Super Bargain

[Mac Doktor]

Only $20 apiece:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/267614029474

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"

https://www.astarcloseup.com

"There is no Main Street anymore except at Disneyland—and try and buy a gun there"—Hank Hill

[Michail Wilson]

They are IN-15.   I don’t see how that is a deal.   Am I missing something?

 

Michail Wilson

206-920-6312

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[Robert G. Schaffrath]

Personally I do not see the value either. They are symbol tubes, not digits like the IN-12 which they are plug compatible with. I bought ten NOS IN-15A for $18 and ten NOS IN-15B for $16 several years ago just because they were so cheap and figured I might have some fun with them. As they are plug compatible with the IN-12, I found it amusing to swap an IN-15 A or B into a Chinese single digit IN-12 clock and watch it cycle through the symbols as it counts seconds. That is about the only thing I could find them useful for. Granted with an IN-15A you can spell words made up of the letters M, P, k, m, n and "u" (mu) and with the IN-15B the letters A, F, H, P, V and W (reminds me of the end of Wheel of Fortune when you chose a bunch of letters and have no idea what the phrase is for the grand prize).

$20/each is a crazy price for a non-numeric tube IMHO.
 

[Peter Hall]

Yes he was being sarcastic...$20 for $2 in15...

From🚨Peter Hall😁 insidiousnixies🦘Utube

To view this discussion, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/SJ0PR01MB8154FE790BEED2A2E94BEA11824DA%40SJ0PR01MB8154.prod.exchangelabs.com.

[Mac Doktor]

On Mar 21, 2026, at 8:35 AM, Peter Hall <hall...@hotmail.com> wrote:

Yes he was being sarcastic...$20 for $2 in15…

You got it. You can get IN-12s for less. Perhaps the first of April came early. 

On Mar 21, 2026, at 8:23 AM, Robert G. Schaffrath <robert.s...@gmail.com> wrote:

I found it amusing to swap an IN-15 A or B into a Chinese single digit IN-12 clock and watch it cycle through the symbols as it counts seconds. That is about the only thing I could find them useful for. Granted with an IN-15A you can spell words made up of the letters M, P, k, m, n and "u" (mu) and with the IN-15B the letters A, F, H, P, V and W (reminds me of the end of Wheel of Fortune when you chose a bunch of letters and have no idea what the phrase is for the grand prize).

I like the way you think. 8D

Now watch some idiot buy it. It’s a good thing the seller is in the US otherwise you’d have to add the tariff.

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"

https://www.astarcloseup.com

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.”–Philip K. Dick, "I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon"

[newxito]

I find the IN15 nixies very useful and have already used them in two projects that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to build. But of course, not at this price...

[gregebert]

IN-15 tubes came in very handy for a current project, which I wont name here, because it has some other wise hard-to-find letters. Instead of the usual numerals, which are mostly only usable for clock, this has pluggable tubes that display letters. I now have everything except Q. Arguably, 'L' is sloppy because my only option is to use a '1' for 'I' and 'L', but being able to have 25 of 26 letters allows a lot of words.

[bogdan paduraru]

@ Greg

NL-1317 has the Q also A,B,G,H,J,P,R,S,T ( NL-5018 style)

I have other 2 models that have the Q , but they are not top view 

On 21 Mar 2026, at 21:57, gregebert <greg...@hotmail.com> wrote:

IN-15 tubes came in very handy for a current project, which I wont name here, because it has some other wise hard-to-find letters. Instead of the usual numerals, which are mostly only usable for clock, this has pluggable tubes that display letters. I now have everything except Q. Arguably, 'L' is sloppy because my only option is to use a '1' for 'I' and 'L', but being able to have 25 of 26 letters allows a lot of words.

<tfump.jpg>

On Saturday, March 21, 2026 at 11:52:07 AM UTC-7 newxito wrote:

I find the IN15 nixies very useful and have already used them in two projects that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to build. But of course, not at this price...

Mac Doktor schrieb am Samstag, 21. März 2026 um 18:11:40 UTC+1:

On Mar 21, 2026, at 8:35 AM, Peter Hall <hall...@hotmail.com> wrote:

Yes he was being sarcastic...$20 for $2 in15…

You got it. You can get IN-12s for less. Perhaps the first of April came early. 

On Mar 21, 2026, at 8:23 AM, Robert G. Schaffrath <robert.s...@gmail.com> wrote:

I found it amusing to swap an IN-15 A or B into a Chinese single digit IN-12 clock and watch it cycle through the symbols as it counts seconds. That is about the only thing I could find them useful for. Granted with an IN-15A you can spell words made up of the letters M, P, k, m, n and "u" (mu) and with the IN-15B the letters A, F, H, P, V and W (reminds me of the end of Wheel of Fortune when you chose a bunch of letters and have no idea what the phrase is for the grand prize).

I like the way you think. 8D

Now watch some idiot buy it. It’s a good thing the seller is in the US otherwise you’d have to add the tariff.

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"

https://www.astarcloseup.com

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.”–Philip K. Dick, "I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon"

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<tfump.jpg>

[Tomasz Kowalczyk]

Would an LL-558 fit? They are reasonably available. 

[Dekatron42]

Why not ask Dalibor for your special text Nixie - it might be cheaper than collecting enough of the Dolam LL-series!

/Martin

[guus.a...@wolmail.nl]

Hello,

Clearing a lot of stuff I've gathered during some time.

 

Anyone interested in a 7 segment 12 digit Neon tube?

