Tube DIY Asylum

Do It Yourself (DIY) paradise for tube and SET project builders.

Return to Tube DIY Asylum

Message Sort: Post Order or Asylum Reverse Threaded

Nixie Tube Current?

76.175.99.83

Posted on May 14, 2020 at 18:17:48

gusser
Audiophile

Posts: 3649
Location: So. California
Joined: September 6, 2006

My COVID-19 lock down new preamp build uses a Nixie tube to show volume level, 0-10, via third gang on the volume control using an ADC with a micro-controller! Log volume pot, easier to map with a look up table!

The Nixie tube spec sheet shows a minimum of 1.5a and a max of 3ma anode current. But I find 1.0ma about right brightness wise. 1.5ma has a secondary purple glow and looks over current.

So is there any risk or damage from running the Nixie tube below specified minimum current? Seems it would extend life but does that work opposite due to physics and chemistry of the gas and materials?

FWEIW, 240v anode voltage limited by a 82K resistor provides 1ma of tube current. So I have plenty of strike voltage.

TIA

Hide full thread outline!

RE: Nixie Tube Current?

Eli Duttman

19:47:09 05/14/20

gusser

10:58:01 05/15/20

RE: Strike Voltage

Eli Duttman

11:48:55 05/15/20

...

Show full thread outline!

RE: Nixie Tube Current?

Eli Duttman

19:47:09 05/14/20

gusser

10:58:01 05/15/20

RE: Strike Voltage

Eli Duttman

11:48:55 05/15/20

RE: Nixie Tube Current?, posted on May 14, 2020 at 19:47:09

Eli Duttman
Audiophile

Posts: 10455
Location: Monroe Township, NJ
Joined: March 31, 2000

When push comes to shove, a "Nixie" tube is a NE2 "on steroids". IIRC, neon "strikes" at something like 60 V.

Remember, to get glow around both rods of a NE2 it must be energized with AC. DC yields glow around only 1 electrode and a "Nixie" exploits that fact by energizing a numeral shaped electrode.

Eli D.

Nixie Writeup

Strike Voltage, posted on May 15, 2020 at 10:58:01
gusser Audiophile Posts: 3649 Location: So. California Joined: September 6, 2006	Actually they specify 170v as the operating voltage. I though I could get away with 150v - wrong. Would not strike reliably and some of the digits were half lit. Must the the gas mixture. They are kind of pinkish so it's probably not just neon alone.

RE: Strike Voltage, posted on May 15, 2020 at 11:48:55
Eli Duttman Audiophile Posts: 10455 Location: Monroe Township, NJ Joined: March 31, 2000	Energy from sources other than the electric field reduces the "striking" voltages of gas discharge devices. Other sources include light and radioactive decay. Constructing gas discharge devices with a small amount of Ni63 in the total material used seems nearly perfect to me. The weak β emitter is quite safe inside a glass bottle and the decay product is stable copper. Eli D.

Page processed in 0.021 seconds.