Hi everyone guys!
Recently I got a bunch of 6 IV-22 (ив-22), vacuum fluorescent displays, straight from a Moscow basement since the 80's to me, a strange guy who loves to mess with electronics, as a hobby.
My plan was to put a 6 digit clock together.
As soon as they came I went to the bench for some quality time testing them (never played with them before).
My setup consisted in two modules, step up and down, to get the proper voltages in order to make things work from a classic 12v power supply:
+30v for the screen grid and anodes and
+1.25v for the heater (maximum rating 1.32v)
Everything worked fine and I was very pleased to see the greenish super bright color of the digits.
But then, the s**t happened...
I didn't tested the tubes in their sockets, I just used flying wires and female headers on a breadboard to hook everything up.
A bad movement of the tube while powered up and a +30v rail touched one pin of the heater, making the tube glow bright orange for a second or less, I immediately cutted the power off.
Those soviet heaters are tough af, even after 30v were applied they didn't melt but the display now is very very dimmed
How can I restore its brightness considering everything is still working?
I suspect a poisoning from heater elements getting flashed all over the segment anodes. Increasing the heater voltage helps with the brightness but at 1.5v it glows red hot and it's not cool to see.
You guys are my last hope before discarding it