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Custom Nixie Tube Clock Review

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Evangelopoulos Panagiotis:

--- Quote from: schmitt trigger on May 31, 2019, 02:54:51 pm ---If you would like to complicate your circuit slightly but add significant appeal, I would add a Dekatron which rotates with the seconds.

Dekatrons have 10 steps, so it would take 6 revolutions to complete a minute. But the rotating effect, in my opinion, is *far more appealing* than a plain blinking LED or neon.

Another way to display the seconds, is to use a "magic eye", opening and closing in a heart-beat fashion. Again, very appealing visually.

I have done both approaches.

--- End quote ---

That actually sounds very very interesting! I'll keep it in mind for version 2 in the future! For now, since I'm using 8 displays I can actually display seconds, so I'll go with that option.

schmitt trigger:
May I suggest something then? Add the pads where you could connect a Dekatron or Magic eye circuitry in the future.

The magic eye the simplest option. It can run from the exact same anode voltage that the Nixies use, and the drive can be accomplished with a pair of diodes, resistors and capacitors.

The Dekatron is more interesting but more challenging. For starters, you require a voltage tripler on the output of your HV supply. The drive is bi-phase and requires some high voltage transistors.

Evangelopoulos Panagiotis:

--- Quote from: NivagSwerdna on May 30, 2019, 02:06:36 pm ---Cool. Please share some pictures when you have it working.  :)

--- End quote ---

And it's alive!  :D  To my surprise it worked without any major problems. The HV power supply could use a bit of work but it works well enough.
I ordered the PCB's from JLCPCB since it was the cheapest option. About 25 euro for 5 boards plus shipping. Not so bad...
I know a lot of people are not fond of the black solder mask but I personally think it's the best. Looks super slick and it's more "presentable" than the others.
I also ordered all components form LCSC, except for the NI-12Bs and a few other stuff.
It was my first time soldering SMD so I got big resistor packages just to be sure. :P

The code so far features:

* 24h time display with the HH MM SS format
* Date display with the DD MM YY format
* The ability to edit those values
* The ability to store important values to the EEPROM in case the power is lost
* A "fun" display that shows the percentage of my life wasted :P
Also I made a quick cardboard base until I make the wooden enclosure I have in mind for this.

schmitt trigger:
Congrats!
For this type of project, I also believe that a black solder mask was the best visual choice.

Macbeth:
Nice! Have you tested the DP's? You may want to add some resistors to them to limit current. I recall Dave used 100k on his Nixie subscriber counter.  :-+

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