Tube testing?

[Paul Andrews]

Hi,

I received a shipment of tubes (Z5900M) that I want to fire up (becasue, you know, I want to see them glow!). I have a cold cathode tube power supply. Could I use that? DO I need to add a resistor to the anode? Should I get me a power supply of some sort instead? If so what?

Very naive when it comes to electronics, but not a complete newb.

Thanks - Paul

[MichaelS]

Welcome to the group, Paul.

It's easy to test nixies.  You just need a small high-voltage power supply and a current limiting resistor on the anode.

I use a 47K resistor at 170 volts for most tubes.  5900's are smaller and should work well at 140V or so.  I think the z5900m is a clear version of the z590m, so the datasheet should be the same.  Try using a 68K current limiting resistor and go from there.  Some small tubes work well with 86K.

You can also hold the tubes close to a plasma globe novelty light to see if the tubes have lost their neon, or for a quick test, but most should be fine.

Below are a couple of links that may help.  Both sites have lots of really nice pictures of all kinds of nixies.  Have fun!

http://www.tube-tester.com/sites/nixie/data/z590m.htm

http://jb-electronics.de/html/elektronik/nixies/n_sammlung.htm?lang=en

[alb.001 alb.001]

cold cathode tube power supply  ie for fluorescent cold cathode tubes puts out close to 1000 volts  of pulsed current. I would not try it.  I have an easy way of making portable 1.5-3 volt battery powered handheld nixie tester which I have used for years but the group thought it was silly.  Only problem is that it uses a module hard to find now.   My message might still be on the archives.

Phil B

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[Paul Andrews]

Hi Phil,

Is your tester anything like this one? I would love to make one, though that isn't what I was asking about!

- Paul

[Instrument Resources of America]

Neon/fluorescent bulb testers are readily available NIB on Ebay for $9-$10 (from Chine where else??). Just type in "fluorescent bulb tester". All it will tell you though is whether it is out-gassed or not.  Ira.

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[alb.001 alb.001]

My supply only generates about 320 volts dc, it uses a miniature one turn 100 Kohm variable resistor for current limiting and I put 2 leads with 0.1mm post sockets at the ends to push onto tube leads. Uses as I said either 1 1/2 volt or 3 volts as 1 or two AA or AAA batteries (comes in two versions). Can you guess?  - you may find it at your local thrift store or at a camera show - I buy the whole unit for $1 then take it apart for the high voltage generator.  The "guts"  are also available from some electronics online sources such as Electronic Goldmine. If you have a small plastic box - either a fancy Hammond box or something from the dollar store it is easy to put together.

(It's a single use disposable camera with neon charge indicator !)

Phil

---------- Original Message ----------
From: Paul Andrews <judg...@gmail.com>

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[Paul Andrews]

On reflection, I think this will be my first PCB project. I need something small to cut my teeth with KiCAD.

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[Paolo Cravero]

On Mon, Jan 23, 2017 at 8:47 PM, Paul Andrews <judg...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Paul.

 

Is your tester anything like this one? I would love to make one, though that isn't what I was asking about!

I made one of those out of a laptop CFL driver circuit. It's handy to carry around, but as Ira pointed out, it only tells if the tube is outgassed.

When I acquired my first Nixies two years ago I bought a Nixie PSU kit (from Lumos, excellent if you're in Europe). Since then it has been repurposed as the HV PSU for my first project. So, unless you want to keep your tubes in their boxes, I think a ready made circuit is well worth the investment.

I am currently playing with a booster circuit that uses PWM from an ATmega/Arduino processor and I am facing stability issues in the generated voltage: too high without load, too much "fall" under 1mA load. It behaves like a voltage generator with a high internal resistance :-) I think these circuits do need a true real-time control through a feedback loop (I am using Ian Sp.'s code and circuit, but he managed it right). I came up with two workarounds I am trying before implementing an all-software solution: throw in a 180V zener or keep the booster constantly under load so that the voltage won't go too high. Or maybe some HV wizard in the group will now guide me in the right direction. ;-)

I could buy another PSU kit indeed, but for a single-nixie device it's an overkill and takes space.

Paolo

[Paul Andrews]

Before I proceed, I would like to paraphrase the original article I read on DecadeCounter (here presented to you courtesy of the WayBack machine, because I can't find the original any more): Disclaimer: Injury or death resulting from the disassembly of an electric fly swat is your own damn fault.

I made a 'tube tester' out of one of those electric fly swats. I took it apart and removed the big fat capacitor and resistor between the outputs. then I waved a nixie tube around the circuit to figure out what gave a good glow and attached a long enough length of wire there to stick out the end of the handle when I put it all back together:

Lighting up a tube:

If you touch some of the pins, things get interesting:

Naturally, I played around with creating some sparks between the output leads after I removed the capacitor and resistor, but before I removed the leads :)

Well, that's it, I've done it and can move on!

On Saturday, January 21, 2017 at 10:12:25 AM UTC-5, Paul Andrews wrote: