the IN-13 but am sadly too far into the design to make use of 
one.  I do however have a second project on the go which is an audio 
spectrum analyser using IN-9 's :o)  I just wish I had more spare time on 
my hands to spend more time on my many projects.

Regards,
Tim

On Friday, 4 January 2013 22:48:50 UTC, Michel wrote:

 Hi Tim,

 Not that I want to influence your design but it sounds a bit odd to have 
 the nixies go from 0 to 63 in a valve (pre)amplifier. It is really related 
 to something digital that IMHO doesn't really match a design of a valve 
 amplifier. I think it is nicer if it would go from 0 to 99. If you use a 
 few latches before the 74141 that would solve all your limited I/O 
 problems. Another thing that comes to mind is using an IN-13 bar graph tube 
 to indicate the position of the volume button.

 Michel





 on Jan 05, 2013, *Tim* halfpin...@hotmail.com javascript: wrote:

 Hi,

 Thank you for your reply David.  My reason for multiplexing was due to not 
 having enough spare pins on the PIC, however having givin this considerable 
 thought I have the IO pins that were being used to switch the MSD and LSD 
 anode transistors and a third IO pin which was available to control the 
 enable pin for the tayloredge SMPS, so by using these three pins allows me 
 to to have 0 - 7 on the MSD which is great as I wanted 64 steps to 
 indicate  the volume control potentiometer position.  

 Sadly there is a but to this (is there not always) I need to be able to 
 blank the digits which normally involves using all 4 bits of the 74141.  
 Now as I do not need 7 - 9 I was thinking I could shift all the digits 
 along one position, so 0 in the nixie is connected to 1 on the 74141 1 to 2 
 and so on.  This results in being able to blank the nixie by sending 000 to 
 ABC and having D permanently tied to ground.  This digit shift being easy 
 to work around in the firmware.

 I can position the SMPS in such a way that it will not interfere with the 
 audio signal path so I would like to try and stick with it for the nixie HT 
 supply as the valve HT supply has a delayed start to give chance for the 
 soft started heaters to warm up. I want the volume indication to come on at 
 power up with a possible count down on it to show the remaining warm up 
 time. Additionally to this I am trying to keep the analogue and digital 
 power rails separate from one another.

 This is where my questions begin:  Can I leave the cathodes 7 - 9 
 floating or do they need to be tied to something? Will floating digits 
 ghost? I would also like to 
 keep my enable signal to disable the SMPS when the amplifier is in standby 
 so can I use the now unused 0 output on the 74141 as a logic 
 signal to drive the enable pin on the SMPS?  The only trouble with this is 
 when blanking the nixie the SMPS will be disabled unless I use extra logic 
 to look at the LSD bits?  (I guess it is quite environmentally friendly to 
 turn the SMPS off when the digits are blank but if I was worried about this 
 then I guess I would not be building a power hungry inefficient valve 
 amplifier!)

 Regards,
 Tim



 On Wednesday, 2 January 2013 22:25:13 UTC, nixiebunny wrote:

 On 1/2/13 3:01 PM, Tim wrote:

  I am in the process of building an audio preamp using valves and I am

  using nixie tubes to indicate the volume control position.  I am using

  two nixie tubes to indicate the volume and they are being multiplexed

  via a PIC and 74141.

 

  My question to you fine folk is how should I provide power to the nixie

  tubes.  I have two options available to me:

 

 

  Regards,

  Tim



 Tim,



 If you can afford the extra four pins on the PIC and another 74141, then 

 you can run the tubes direct (non-multiplexed) and not worry about it.



 If you will be multiplexing them, then the power supply will not conduct 

 the noise to any noticeable extent. You will need a high anode  resistor 

 value, so you can insert a simple two-stage RC low-pass filter (10K 

 series, 0.1uf polyester shunt) between the power supply and the anode 

 resistors to eliminate noise from the anode power.



 You will want to be careful about mounting the display unit away from 

 the input stage of the amplifier, to prevent radiated noise from getting 

 into the input stage where it will be amplified.



 -- 

 David Forbes, Tucson AZ







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 neonixie-l group.

 To post to 

Re: [neonixie-l] Multiplexing nixies in a tube preamplifier

2013-01-04 Thread Per Jensen
On 05/01/2013, at 00.03, Tim wrote:

 
 This is a fare point, 0 - 99 would be allot nicer, I wonder if I should just 
 bite the bullet and use an IO port expander IC on the nixie display PCB I 
 dont think I have enough room spare on the PCB to implement the latches 
 unless I can do it with one IC (do you have any that come to mind?).  This 
 would solve all my problems in one go if I can find/make the space for it.  I 
 will have a look to see if I can squeeze a SM package onto the PCB in the 
 remaining limited space.  
 
 I do like the IN-13 but am sadly too far into the design to make use of one.  
 I do however have a second project on the go which is an audio spectrum 
 analyser using IN-9 's :o)  I just wish I had more spare time on my hands to 
 spend more time on my many projects.

