B7971 single tube clock with no tube

[Robert]

Has anyone bought one of these

Thanks

Rob

[Tom Katt]

I've seen similar single tube clocks before, but not that specific version.   Seems a little pricey for a kit requiring you to supply the tube? Granted it's got some acrylic for a case, but I just bought a 6 digit board (also sans tubes) for $38 - see my recent post (of course I found the same thing for $10 less after I purchased lol).  Must be because the B7971's are unique...  IN18 single tube clock kits go for under $25.

[Robert G. Schaffrath]

Price is insane. With postage it works out to approximately USD$200. If it was $30 I would get one as I have spare B7971's packed away but sans a tube it isn't worth it. If one had to buy a tube, and could find one, you would be looking at double the price IMHO.

[Richard Scales]

I have a design for a similar thing though it uses WiFi for NTP and is based on the 'B-7971 Smart Socket' concept - as for price - I think mine is similar (though without case) - but I am just a hobbyist who likes to make my projects available to anyone interested. The economics of R&D, procurement and production of a kit, software development and support would mean that selling it for any less would be soul destroying.
I would be interested in hearing opinions from anyone else on this group who make their projects available to others for construction as to how they might arrive at a price of a kit that reflects not just the component cost but all the time that goes in to designing and refining something like this. If you spend 30 hours doing something - are you then happy to sell and support it for little more than the cost of the components alone?

Perhaps if the price is considered 'insane' then one could sit down with a pencil and paper - rough out a design, prototype it, test it,  design the PCBs, have them made, refine them and re-fab them then sit down and produce the code that actually runs the thing et voila - all that money saved and all  you have invested just the cost of the components and the PCBs and a little time.

I know a few people who actually do this for a living and it's very tough for them. It's easy to look on ebay where you will almost certainly find all sorts of kits of very few $$$ - and if you are happy with the specification and the price and are not up to doing it all yourself then, why not just buy it and be happy with it. I appreciate that in this case the price has been sited as 'insane' but then the vendor has only made a few and perhaps they are just like me - just a hobbyist  - it's sometimes too easy to assume that just because it's coming from China - it should cost something more like $30 - impossible to say.

This is absolutely NOT a rant in any way and I most sincerely do not wish to start some massive thread full of complaints about how expensive something is or how cheap it should be - if you like it and are not interested or capable in designing and making one yourself - then why not go for it. The price on the listing is $115 + shipping - perhaps there is duty to be added - or perhaps I missed something (apologies if I did).

Personally, if I was not capable of making my own then $115 seems super cheap to me when compared to the time and effort it would take me to learn electronics design, PCB and software development skills.

Again, this is NOT a rant!

 

- Richard

[newxito]

I agree with Richard, and I totally understand that people selling kits want to be paid also for their design effort.

 
Alternatively, I think many in this group have made their own designs with no intention of selling kits. It would be nice if more of these designs were made available to everyone. I know I should start doing that myself; I made only one project available on GitHub so far, but this is because it’s probably the only one of interest. However, maybe I will upload some of my older designs to GitHub including my version of a B-7971 “smart” board.

Let’s face it, we’re not getting any younger and a lot of nice designs could disappear over time. So why not, just as an idea, create a neonixie account on GitHub with contributors and repositories all related to the group? The problem whith that is that someone has to manage the account, and I don't want to be that person :-)

[Richard Scales]

That's a great idea for sure and in particularly like your smart socket design. 

Does it do all the "Heavy lifting" liked the original pic based design or odd that all under program control? 

What is the maximum number of boards that you can address?

Kind regards

Richard

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[newxito]

It’s I²C, so you probably can address127 sockets, but I only tested with 6. It uses a 328p-AU and I only implemented a font table, direct segment access, blinking and LED control. There are currently no transitions and no brightness control.
Cheers

Andy

[Tom Katt]

On Monday, December 29, 2025 at 1:21:18 AM UTC-5 Richard Scales wrote:

Personally, if I was not capable of making my own then $115 seems super cheap to me when compared to the time and effort it would take me to learn electronics design, PCB and software development skill

I think there may be two perspectives on this...  Certainly, for small scale creators, the cost of R&D plus fabrication is significant and the creator deserves to be fairly compensated for their efforts.  In that light, $115 might not even hit that mark - and it's certainly fair to ask.

