NixiSat restored to health...

[Nick]

After a bit of work (new GPS sub-system, new firmware, various component changes, a bit of drilling & glue and a couple of hours....), my mothballed NixiSat lives again!

Huge thanks to Jeff for all his help - its a lovely clock that needs to be seen & loved!

Nick

[Greg P]

Please post more pictures of the modifications, and especially the back where the new GPS plugs in.

Beautiful clock, BTW.....Nice to see it "alive" again.

[Nick]

On Tuesday, 18 February 2014 15:30:10 UTC, Greg P wrote:

Please post more pictures of the modifications, and especially the back where the new GPS plugs in.

Beautiful clock, BTW.....Nice to see it "alive" again.

All the mods are Jeff's - the old OnCore unit, CR2032 holder & antennae BNC were removed, the original BNC hole was reamed out to 13mm and an in-line PS2 female connector mounted into the cavity (its a tight fit), the space for the MAX232 was populated and the PS2 connector wired in (Vcc, GND, RXD, TXD) - a new Haicom HI-204III GPS puck plugs into that - the anode resistors were changed to a slightly lower value, the current limit on the HV SMPS was upped by 30%, the PIC was replaced with one with new firmware, plus a few other minor electronic & cosmetic changes etc.

It now locks in under 30 seconds and is as stable as a rock.

Nick

[David Forbes]

Nick and Jeff,

That 10-year-old hardware is a real bear! It's modern enough that it
*should* work and/or have repair parts available, but... no.

I'm currently working on a radio telescope antenna, an ALMA prototype
antenna, that was built in 2001-2003. It has an amazing number of
components that are unobtainium, including such items as the drive motor
controllers. Even the major components inside these controllers are
unobtainium. Grrr!

On 2/18/14 8:41 AM, Nick wrote:
> On Tuesday, 18 February 2014 15:30:10 UTC, Greg P wrote:
>>

>> Please post more pictures of the modifications, and especially the back
>> where the new GPS plugs in.
>>
>> Beautiful clock, BTW.....Nice to see it "alive" again.
>>
>>>

>>> All the mods are Jeff's - the old OnCore unit, CR2032 holder & antennae
> BNC were removed, the original BNC hole was reamed out to 13mm and an
> in-line PS2 female connector mounted into the cavity (its a tight fit), the

> space for the MAX232 was populated and the PS2 connector wired to that

> (Vcc, GND, RXD, TXD) - a new Haicom HI-204III GPS puck plugs into that -
> the anode resistors were changed to a slightly lower value, the current
> limit on the HV SMPS was upped by 30%, the PIC was replaced with one with
> new firmware, plus a few other minor electronic & cosmetic changes etc.
>
> It now locks in under 30 seconds and is as stable as a rock.
>
> Nick
>

--
David Forbes, Tucson AZ

[Greg P]

Pictures, please........Thanks for the info Nick.

On Tuesday, February 18, 2014 10:41:00 AM UTC-5, Nick wrote:

On Tuesday, 18 February 2014 15:30:10 UTC, Greg P wrote:

Please post more pictures of the modifications, and especially the back where the new GPS plugs in.

Beautiful clock, BTW.....Nice to see it "alive" again.

All the mods are Jeff's - the old OnCore unit, CR2032 holder & antennae BNC were removed, the original BNC hole was reamed out to 13mm and an in-line PS2 female connector mounted into the cavity (its a tight fit), the space for the MAX232 was populated and the PS2 connector wired in (Vcc, GND, RXD, TXD) - a new Haicom HI-204III GPS puck plugs into that - the anode resistors were changed to a slightly lower value, the current limit on the HV SMPS was upped by 30%, the PIC was replaced with one with new firmware, plus a few other minor electronic & cosmetic changes etc.

[Nick]

On Tuesday, 18 February 2014 16:19:29 UTC, Greg P wrote:

Pictures, please........Thanks for the info Nick.

There's not a lot to picture, to be honest - the old Oncore unit was under the PCB - the only visible external changes are the BNC on the back being replaced by a PS2 female and the previously empty MAX232 space on the PCB is now populated. Oh, and there are now 4x0R5 in parallel rather than the previous 3 acting as the current limit for the SMPS.

Nick 

[John Rehwinkel]

> the only visible external changes are the BNC on the back being replaced by a PS2 female

When you say "PS2 female", do you really mean a mini-DIN 6 female?

- John

[Greg P]

What I wanted to see, was how well the PS2 connector integrated with the NixiSat base, where the old BNC connector was located.

[Nick]

On Tuesday, 18 February 2014 16:58:26 UTC, jrehwin wrote:

> the only visible external changes are the BNC on the back being replaced by a PS2 female

When you say "PS2 female", do you really mean a mini-DIN 6 female?

If you prefer - they are the same thing - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS/2_port

The Haicom HA-204III manual refers to the interface as both a PS/2 and a 6 pin mini-DIN.

Nick

 

 

[Nick]

On Tuesday, 18 February 2014 16:01:25 UTC, nixiebunny wrote:

I'm currently working on a radio telescope antenna, an ALMA prototype
antenna, that was built in 2001-2003. It has an amazing number of
components that are unobtainium, including such items as the drive motor
controllers. Even the major components inside these controllers are
unobtainium. Grrr!