Use a PCB5874 - I2C port expander with 8 bits, use that to control the 2 
74141's.
You CANNOT blank the nixies with the 74141's you need to use anode transistor 
or disable the PSU.

The PCF8574 sits on the same bus as your RTC - Easy!

// Per.

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Re: [neonixie-l] Multiplexing nixies in a tube preamplifier

2013-01-04 Thread JohnK
I would have thought that with 10 being the maximum loudness then having one 
that goes to 11 for extra loudness would be marvellous !

For anyone who hasn't heard the joke
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_to_eleven

John K.
  - Original Message - 
  From: Michel van der Meij 
  To: neonixie-l@googlegroups.com 
  Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2013 9:18 AM
  Subject: Re: [neonixie-l] Multiplexing nixies in a tube preamplifier


  Hi Tim,

  Not that I want to influence your design but it sounds a bit odd to have the 
nixies go from 0 to 63 in a valve (pre)amplifier. It is really related to 
something digital that IMHO doesn't really match a design of a valve amplifier. 
I think it is nicer if it would go from 0 to 99. If you use a few latches 
before the 74141 that would solve all your limited I/O problems. Another thing 
that comes to mind is using an IN-13 bar graph tube to indicate the position of 
the volume button.

  Michel






  on Jan 05, 2013, Tim halfpint_ti...@hotmail.com wrote:

Hi,

Thank you for your reply David.  My reason for multiplexing was due to not 
having enough spare pins on the PIC, however having givin this considerable 
thought I have the IO pins that were being used to switch the MSD and LSD anode 
transistors and a third IO pin which was available to control the enable pin 
for the tayloredge SMPS, so by using these three pins allows me to to have 0 - 
7 on the MSD which is great as I wanted 64 steps to indicate  the volume 
control potentiometer position.  

Sadly there is a but to this (is there not always) I need to be able to 
blank the digits which normally involves using all 4 bits of the 74141.  Now as 
I do not need 7 - 9 I was thinking I could shift all the digits along one 
position, so 0 in the nixie is connected to 1 on the 74141 1 to 2 and so on.  
This results in being able to blank the nixie by sending 000 to ABC and having 
D permanently tied to ground.  This digit shift being easy to work around in 
the firmware.

I can position the SMPS in such a way that it will not interfere with the 
audio signal path so I would like to try and stick with it for the nixie HT 
supply as the valve HT supply has a delayed start to give chance for the soft 
started heaters to warm up. I want the volume indication to come on at power up 
with a possible count down on it to show the remaining warm up time. 
Additionally to this I am trying to keep the analogue and digital power rails 
separate from one another.

This is where my questions begin:  Can I leave the cathodes 7 - 9 
floating or do they need to be tied to something? Will floating digits 
ghost? I would also like to 
keep my enable signal to disable the SMPS when the amplifier is in standby 
so can I use the now unused 0 output on the 74141 as a logic 
signal to drive the enable pin on the SMPS?  The only trouble with this is 
when blanking the nixie the SMPS will be disabled unless I use extra logic to 
look at the LSD bits?  (I guess it is quite environmentally friendly to turn 
the SMPS off when the digits are blank but if I was worried about this then I 
guess I would not be building a power hungry inefficient valve amplifier!)

Regards,
Tim



On Wednesday, 2 January 2013 22:25:13 UTC, nixiebunny wrote:
  On 1/2/13 3:01 PM, Tim wrote:

   I am in the process of building an audio preamp using valves and I am

   using nixie tubes to indicate the volume control position.  I am using

   two nixie tubes to indicate the volume and they are being multiplexed

   via a PIC and 74141.

  

   My question to you fine folk is how should I provide power to the nixie

   tubes.  I have two options available to me:

  

  

   Regards,

   Tim



  Tim,



  If you can afford the extra four pins on the PIC and another 74141, then 

  you can run the tubes direct (non-multiplexed) and not worry about it.



  If you will be multiplexing them, then the power supply will not conduct 

  the noise to any noticeable extent. You will need a high anode  resistor 

  value, so you can insert a simple two-stage RC low-pass filter (10K 

  series, 0.1uf polyester shunt) between the power supply and the anode 

  resistors to eliminate noise from the anode power.



  You will want to be careful about mounting the display unit away from 

  the input stage of the amplifier, to prevent radiated noise from getting 

  into the input stage where it will be amplified.



  -- 

  David Forbes, Tucson AZ










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Re: [neonixie-l] Multiplexing nixies in a tube preamplifier

2013-01-04 Thread Jeff Thomas


  I would have thought that with 10 being the maximum loudness then having 
 one that goes to 11 for extra loudness would be marvellous !
  
 For anyone who hasn't heard the joke
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_to_eleven
  
 John K.


