Introductions
mike
My name is Mike and I have two sons, Lucian 9 and Julian 6 and we
love Nixie tubes. I have some what of an electronics background and I
think it would be great if me and my boys could build a clock that
also has indoor/outdoor temperature sensors. We'd like to use a tube
like an IN-14.
Were on a fixed income and I was figuring I could get some advice
about suppliers from this board. I need a supplier that will let me
buy $20-30 worth of parts at a time until I have all the parts
together. I also figured that there a probably a lot of people on
this board who have a lot of near ideas.
I know my boys are going to love this. THey love making things with
daddy. RIght now I have $20 in Ebay bucks to spend on this project,
what should I spend it on?
Thanks a lot in advance for any help you can give
Mike, Lucian and Julian
Nick
with tubes etc. but it wouldn't be economic otherwise.
Whole bunches of designs out there but with an EE background, I'm sure
a simple standard logic or uP-based solution could be built for 20
bucks ex-tubes on perf board or whatever. Using IN-14s or -16s, you
should get them for USD 10-15 or so for 4, and most of the rest can be
obtained from salvaged parts - only a few "speciality" parts - 1
inductor (about 100 to 220uH), 1 fast diode (UF4007 or similar), a
reasonable commodity HV FET (like an IRF730A or similar) and a small
fairly low ESR HV capacitor (between 1 & 3.3uF, 200V - use 2 or more
1uF in parallel to drop the overall ESR cheaply)
It might be interesting to see just how cheaply a 4-digit clock can be
built, rather than the rather expensive stuff the most of us churn
out... !
Cheers
Nick
John Rehwinkel
> about suppliers from this board. I need a supplier that will let me
> buy $20-30 worth of parts at a time until I have all the parts
> together.
A cheap way to get the high-voltage power supply is to hook a pair of small step-down
transformers back-to-back. You can rectify the low-voltage loop between them for your
logic supply, too. It should be possible to round up a couple of 12 volt or so "wall wart"
supplies for little or no money. Try to find one that outputs AC, then you can leave it
intact to feed your project. The other one can be any transformer based supply, just
remove it from its housing, and hook its transformer up in reverse to supply your high
voltage. If it's a DC supply, you can grab its diode(s) (and filter capacitor, and regulator,
if it has these parts) to get started on your logic supply.
With just the back-to-back transformers, along with a diode capable of holding off a few
hundred volts, a current limiting resistor, and ideally a small high-voltage capacitor, you
can light up a nixie (they'll work on pulsing DC, but most of use use some sort of filter
capacitor in a finished design). You can steal suitable high voltage diodes and even
a filter capacitor from an ordinary PC power supply. Those too can often be had cheap
or free. Come to think of it, most line-operated switching power supplies can donate these
parts, and these days, a lot of wall warts are switchers instead of transformer based supplies,
so if you happen to grab one of those, you still have some useful parts.
- John KG4L
mike
is this a good buy? I would like to have the side view tubes but
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10x-IN-12B-IN-15A-IN-15B-NIXIE-TUBES-PCB-Sockets-/300598761645?_trksid=p4340.m263&_trkparms=algo%3DSIC%26its%3DI%252BC%26itu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BFICS%252BUFI%26otn%3D15%26pmod%3D310344854163%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D3114373616164851448
mike
mike
mike
John Rehwinkel
>
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/10x-IN-12B-IN-15A-IN-15B-NIXIE-TUBES-PCB-Sockets-/300598761645?_trksid=p4340.m263&_trkparms=algo%3DSIC%26its%3DI%252BC%26itu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BFICS%252BUFI%26otn%3D15%26pmod%3D310344854163%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D3114373616164851448
I'd be leery of those "pot luck" auctions. You might get 9 IN-15B tubes, which don't display numerals. I'm fond of 'em,
because they're different, and it would make an interesting clock, but you'd have to remember that "Hz" meant "4" and
Ω meant "7" or whatever if you wanted to read it.
- John KG4L
mike
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LOT-7-USED-TESTED-NIXIE-TUBES-IN-14-PCB-/150667632283?_trksid=p4340.m263&_trkparms=algo%3DSIC%26its%3DI%252BC%26itu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BFICS%252BUFI%26otn%3D15%26pmod%3D300598761645%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D3125096107460822668&autorefresh=true
thanks
mike
On Sep 29, 7:50 am, John Rehwinkel <jreh...@mac.com> wrote:
> > is this a good buy? I would like to have the side view tubes but
>
mike
em I reading this right
1 (one) PCB with :
5 pieces Z574M tubes
+
3 or 4 piece SN7s4141N OR MH74141 OR KD155ID1 (soviet clone of 74141)
ICs per bid!
5 Z574M
+
3 or 4 other tubes
for a total of 8 or 9 nixie tubes for $33
http://www.ebay.com/itm/300598781886?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
>
Mich...@aol.com
Adam Jacobs
makes me wince. Are IN-14's really almost $8/each NOS nowadays? Maybe
I'll stop building clocks and just set aside all the tubes I have as my
retirement plan.
With that said, I would probably avoid used tubes, especially of the
"already on a sketchy PCB" variety. This is your first clock, you'll
want the tubes to be in good shape and you'll want to know that they
work. I see an auction for 4x NOS IN-14's at $29, I think that's where I
would start. You don't have to have seconds on your clock (to start
with?) or you could go with a pair of IN-16's or IN-17's for the
seconds. I know that IN-17's are still cheap, IN-16's might be
skyrocketing as well.