Pandicon ZM1500.

Make me a reasonable offer.

I've tested with a Plasma-Sphere and there's still Neon in the unit.

 

Consider postage from the Netherlands !

 

BR/

Guus Assmann

[gregebert]

I was able to buy two ZM1001 tubes, which have X,Y,Z so that covers me for the LL-558.

BTW, the LL-558 looks like it would fit in the same 13-pin socket as other common nixies like the b5092.

[gregebert]

@Bogdan - I wasn't able to find anything about the NL-1317. That's a very useful tube because it has hard-to-find letters 'T' and 'R' . I'm going to keep searching.

[bogdan paduraru]

I feel you there, on my early quest for spelling Ecaterina I have encountered the same problem for T and R, now I have a rather large variety of tubes that could spell my daughters name.

Please contact me privately and we will see what can we do for your project 

On 22 Mar 2026, at 17:33, gregebert <greg...@hotmail.com> wrote:

@Bogdan - I wasn't able to find anything about the NL-1317. That's a very useful tube because it has hard-to-find letters 'T' and 'R' . I'm going to keep searching.

To view this discussion, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/0b7a96d5-5c77-4eb6-a25e-18e8db8adde3n%40googlegroups.com.

[Adrian Godwin]

I'm guessing you don't generally address her by her full name. Perhaps you could shorten it to 'CAT' or something ?

To view this discussion, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/8B374302-BCF5-48BB-A4AA-533A07A12FB1%40yahoo.com.

[bogdan paduraru]

The oficial nickname is Eca .There is  second one , rather cute, and was given by our neighbors girl ,Beca ( a forced feminin of the word "bec") ; bec means "lightbulb " in Romanian 

On 22 Mar 2026, at 19:08, Adrian Godwin <artg...@gmail.com> wrote:



To view this discussion, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/CALiMYrs-ahHtfzq0phXfS3PVTC2joRw9z8ZAuytOgAPrRGwcMA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Mac Doktor]

Update: the listing has had 86 views today. Word must be getting around.

Also, there’s a new listing for a box of 25 IN-12As. $10 apiece, US seller, “many available”.

On Mar 22, 2026, at 11:33 AM, gregebert <greg...@hotmail.com> wrote:

@Bogdan - I wasn't able to find anything about the NL-1317. That's a very useful tube because it has hard-to-find letters 'T' and 'R' . I'm going to keep searching.

Let me know when you find several.  8D

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"

https://www.astarcloseup.com

“...the book said something astonishing, a very big thought. The stars, it said, were suns but very far away. The Sun was a star but close up.”—Carl Sagan, "The Backbone Of Night", Cosmos, 1980

[Tomasz Kowalczyk]

I was suggesting it as a source for proper L. Yes, it fits the standard 13 pin socket. 
Unfortunately other tubes from this series are less available, and none of them contain the Q symbol. I am still seeking any LL-555 and LL-556 for my Dolam tube collection

 

[gregebert]

Nice! I dont think I've ever seen 'L' in nixies before. I will start looking for LL-555 tubes, and it looks like it also has 'R' and 'T', which are somewhat rare.

[Tomasz Kowalczyk]

The LL-555 tube itself is even rarer, unfortunately. If anyone reading has one for sale, please do not hestitate to send me an e-mail! 

[Mac Doktor]

On Mar 23, 2026, at 6:09 PM, Tomasz Kowalczyk <ten....@gmail.com> wrote:

The LL-555 tube itself is even rarer, unfortunately. If anyone reading has one for sale, please do not hestitate to send me an e-mail! 

Add me to the list. I’ve never seen one for sale.

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"

https://www.astarcloseup.com

"If only you could see what I've seen with your eyes."—Roy Batty, Blade Runner

[Bogdan Paduraru]

LL-555 has a cooler L, that has a ski stick    : Ł
Swiss Nixie - Vintage Electronics

[Mac Doktor]

On Mar 24, 2026, at 3:11 AM, 'Bogdan Paduraru' via neonixie-l <neoni...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

LL-555 has a cooler L, that has a ski stick    : Ł

I covet the slashed “L”. And the tube with the arithmetic operators.

[Tomasz Kowalczyk]

Quite weird of Polish engineers to include practically all letters from the alphabet, including some not used in Polish (like X or V, but Q was not included for whatever reason), and then proceed to add exactly one of the Polish specific symbols - Ł. It's pronounced like W in water. Polish has a plethora of other unique symbols but none of them made it to the series.
There are also 6-7 symbols per tube, so 3-4 more could be fitted in the envelopes. 

LL-554 and LL-559 are not known to exist, perhaps these are the missing pieces :) 

[Bogdan Paduraru]

there is more than one model that I know / own : Nec CD17 , Rodan CD14, GR-875 (has 0-9 and a" -" (minus ) which with the help of 1 can be turned intro a +)
Also , CSF has a datasheet that presented some models but never seen any 

[Bogdan Paduraru]

I have all known polish LL-55X tubes excluding, obviously, the 554 and 559 
maybe there is some info about those hidden in some bottom drawer 

[Tomasz Kowalczyk]

PIE did release a datasheet for a symbol tube LL 1 which is dubious to have ever existed, as number of symbols promised is higher than number of physical pins present on the tube.
https://pwl.mikrokontroler.pl/lampy_elektronowe/ll1/ll1_pie.htm

This obviously was a step towards LL-55x series. 

[Bogdan Paduraru]

for sure there were listed all available symbols that could be fitted in one tube