Blue Y1938 tubes

Terry S

unread,

Dec 27, 2019, 5:42:04 PM12/27/19

to neonixie-l

Today I scrapped out a GE clock radio and salvaged the (4) Y1938 tubes. These are somewhat uncommon blue coated 7 segment VFD tubes similar to (I believe) DT1704s.

I tested each tube in my own clock, they all work. They are not "new tube" bright, but they all work. One tube has a small scrape in the coating but on the side, not the front.

Up for grabs, make an offer commensurate with what they are, and their used condition.

Terry

gregebert

unread,

Dec 28, 2019, 4:40:37 PM12/28/19

to neonixie-l

I guess this is one of the uglier devices from the 1970's that's not worth keeping/fixing as a clock-radio ?

Terry S

unread,

Dec 28, 2019, 6:47:47 PM12/28/19

to neonixie-l

An ugly woodgrain, plastic, chrome and black clock radio; it failed and wasn't readily serviceable. A twisted packed soiled state mess of disjointed boards, wires, power supplies, etc. I did not want to dive into it.

gregebert

unread,

Jan 3, 2020, 12:27:24 PM1/3/20

to neonixie-l

Yeah, right call to scrap it.

How long are your VFD tubes lasting ?

Do you keep the filaments always-on ?

Are the phosphors always-active, or do you shut-down during certain hours, or use a PIR sensor ?

I'm planning to make a night-clock which slowly turns-on the filament supply after the PIR sensor detects motion and time-of-day is night-time, then keeps the filaments on for the rest of the night, then shuts them off.

Segments (phosphors) will glow for a few minutes after each PIR activation, then shut off. That will greatly increase their life.

These tubes have a rather low filament current, 35-40mA, and it's very hard to see them glow even with clear glass (DT1704), so they dont run nearly as hot as other filaments hence should last a long time.

Dieter Waechter

unread,

Jan 3, 2020, 12:30:21 PM1/3/20

to Neonixies

HI!

Y1938 are great!

I will build some more BL-100 clocks in 2020:

http://www.tube-tester.com/sites/nixie/different/bl-100/bl-100.htm

If some of you are interested, let me know.

No hurry, I will start in the middle of 2020.

Happy new year!

Dieter

--
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/69a3e45c-cc72-41c9-a7ee-ac521a8d26e2%40googlegroups.com.

martin martin

unread,

Jan 3, 2020, 11:02:04 PM1/3/20

to neonixie-l

Those VFDs look great. Might look great next to my 6 Nix clocks-

~

mcve...@gmail.com

To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/50EF7D0FDF44404694BCF1FA231B4C7E%40workstation.

Reply all

Reply to author

Forward