300 Volts in a roll of film: Ultra-portable Nixie Tube driver

FlyingFishFinger

This doesn't have much to do with Basic Stamps, but I thought I'd post it anyway...if it's not appropriate here, feel free to remove it. So,·I recently came into possession of an ancient frequency counter that used Nixie tubes. My needs were served better with my multimeter, so I dismantled it and harvested the tubes. Now I needed a way to drive them. Yesterday afternoon I was bored, so I thought I'd try some stuff with them.·I found various places online that hinted one could use the flash boards from disposable cameras to drive them, so·I got a few (Free, from Longs). I got rid of the flash bulb, the capacitor and the inductor, then I could access the 300-400V that used to charge the capacitor off a single AA battery. I added an appropriate resistor for my Nixies (47K), realigned the battery holder (originally perpendicular to the board), shorted the trigger switch and installed a slide switch on the former cap charge switch. Then I melted the bottom out of a film can and managed to fit it in if I squashed it a bit....I also put the yellow caps on to make sure no one gets a shock if they accidentally trip the switch...
All in all, cool little gadget
Rafael

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You've got to play the game.
You can't win.
You can't break even, except on a very cold day.
It doesn't get that cold.
~Laws of Thermodynamics~

Post Edited (FlyingFishFinger) : 1/25/2007 9:14:26 PM GMT

ChrisE

Wow, that is pretty cool. I've seen the flash circuits been used in mini-rail guns as well as coil/gauss guns, and the DIY flash-slave.
I thought its use was limited to that. Makes sense to use it·as a power supply.
What sort of·the battery life do you get out of·the thing?



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FlyingFishFinger

Hmm...interesting question. Haven't tested that yet, but let's see:
The tubes are supposed to draw about 1mA...I'm driving them at 300V. Assuming the conversion from 1.2V is linear, that's a factor of 250. Further assuming the use of·an AA battery of 2000mAH capacity, that translates into a current draw on the battery of 250mA, meaning they would last about...wow...8 hours ideally. Subtract 3 hours for non-ideal conditions etc (wild guess)...end up with about 5 hours...assuming I didn't make a mistake in the calculation.
Gotta test that[noparse]:)[/noparse]
Won't be for a while though...not much time right now

Rafael

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You've got to play the game.
You can't win.
You can't break even, except on a very cold day.
It doesn't get that cold.
~Laws of Thermodynamics~

FlyingFishFinger

Hello-
I tested that with a non-rechargable alkaline battery. It lasted about 4.5 hours before it gave out initially. Which isn't too bad I guess. A couple of hours later it worked again, but I haven't tested how long more. I don't think very much (I'll check).

Rafael

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You've got to play the game.
You can't win.
You can't break even, except on a very cold day.
It doesn't get that cold.
~Laws of Thermodynamics~

bassmaster

this is really cool. I wanted to make a tube clock once, but those tubes are EXPENSIVE!!!! , so now I am shooting for a binary atomic (VLF RF from Colorado) clock with a propeller chip.

Paul Baker

Sounds like an interesting project bassmaster, it would be great if you could share your project when you complete it. I have heard that the only company which still makes nixie tubes (a Russian firm) has increased production because of the resurgent interest in them. Hopefully this will lead to a decrease in thier cost.

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Paul Baker
Propeller Applications Engineer

Parallax, Inc.

Bean

Slightly OT, but if you watch the movie "Monsters Inc". They have nixies on just about everything in the "Factory".
Of course, stupid me had to say to my wife "Wow those are nixies", then had to spend two hours explaining what a "nixie" was...

Bean.

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Cheap used 4-digit LED display with driver IC·www.hc4led.com

Low power SD Data Logger www.sddatalogger.com
SX-Video Display Modules www.sxvm.com
Stuff I'm selling on ebay http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZhittconsultingQQhtZ-1

"USA Today has come out with a new survey - apparently, three out of every four people make up 75% of the population." - David Letterman

boeboy

what are "nixies"?

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lets see what this does... KA BOOM (note to self do not cross red and black)

FlyingFishFinger

The forerunners of LCD's and LEDS, cold-cathode tubes.
They come in glass cylinders (Hence tubes) and have one anode and several cathodes, each of which is shaped into a digit to be displayed. They run at several hundred volts, and draw about 2mA of current.
That's the simple explanation. If you want more details, you should probably ask Bean for his two-hour answer [noparse]:)[/noparse]
Rafael

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You've got to play the game.
You can't win.
You can't break even, except on a very cold day.
It doesn't get that cold.
~Laws of Thermodynamics~

Paul Baker

Boeboy, take a look at flyingfishfinger's last picture, thats a nixie tube.

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Paul Baker
Propeller Applications Engineer

Parallax, Inc.

boeboy

thanks

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lets see what this does... KA BOOM (note to self do not cross red and black)

boeboy

Those are neat where can you get some?

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lets see what this does... KA BOOM (note to self do not cross red and black)

Tim-M

Boeboy,

Do a google, froogle or eBay search and you'll find plenty of them.

Tim

boeboy

Thanks for all the info and patience.

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lets see what this does... KA BOOM (note to self do not cross red and black)

latigerlilly

His high voltage vacuum tube "nixie tube" sounds and looks a lot like a mini rife tube:



Maybe you could use the Stamp 2 to make specific frequencies to kill microbes under a microscope slide using a Nixie tube.... The gap between cathode and anode in the vacuum tube of the Nixie tube could function as an RF emitter. It looks like your Nixie tube driver is a miniature of my rife device. I used a PC as my frequency generator. The stamp 2 would be much smaller. I used a $219 rife tube. You could use an inexpensive Nixie tube. I used an ignition coil from a car. You used the flash boards from disposable cameras. How cool! A mini Rife machine!