Chinese nixies..

[Nicholas Stock]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-1-PCS-SZ2-50MM-CHINA-NIXIE-TUBE-NOS-EXTREMELY-ANCIENT-BIG-ALL-WORKING-1968-/323134697076?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276

Odd, but not cheap!!

[严泽远]

I know these tubes, sold from a Chinese local forum with price around 100RMB, preproduction model, the biggest top view nixie tube made in China, very rare.

在 2018年3月12日星期一 UTC+8上午1:19:02，Pramanicin写道：

[Dylan Distasio]

Not a bad markup for the seller then!

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[SWISSNIXIE - Jonathan F.]

These look nice, probably going to buy one. I would say the price is fair, if they are so rare. Compared to what people pay for German/USA/Japan Nixies >30mm digits....80$seems fair for a so rare tube. I wonder if the seller has more tube types :)

[Dylan Distasio]

I agree on the pricing; it's not terrible.  The only bummer is that they're mercury free.

On Sun, Mar 11, 2018 at 2:43 PM, SWISSNIXIE - Jonathan F. <jfre...@gmail.com> wrote:

These look nice, probably going to buy one. I would say the price is fair, if they are so rare. Compared to what people pay for German/USA/Japan Nixies >30mm digits....80$seems fair for a so rare tube. I wonder if the seller has more tube types :)

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[Dekatron42]

I've bought a few of these and other similar types for just RMB 25 from China, the digit height is only 33mm, I had the datasheet translated by a friend, it says so at the end of the datasheet and I can confirm it from the tubes I have.

They are very fragile inside as the wires connecting the digits easily break from shaking during shipping, and while handling, and the wires also easily short against each other or the internal structures either killing some digits or letting two or more light at the same time - they are prototype quality and would need a lot more design to become good enough for serial production. It seems like the wires break due to being under strain and that the welding has punched through much of the wire making it snap easily.

They are really quite poor quality for being "prototypes" even if they are rare. So I would definitely wait for the price to come down - I have enough for a clock and some spares but the poor quality has had me waiting to find more at a reasonable price!

There are others with letters/texts inside, I have an SZ-3 (which has some broken wires) which shows the texts: Mn, Mo, P, S, Ni, C, Cr, Cu, Si & O (mine only shows Mn, P, S, Ni, Cu, Si & O) . I also have a much rarer (mega, ultra, super rare ;) ) prototype of the SZ-2, not marked, but with the digits made up from wires instead of from etched metal and no Anode shield and a rounder glass envelope, otherwise it is identical to the SZ-2, see photo below.

These Nixies fit the Russian RSH-32 socket.

/Martin

[Dylan Distasio]

Thanks for the additional color on these.  I was debating on picking one up as a novelty, but may hold off now based on your comments.

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[Dekatron42]

Well, if you are a collector you might add one or two to your collection at the current price, they don't come up that often, but the internal wiring is easily damaged - and I suspect that the seller will soon become aware of what I know of these Nixies and he might go down on the price! The few different sellers I've bought from have showed me photos of the condition, with lit digits and easily seen marks on the nixies, before shipping them and they have nevertheless turned up with snapped wires - it was possible to identify the tubes from the photos so I know that they worked before being shipped.

/Martin

[Fang Taojun]

Hmm,I think I also saw that post on the forum.The seller sold dozens of SZ-2 on these days.I think the seller bought them all?

Meanwhile,I don't think it can be compared to other brands in the same class(>30mm).Beautiful digits,BUT Short life,rough shape,rough glass...

They proved they can made it,but...they just prove they did it. :-(

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发件人: neoni...@googlegroups.com <neoni...@googlegroups.com> 代表 严泽远 <yanz...@gmail.com>
发送时间: 2018年3月11日 17:24
收件人: neonixie-l
主题: [neonixie-l] Re: Chinese nixies..

 

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[Alic]

I got lucky it seems. The ones I got all work well. No disconnected or touching cathodes. Some digits on one of the nixies needed some time to “wake up” but it works well now.
I agree that they are not very well made and the anode mesh is not very discreet compared to other nixies.
The numbers are not as wide as usual. The height to width ratio seems to be closer to IN-18 so the tube looks a bit empty.
I still like their unique look. They also have that very nice (mercury free) orange glow. I received mine inside their original box with the datasheet.

[gregebert]

Are there any date-codes ? Some of the Soviet-era tubes were produced until around 1990, and I'm curious how long other nations were producing nixies especially when a lot of western technology was embargoed during that time.

[Alic]

I haven’t inspected the base of the tube that closely yet, but the seller claims that these are from 1968.
I’ll check if I can see a date code when I come home from work.

[Dekatron42]

The date is printed on the datasheets at the bottom left, on my SZ-3 it says 16th of March 1967 and on the SZ-2 it says 30th of December 1968.

I have one with cathodes that I have tried to "wake up" but they quickly go back to non working after some time without use, it looks like the cathodes have some kind of dirt on them if I compare the poor one to the working ones. There is no way to know if they have been used/tested but they all arrived in their original boxes with the datasheets inside the boxes.

/Martin

[Paul Andrews]

If you have cathodes that deteriorate when sitting on the shelf, that implies that there are contaminants in the gas mixture. That could either be left over from the manufacturing process, or leaching out of other materials in the tube.