B7971 alpha-numeric display tube tester and projects

[LeRoy Lee]

I have 10 of the B7971 display tubes and I need to test them to verify  they work, and then I want to find some interesting use for them beyond a clock.  Seems a waste to use only for numbers when they can do so much more.

Any easy way to verify the tubes, and do any of you have unique ideas for their use?

[Nicholas Stock]

Check out Mitch's 8 digit B7971 wordclock?

Www.angryelectrons.co

Nick

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 12, 2020, at 18:15, LeRoy Lee <lee.l...@gmail.com> wrote:

I have 10 of the B7971 display tubes and I need to test them to verify  they work, and then I want to find some interesting use for them beyond a clock.  Seems a waste to use only for numbers when they can do so much more.

Any easy way to verify the tubes, and do any of you have unique ideas for their use?

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[Michail Wilson]

A basic test would be to see if they are still gassed.   Use a plasma ball

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 12, 2020, at 6:17 PM, Nicholas Stock <nick...@gmail.com> wrote:

 Check out Mitch's 8 digit B7971 wordclock?

To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/2C121B8C-E696-4D11-B0D4-79E4F30CB63E%40gmail.com.

[Paul Andrews]

The 8 digit ‘clock’ is mentioned on the front page, but I can’t find it anywhere else on the site. Did it ever make it into production?

[Richard Scales]

I have used these via the Smart Socket concept which allows you to easily display numbers, letters, punctuation and user defined characters on any number of these tubes.

I have used 'smart' sockets for B-7971's as well as ZM1350, SP-101 and now 16 segment LED 'starburst' displays.

My clocks display time, day, date, month, year, temperature, pressure, local wind speed and direction, random words and my latest variant also displays the name of a place in the world where it is 'Just After Five!'.

There is good support over at the Smart Sockets group and I have a stack of bare PCB's available if you fancy a go. All you need is a PIC16F690, some resistors and MPSA42's and you just squirt serial data to them to display data, define characters, chose transition effects, etc,etc (I'm a bit of a fan - does it show?). 

There are several transition effects including various fades and wipes as well as a bitwise breakdown and rebuild. All transitions can have their speed defined.

I have also 'developed' a controller using a WeMos D1 as well as a Teensy 3.2 (mostly because I am not clever enough to code the whole thing on one WiFi enabled Micro) which does time sync, scrape data from the internet, read temp and pressure, send random words - or now names of places in the world where it is just after five. It also reads a PIR for shutdown of HV supplies when you are not watching (be kind to your tubes) as well as control neons for colons.

Ask me anything!

- Richard

[Nick Andrews]

Send them to me and I'll find a good use for them...

On Sat, Sep 12, 2020, 7:15 PM LeRoy Lee <lee.l...@gmail.com> wrote:

I have 10 of the B7971 display tubes and I need to test them to verify  they work, and then I want to find some interesting use for them beyond a clock.  Seems a waste to use only for numbers when they can do so much more.

Any easy way to verify the tubes, and do any of you have unique ideas for their use?

--

[gregebert]

The best testing you can do is gather and plot I-V data for each segment of every tube.

[Mac Doktor]

> On Sep 13, 2020, at 3:33 PM, gregebert <greg...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> The best testing you can do is gather and plot I-V data for each segment of every tube.

Marcin Saj's Nixie Lab uses socket 20A for the B7971. The description for all of the sockets for segmented Nixies AND Nixie Lab says "WITH CATHODE RESISTORS" (plural). Unfortunately,

A. I don't have one yet (or a Nixie Lab) so I can't look at it to see what's actually on there;
B. Marcin has been missing in action since May 6. That was the day of his last post on Twitter and update to GitHub;
C. I've emailed him twice without a reply.

I just pray that nothing has happened to him. 8/


I just found something else: a diagram showing how to take measurements while using the Universal PRO Nixie Tube Tester:

https://github.com/marcinsaj/Universal-PRO-Nixie-Tester-and-Healer/raw/master/datasheet/How-to-Use-Universal-PRO-Nixie-Tube-Tester-and-Healer.pdf


No data for individual segments, I'm afraid.


Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"

"Nothing is a cliché when it's happening to you."—Max Payne

[Richard Scales]

I display local wind speed and direction on them which I scrape from a web page. 

A recent project resulted in the tubes scrolling a message 'ITS JUST AFTER FIVE IN' and then displaying the name of a place in the world where it was between 17:00 and 18:00 - the idea came from a friend who wants to put a display in a 'bar' that he is building!

Personally I like seeing live data from the environment so things like temp, pressure, wind speed and direction interest me (I sail and dive locally). But, as you say, meaningful data rather than just a clock is quite exciting. Others have displayed RSS Feeds, web page visitor counts, random words or expressions etc.

As others have also said, if you ultimately decide to do nothing with them, I too could give them a good home!

- Richard

On Sunday, 13 September 2020 02:15:35 UTC+1, LeRoy Lee wrote:

[Bill Notfaded]

I've done them a few ways... MOD-SIX OFC!  Also the smartsockets... you can basically make the length as long as you want to.  Smart sockets are really neat because they have the entire alphabet built right in with effects too!  Here's basic video of me testing one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzOKLMmQZDM

Regards,

Bill