Nixie clock pictures
Dec 8, 2004 at 5:20 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 16
Prune

Prune

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Time from mains frequency. No mains isolation transformer, no voltage doubler -- they ignite just fine with the rectified 115 VAC. Small transformer for the logic. Reset on power on; three buttons to set time. The six Russian IN-1 Nixies cost me a total of $10 US from seller kwtubes on eBay (he usually has all sorts of NOS Soviet stuff to sell). I had no sockets so used some sort of individual large Molex-type jacks.
cool.gif
 
Dec 8, 2004 at 5:32 AM Post #3 of 16
cool cool cool indeed.... indeed very cool
 
Dec 8, 2004 at 6:56 AM Post #6 of 16
i got so many projects on the go right now. but its so tempting to get pcb's for this too. must finish filter. must build phono pre. must build ppa. must build dynahi.
 
Dec 8, 2004 at 9:56 AM Post #10 of 16
Quote:

Originally Posted by skyskraper
i got so many projects on the go right now. but its so tempting to get pcb's for this too. must finish filter. must build phono pre. must build ppa. must build dynahi.


Several people sell PCBs around the Web, and complete clocks (some getting time signal from GPS) on eBay for several hundred dollars a piece. But you don't need a PCB -- after all, you don't see any in the photo. Just wire together a few ICs and transistors, and you're done. I don't know why so many people have an aversion to point-to-point, considering that for all but very complicated projects the time spent on designing and making a PCB exceeds that to cut and strip the wires. No multi-layer boards here, with wires you have a true 3D interconnecting infrastructure.
 
Dec 8, 2004 at 9:15 PM Post #11 of 16
Can you link to sites with more info, particularly which kit you bought or the design you use? So these are tubes that display characters? I know about the famous nixie watches and clocks but never really understood how they showed the data.
 
Dec 9, 2004 at 1:25 AM Post #12 of 16
What kit? I didn't buy any kit. Nixie tubes are character display gas discharge tubes used before there were things like LCDs etc. -- neon lights with multiple cathodes, each one shaped as a character. As I said in the first post, you can buy cheap Nixies from this eBay seller: http://stores.ebay.com/KW-TUBES_Nixi...isplayZ2QQtZkm
For the timing signal, use decade counters likse 4017 to divide the 60 Hz.
One example setup is here: http://www.mcamafia.de/nixie/ncp_en/ncp.htm
Forget putting transformers back to back, just use a transformer for the low voltage, and rectify the mains (but do not earth the ground!) for the high voltage. No point in bothering with an oscillator, as the mains frequency is very accurate over the long term. The logic will work with lower voltage too, so if you have, say, a 7806 regulator, use that. Use two more 4017s to first divide by ten and then by six, similarly to the seconds counters in the above link, feeding them through a diode and a voltage divider from the low voltage AC (the AC will exceed the regulated supply so the voltage divider should match the peak of the waveform) buffered by a 4013 D flip flop. The 6 Hz signal can be used for the switches to set minutes and hours. To add a seconds reset button, have the button connect the supply to the reset of the first four dividers through more 1N4148s. If you have a seconds display, no need to have the neon colons blinking. Using regular neon bulbs as the ones used in night lights, connect them to the AC mains, not rectified as for the Nixies, so that both electrodes light up; use a current limiting resistor that results in brightness matched to that of the Nixies.
 
Dec 9, 2004 at 4:10 AM Post #14 of 16
The watch only displays the digits while you are holding the button down in order to save battery power. Also, at $495 (actually sold out) it's severely overpriced.
I built my clock for $30 total.
 
Dec 9, 2004 at 5:19 AM Post #15 of 16
Quote:

. Also, at $495 (actually sold out) it's severely overpriced.
I built my clock for $30 total.


My first digital watch cost me $600 and was made by Fairchild beleive it or not !
It had an LED display so it also had the "push the button for the time" as a battery conservation thing and the display was impossible to see in bright sunshine but i still wish i had it.A better looking or cooler watch i have never owned since.
Don't know if fairchild still does watches but they were awsome in the warrantee department.I mashed mine pretty good and on a whim sent it back because even thoughstill under warrantee "mashing" was not exactly covered but i figured why not take a shot and sent it in to the servive dept.
'bout three weeks later a brand no watch arrived ! no questions asked just a brand new watch !

Pretty cool.Not as cool as the clock you built though.Nixie clocks rule !

damn nice job
 
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