Excellent point John. Audiophools will eat that up. Dude, it goes to 
ELEVEN


Regards, Jeff


 

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Re: [neonixie-l] Multiplexing nixies in a tube preamplifier

2013-01-04 Thread David Forbes
Given this extra information, your multiplexed design makes sense. As long as 
you keep the Nixies physically distant from the amp input signals and tubes, 
and give yourself the option of steel shielding if needed, you should be OK 
with the Tayloredge supply and multiplexing.

David Forbes
http://www.cathodecorner.com/


On Jan 4, 2013, at 3:20 PM, Tim halfpint_ti...@hotmail.com wrote:

 Hi,
 
 Thank you for your reply David.  My reason for multiplexing was due to not 
 having enough spare pins on the PIC, however having givin this considerable 
 thought I have the IO pins that were being used to switch the MSD and LSD 
 anode transistors and a third IO pin which was available to control the 
 enable pin for the tayloredge SMPS, so by using these three pins allows me to 
 to have 0 - 7 on the MSD which is great as I wanted 64 steps to indicate  the 
 volume control potentiometer position.  
 
 Sadly there is a but to this (is there not always) I need to be able to blank 
 the digits which normally involves using all 4 bits of the 74141.  Now as I 
 do not need 7 - 9 I was thinking I could shift all the digits along one 
 position, so 0 in the nixie is connected to 1 on the 74141 1 to 2 and so on.  
 This results in being able to blank the nixie by sending 000 to ABC and 
 having D permanently tied to ground.  This digit shift being easy to work 
 around in the firmware.
 
 I can position the SMPS in such a way that it will not interfere with the 
 audio signal path so I would like to try and stick with it for the nixie HT 
 supply as the valve HT supply has a delayed start to give chance for the soft 
 started heaters to warm up. I want the volume indication to come on at power 
 up with a possible count down on it to show the remaining warm up time. 
 Additionally to this I am trying to keep the analogue and digital power rails 
 separate from one another.
 
 This is where my questions begin:  Can I leave the cathodes 7 - 9 floating or 
 do they need to be tied to something? Will floating digits ghost? I would 
 also like to keep my enable signal to disable the SMPS when the amplifier is 
 in standby so can I use the now unused 0 output on the 74141 as a logic 
 signal to drive the enable pin on the SMPS?  The only trouble with this is 
 when blanking the nixie the SMPS will be disabled unless I use extra logic to 
 look at the LSD bits?  (I guess it is quite environmentally friendly to turn 
 the SMPS off when the digits are blank but if I was worried about this then I 
 guess I would not be building a power hungry inefficient valve amplifier!)
 
 Regards,
 Tim
 
 
 
 On Wednesday, 2 January 2013 22:25:13 UTC, nixiebunny wrote:
 On 1/2/13 3:01 PM, Tim wrote: 
  I am in the process of building an audio preamp using valves and I am 
  using nixie tubes to indicate the volume control position.  I am using 
  two nixie tubes to indicate the volume and they are being multiplexed 
  via a PIC and 74141. 
  
  My question to you fine folk is how should I provide power to the nixie 
  tubes.  I have two options available to me: 
  
  
  Regards, 
  Tim 
 
 Tim, 
 
 If you can afford the extra four pins on the PIC and another 74141, then  
 you can run the tubes direct (non-multiplexed) and not worry about it. 
 
 If you will be multiplexing them, then the power supply will not conduct 
 the noise to any noticeable extent. You will need a high anode  resistor  
 value, so you can insert a simple two-stage RC low-pass filter (10K 
 series, 0.1uf polyester shunt) between the power supply and the anode 
 resistors to eliminate noise from the anode power. 
 
 You will want to be careful about mounting the display unit away from  
 the input stage of the amplifier, to prevent radiated noise from getting 
 into the input stage where it will be amplified. 
 
 -- 
 David Forbes, Tucson AZ 
 
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Re: [neonixie-l] Multiplexing nixies in a tube preamplifier

2013-01-02 Thread David Forbes

On 1/2/13 3:01 PM, Tim wrote:

I am in the process of building an audio preamp using valves and I am
using nixie tubes to indicate the volume control position.  I am using
two nixie tubes to indicate the volume and they are being multiplexed
via a PIC and 74141.

My question to you fine folk is how should I provide power to the nixie
tubes.  I have two options available to me:


Regards,
Tim


Tim,

If you can afford the extra four pins on the PIC and another 74141, then 
you can run the tubes direct (non-multiplexed) and not worry about it.


If you will be multiplexing them, then the power supply will not conduct 
the noise to any noticeable extent. You will need a high anode  resistor 
value, so you can insert a simple two-stage RC low-pass filter (10K 
series, 0.1uf polyester shunt) between the power supply and the anode 
resistors to eliminate noise from the anode power.


You will want to be careful about mounting the display unit away from 
the input stage of the amplifier, to prevent radiated noise from getting 
into the input stage where it will be amplified.


--
David Forbes, Tucson AZ

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