The side-view tubes seem to go up in price much much faster / higher
than the end-view tubes. I assume that this is because they look like a
"vacuum tube" and people like the aesthetic. If I was going to build a
nixie clock on a serious budget, as you are, I'd head straight for the
NOS IN-12's. However, also remember that the nixies will probably be the
most expensive portion of your clock, so budget accordingly.
You mention that you would like to build a clock that also has a
temperature sensor, that is very doable. Do you have any microcontroller
experience? Were you planning to design this clock or hoping to build it
from a kit?
-Adam
>> οΏ½ meant "7" or whatever if you wanted to read it.
>>
>> - John KG4L
mike
mike
On Sep 29, 9:45 am, Micha...@aol.com wrote:
> No.
>
> You get 5 tubes, the PCB, and 3or4 driver chips.
>
> In a message dated 9/29/2011 9:41:59 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
>
>
> john
>
> em I reading this right
>
> 1 (one) PCB with :
>
> 5 pieces Z574M tubes
>
> +
>
> 3 or 4 piece SN7s4141N OR MH74141 OR KD155ID1 (soviet clone of 74141)
> ICs per bid!
>
> 5 Z574M
> +
> 3 or 4 other tubes
>
> for a total of 8 or 9 nixie tubes for $33
>
> m1423.l2649
>
> thanks
>
> mike
mike
I've got some micro control experience dating back to the early 80's,
having to do with fine control of heating and air conditioning
equipment. At that time it was still, replace the individual
component, instead of replace the entire board. Replace the entire
board came about 3 years later. So, I can read a schematic, I can
solder and I remember some electrical theory and fundamentals and we
have this wonderful internet that's like having the library of
congress in your living room, so I figure I'll start remembering some
of it, and I can study up on what I forgot. So, I'd like to design
something myself, or I can go off a kit for the first one just to
remind me what's going on. I want to start doing these clocks, etc.
with my sons, so they can learn some basic electrical fundamentals,
and learn how to solder, and have some neat father/son time together.
Also, I wanted to try to make an over thermometer because analog oven
thermostats have a 15-20 degree temp. swing in them. So I thought that
would be an interesting project. Some people like to have a little
bit more fine control over their ovens. And then I stumbled upon this
board, and it seems like there are a lot of experts here.
Well, gotta run, talk to y'all later.
Thanks for the advice
Mike
Nick
IN-17 - nice very small end view tube with wire connections (no
expensive socket or pins). Also has a real "5" rather than inverted
"2" (unlike IN-14)....
Nice tube too...
Nick
Mich...@aol.com
mike
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kit-Nixie-Clock-Project-IN-14-driver-4-tubes-/200635123042?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item2eb6c90562
mike
On Sep 29, 4:04 pm, Micha...@aol.com wrote:
> Nick,
>
> I agree. Problem is they are so small.
>
> The seller is reputable though.
>
> Michail
>
> In a message dated 9/29/2011 2:32:10 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
>
Nick
- note the shipping costs and delivery estimate.
Big plus is that you also get a very usable frame for your clock
gratis.
Nick
On Sep 30, 2:09 am, mike <logan...@gmail.com> wrote:
> there cool a little small how about these there NOS
>
Alex Tsekenis
doing your first clock with numitrons? They don't require the elevated
voltage and small ones can be bought off ebay cheaply.
Alex
John Rehwinkel
> doing your first clock with numitrons? They don't require the elevated
> voltage and small ones can be bought off ebay cheaply.
Another idea is to go ahead and use a 74141 type drivers with an ordinary five volt supply and ten LEDs with a 1k anode
resistoror or even small incandescent lamps (you can chop up a holiday light string to get cheap bulbs and sockets).
This could be done cheaply or even free. A dead ethernet hub will generally get you a five volt supply and several
LEDs. You can get a 74141 chip for a buck or so. You can start lighting LEDs even before you round up a driver chip.
Once you have that, you and your kids can manually tie the various input pins to the positive supply or ground,
and see how the chip works to drive a single output at a time.
You could proceed forward in two ways. You could add a microprocessor and work out how to program the micro
and light up the LEDs or bulbs. Or you could try to scrounge up a high voltage supply and some small neon bulbs.
Supply the neons with your HV supply, and change the anode resistor to 470k or so, and your 74141 will light them
instead of the LEDs.
Then, when you find a nixie tube, you can just swap it for the neon bulbs, and change the anode resistor appropriately,
still using the same 74141 chip to drive it.
This way, you have something up and running soon and cheaply (I find this the best encouragement), you start with
safe low voltage, and you can learn about microprocessors a step at a time.
If you add a second 74141 or a pair of anode drivers, you get a two-digit display, which is sufficient for getting
started with a thermometer. You can quickly learn to read a column of ten lights (LEDs or neons), or you can
arrange for them to shine through digit cutouts. This is exactly how the display worked in some HP frequency
counters:
http://www.hpmemory.org/wa_pages/wall_a_page_11.htm
As you can see, I'm a big fan of getting something working at an early stage, doing things on the cheap, and
electronics in general.
- John KG4L
Adam Jacobs
need to have a nixie to start a nixie clock project. In fact, the nixie
can be the very last component. You might even have a stage with
7-segment LED's and 7-segment BCD drivers to get your clock code up and
running. One could replace the 7-segment drivers and LED's with 74141's
and nixies at a later stage, once the BCD and blanking was working
correctly.
-Adam W7ATJ (soon AJ9D)
mike
mike