Anyone using the HV507 driver ?

[gregebert]

In a HV5522 thread on this forum, I saw mention of HV507 driver for a future project.

Has anyone used the HV507 ?

I'm considering the HV507 because it drives rail-to-rail, rather than open-drain (like the HV5530).

The problem I see from the datasheet is that it implies the HV507 can only drive about 1mA, which is too low for a single NE-2 bulb, not to mention a nixie.

If this device can reliably drive several mA, it can be used for:

• multiplexing  (blecchh, I hate multiplexing, but I have a few panaplex displays that dont have enough pins for direct-drive so I have no choice but to multiplex...)
  
• driving neon bulbs, such as the NE-2, with AC, so that both electrodes glow. I suspect this will result in longer lifetime versus DC.
• Eliminating a separate 'high-side' driver, which usually requires an opto-isolator (been there, done that. I dont like opto-isolators because they are slow).

The datasheet mentions that a load of 1mA will cause a 35 volt drop in the HV507 (which means 35mW of power), yet the datasheet also mentions a maximum source current of 500mA from Vpp, or a max sink current of 500mA to GND. That would imply that for 64 outputs, you could theoretically drive a load about 8mA (assuming you dont exceed the 1200mW max power rating of the device).

As a last resort, I could try contacting the apps engineer at Microchip (they acquired Supertex in 2014), but I'm not going to buy very many of them so why should they waste time & resources on me ?