On the other, I personally admit to becoming somewhat apathetic to this as a result of the sheer quantity of cheap imported goods that are sold at prices so low it begs the question of how they can even exist even factoring in poverty wage labor.  The effects of this upon our society is a much bigger discussion than can be had here.  I recently purchased a clock controller board at a price that was probably 1/2 of what I could buy the components - let alone fabricating a pcb board and assembling it.

I'm not sure if it's possible to distinguish between products sold by small scale creators and the tsunami of similar kits sold at give-away prices unless that factor is advertised.  When it has, I have made the effort to support those creators.  I'm sure others here have done similarly, because I suspect our lot appreciates the efforts involved more than the average consumer.

Somehow, we need to ween ourselves off this drug of cheap imports and bring more manufacturing back home...  But again, I won't pretend to know what that answer is.

[Richard Scales]

Understood. I've done a lot with the traditional SS concept including making it work for many different display types. 

Still using them for certain projects. I've just used the Nixie font to make sockets for several different tube types. 

- Richard 

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[Nick Andrews]

The $115 seems fine, it's the absurdity of the $100 shipping that is unacceptable, methinks.

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[Nicholas Stock]

Rant away Richard! :) I know one person who has made a decent living out of this hobby and that's it really. Personally, I do it because I love old display technologies, especially nixies and dekatrons, making unique functional things (if it can't be made into a clock I am not interested... LOL) and what I sell/trade keeps my hobby semi paid for. The clocks generally put a smile on someone's face and I've met a lot of really nice people in the process from all over the world. Anyone who has spent time putting kits together, writing documentation, let alone actually designing something from scratch knows that it is mainly a labo(u)r of love and not a real money making enterprise. Pricing things is tricky as you don't want to make things too expensive, but need to balance costs, time and expertise. I still don't know how some of the kits etc out of China are as cheap as they are... probably just the economics of scale at work. I recently had some PCBs made of a now unobtainable Kabtronics kit (the large Nixie transistor clock that some folks here may be familiar with) with the designers permission (I got a request from a customer who really wanted to build one..). They were US made as that's where the designer had them made for me (I do not have the gerbers). Close to $90 a piece!! Having them made at PCBWay or another fab house in China would have been 1/3 that cost. So, whilst I get the 'bring manufacturing home' sentiments, in a global economy, I don't think it's that realistic, especially in the most capitalistic economy on the planet.

Happy New Year to all.

Cheers,

Nick

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[Jeff Walton]

I appreciate all of the folks that have shared their designs and expertise on tubes, designs, cases and everything that makes this a fun hobby.  I second Nick’s words about all of the great people that participate in the forum and I have benefitted greatly from meeting some really bright and friendly people around the world.

 

The current shipping/import environment has probably dried up a vast majority of the international/US transactions.  I don’t expect it to last forever but for the time being, there are items on ebay that would have normally been snapped up right away which will gather dust. 

 

In addition to paying tariff fees on delivery, some of the carriers are charging $30-40 for import agent fees.  In my business, we ship envelopes with parts to Canada that used to be routine, inexpensive and easy.  Now, FedEx will no longer ship to Canada or Mexico unless we get license from those countries, so we can’t use FedEx for anything outside of the US.  We have switched to UPS, who will act as the customs agent and handle the collections but their agent fees add a bit to the cost.   

 

Anyhow, many of us are frustrated with the unnecessary foolishness.  The postal service reports that shipping into and out of the US has dropped by 80% since de-minimus rules were suspended.  The only people that are benefitting are big business and the hobbyists are a casualty of the current policies.

 

Happy New Year!

 

Jeff

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[Peter Hall]

I thought it was a Bargain at that price and only $12 mail too Australia 😎

From🚨Peter Hall😁 insidiousnixies🦘Utube

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[Richard Scales]

Spot on Nick, I too echo your comments.

Happy to year to one and all!

- Richard