[time-nuts] Nixie - tube clock - 16 Digit Readout !

[Javier Herrero]

Hi,

Morris Odell escribió:
> A great clock and appropriately flanked by Jim Willams' classic book and an 
> 829B power tube!
And also some Tektronix Circuit Concepts books ;)
>
> Have you taken any precautions against cathode poisoning in the nixes that 
> don't see a lot of change?
>
The nixies are ZM1210, multiplexed in a 4 x 3 configuration (anodes of 
three tubes connected together, cathodes of 4 tubes connected together, 
cathodes are driven by 30 outputs of a Supertex HV5530 driver). The 
picture was taken in the date and time shown (CET), and of the five 
units I've built, I've had to replace two years ago one of the nixies 
due to sputtering. The clock has a routine on startup (rarely, when 
mains fails) that drives all digits in sequence (showing 11 11 11 11 11 
11, 22 22 22 22 22 22, etc...) and when I've seen it, I see no 
difference in luminosity in the first two digits (the ones that rarely 
changes), nor in the 10-sec, 10-min (the ones that never shows digits 
over 5... well... supposedly 10-sec shows a 6 when a leap second 
occurs... but I've never been there to see it ;) ) nor in the 10-hour, 
10-days and 10-month digits. All numbers seems to lit with same intensity.
> I have never had a problem in any of the clocks I've built but over at the 
> Neonixie group they get quite excited about it.
>
> Obligatory time nuts content: my latest clock is GPS controlled, and with an 
> Oncore VP timing receiver too :-)
This one uses M12T receivers :) The software includes day time savings 
and configurable time zones (not position-based... seemed way too much 
complicated ;) ).

Regards,

Javier

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Javier Herrero                            EMAIL: jherrero at hvsistemas.com
HV Sistemas S.L.                          PHONE:         +34 949 336 806
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