I thought that ALMA was going to be built in the Atacama... you off in Chile then?

Nick

[John Rehwinkel]

> When you say "PS2 female", do you really mean a mini-DIN 6 female?
>
> If you prefer - they are the same thing - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS/2_port

They aren't really the same thing. The mini-DIN 6 is a connector, a PS/2 port is a specification for 2 1200bps open collector serial leads, +5V, and ground, using that particular connector. If you are in fact using the PS/2 pinout and signal levels, types, modulation, and encoding, then either is correct. But I was unclear on whether this is true.

It's like saying a 555 plugs into a TL072 socket. They're both DIP-8, but if you were to plug a 555 into a DIP-8 socket wired to accept a TL072, it wouldn't work as intended.

> The Haicom HA-204III manual refers to the interface as both a PS/2 and a 6 pin mini-DIN.

A look at the product page (I don't have that manual) makes it look as if it isn't using PS/2 signalling, so the manual is using the term incorrectly as well. Granted, it's a common error (like referring to a chAMP-50 as a "Centronics" connector, or a UTP Ethernet connector as "RJ-45"), but it's a peeve of mine. I notice that Haicom also refers to a DE-9 connector as a "DB-9".

- John

[Nick]

On Tuesday, 18 February 2014 17:21:47 UTC, jrehwin wrote:

...but it's a peeve of mine.  I notice that Haicom also refers to a DE-9 connector as a "DB-9".

I know what you mean - I hate people referring to "kettle leads" when everyone knows that the connectors are really IEC 60320 C13s or C14s... :)

The interface is actually 4800 baud, 8 data bits, 1 stop, No parity at EIA/RS-232-C voltage levels (hence the need for the MAX232). Standard NMEA 0183 sentences are continually issued.

Nick 

[David Forbes]

No, I'm still in Arizona. The U of Arizona procured the prototype
antenna that was sitting unused in New Mexico for ten years at the VLA
site. The usual academic surplus deal... One dollar, where-is, as-is. At
least we have a couple engineers that worked on it.

Fun videos of the million-dollar, 500 mile transport here (the later
ones are more exciting):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teCtA7akYlE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtMFoiOneAg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF4m6xkg1wk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqiafoU0GYc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YjnV1exsWQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgJ2-CDBaic

[Nicholas Stock]

I recently dusted off my WWVB Nixie (I don't need no stinking GPS...;-). Still works and (eventually) locks on to the WWVB broadcast...only casualty is a badly soldered colon neon that needs repairing..Looks nice in it's new case too...

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[Nick]

On Tuesday, 18 February 2014 17:02:36 UTC, Greg P wrote:

What I wanted to see, was how well the PS2 connector integrated with the NixiSat base, where the old BNC connector was located.

Its as about as neat as you can get (no cowboy engineers here :) )

Being fair, it is quite tricky to enlarge the hole without splitting the nice wood - as you can see, there is not a lot of slack top & bottom, so I went up the sizes, 0.5mm at a time, very very carefully...

Removing the old BNC connector involved heating it up to weaken the previous glue (as recommended by Jeff). Even though I was extremely careful, a few small pin-prick bubbles appeared in the lacquer around the hole due to the localised heat. Careful sanding with 0000 wire wool and a delicate airbrush made a seamless repair.

Nick

[Nicholas Stock]

Nicely done Nick..

On Tue, Feb 18, 2014 at 11:56 AM, Nick <ni...@desmith.net> wrote:

On Tuesday, 18 February 2014 17:02:36 UTC, Greg P wrote:

What I wanted to see, was how well the PS2 connector integrated with the NixiSat base, where the old BNC connector was located.

Its as about as neat as you can get (no cowboy engineers here :) )

Nick

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[Greg P]

Thanks for the picture Nick, looks great!  Nice work!

On Tuesday, February 18, 2014 2:56:22 PM UTC-5, Nick wrote:

On Tuesday, 18 February 2014 17:02:36 UTC, Greg P wrote:

What I wanted to see, was how well the PS2 connector integrated with the NixiSat base, where the old BNC connector was located.

Its as about as neat as you can get (no cowboy engineers here :) )

Being fair, it is quite tricky to enlarge the hole without splitting the nice wood - as you can see, there is not a lot of slack top & bottom, so I went up the sizes, 0.5mm at a time, very very carefully...

[MichaelB]

Very clean redo of the BNC connector Nick. I'm sure it must have been a bit tricky opening up that hole for the PS2. Nice job.  I don't have a vintage NixiSat, but I have done several 'new' renditions of the NixiSat all of which I modded for the standard GPS puck circuitry. Jeff was very helpful and introduced me to one of his buddies who gave me some very useful hints.  I too think they are wonderful clocks and the electronics, top notch!

[Jeff Thomas]

Nick, great to see you were successful with the update, and the mini DIN install looks very nice!

Another vintage nixie timepiece back into service.  Regards, Jeff

[Paul Parry]

 

Lovely looking clock :)

 

What tubes are they?

 

Paul