whats the life of the Burroughs HB-106

[Jasper nagle]

i picked 9 of these up for $90 $10 a pcs for A clock project, and iv'e tried searching all the data sheets about them the most i can find is one stating long life, but long life in 1955 i would assume wouldn't compare well to like a 1960 one ?

[J Forbes]

70 years, so far....

[Peter Hall]

The Tube that started "Nixie"....Yes???.Please delete if ive done,wrong , copy and pasteing,ect

HB-106

The HB-106 is many firsts:

• It is the first modern Nixie tube.Unlike previous tubes from National Union, this tube has an anode grid that makes driving the tubes much easier and more reliable.
• It is the first tube with the B13B base, which was subsequently used by many tubes made in many countries.
• It is the tube that defined the word ‘Nixie’, which was a trademark of the Burroughs corporation.

From🚨Peter Hall😁 insidiousnixies🦘Utube

On 6 Apr 2024 9:45 am, Jasper nagle <jaspern...@gmail.com> wrote:

i picked 9 of these up for $90 $10 a pcs for A clock project, and iv'e tried searching all the data sheets about them the most i can find is one stating long life, but long life in 1955 i would assume wouldn't compare well to like a 1960 one ?

--
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 neonixie-l+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/907951b8-a9e0-4b16-b8d1-3a47031db5a1n%40googlegroups.com.

[Peter Hall]

Sorry you were Burrows,thi s was National.

From🚨Peter Hall😁 insidiousnixies🦘Utube

To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/MEYP282MB42407EF182374F2B7A978829A6022%40MEYP282MB4240.AUSP282.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM.

[David]

The truly long-life tubes had mercury added. If you see a hazy purple glow when the tube is lit, it's long life. Solid orange is not so long life.


David Forbes, Tucson AZ

> On Apr 5, 2024, at 6:45 PM, Jasper nagle <jaspern...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> i picked 9 of these up for $90 $10 a pcs for A clock project, and iv'e tried searching all the data sheets about them the most i can find is one stating long life, but long life in 1955 i would assume wouldn't compare well to like a 1960 one ?

[liam bartosiewicz]

Fairly certain that all HB-106’s are standard life. You could probably get somewhere around 10,000 hours with a “new” one.

> On Apr 5, 2024, at 7:55 PM, David <nixie...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The truly long-life tubes had mercury added. If you see a hazy purple glow when the tube is lit, it's long life. Solid orange is not so long life.

>
>
> David Forbes, Tucson AZ
>
>> On Apr 5, 2024, at 6:45 PM, Jasper nagle <jaspern...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> i picked 9 of these up for $90 $10 a pcs for A clock project, and iv'e tried searching all the data sheets about them the most i can find is one stating long life, but long life in 1955 i would assume wouldn't compare well to like a 1960 one ?
>

> --
> 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 neonixie-l+...@googlegroups.com.

> To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/F79C6E98-2B92-4DCF-8193-A519270B6324%40gmail.com.

[gregebert]

Ever since I got a clearly marked 5031 nixie, I assumed the others with the same shape with no visible marking were also 5031's but there apparently are other numbers such as 6844 and HB-106.

I too have several dead ones, and I often wondered if they had been circulating in Ebay-land as untested devices. I knew the risk when I bought them.

I have tried to rehab them, with zero success. The ones that are dark cant be coaxed to glow even at 500 volts; others have partially-glowing cathodes or glowing only on the bondwires. As best I can tell, the gas is compromised. I suspect that since these were early-production devices the glass-to-metal seal was not nearly as good as later devices. A few have darkened interiors, which is probably sputtered material due to a lack of mercury; of those, some still have a slight orange glow.

In hindsight, I should have tried zapping them in a discarded microwave oven I found last week, just to see if anything is in there. BTW, there were a few things I scrapped from the microwave, but I made sure the deadly MOT was recycled.

[Paul Andrews]

I wouldn't use the HB-106 in a clock - no mercury so it will darken pretty rapidly, like in maybe 6 months.

The other similarly shaped ones (e.g. 6844A) are junk in my opinion. Never got one to reliably light up. Greg, I did put one in a microwave for about a second - it definitely glowed then lol, but was still useless after I got it out (though no worse than when it went in).

[Nick Andrews]

Don't waste MOTs!  They are getting hard to find and are quite useful.   You can use them for hv power supplies,  spot welders,  etc. 

To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/a2efca74-9295-4f46-83b9-0803bd411cf1n%40googlegroups.com.

[Jasper nagle]

Alright I’m glad to hear I should be at least able to get a couple thousand hours out of them, thanks everyone for the replies I’m glad to hear there is a lot of respect for these nixies.

Sincerely Jasper 

To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/13906770-C467-462A-ACB0-F10EE8B5E7AE%40gmail.com.