Over almost the last ten years, I have been designing, producing and selling a variety of logic and PIC Micro-controlled nixie clocks, from classic 2x3 mux 74141-based designs to multiplexed and direct drive IN18 monsters, to miniature desk clocks and single digit weirdness. I feel I've "been there" now, and want to find other appropriate outlets for these glorious glowing anachronisms! (that is: nixie tubes).
I've been giving some serious thought recently to designing and building a good quality 50,000 count (4 3/4 digit) Bench Digital Multimeter with a fair few (sensible) bells and whistles, but of course with a nixie display. It would use a standard but very capable DMM "front-end" chip to do all the measurement, opto-isolated to a controller and then onto a direct drive nixie display (with Volts/Amps/Ohms/Hertz symbols!) Battery or mains, USB output (or is that input?). I am aiming for CAT IV performance by design (but not by certification - too expensive), good accuracy as afforded by the front end chip, and in a good quality case (likely to be the most expensive component). I'd like to offer it both as an assemble-able kit (so I'd presolder small SMD parts) or a fully assembled instrument. This would be a "serious" bit of kit, not something which *looks like* it was thrown together in a biscuit tin! I've yet to decide whether the software would be open source, but it might be nice to let "the community" develop additional functions in software (data logging, averaging, etc.) I aim to produce a batch of maybe 50 instruments, but I really don't have much of a clue as to the demand, out there. "It's going to depend on cost," you say. Well, based on BOM costs so far, it is not going to come in much (if anything) below about GBP £400 (USD $550). Yes, you could spend that on a new meter and get guaranteed similar specs, but *it wouldn't have a nixie display* which is of course the unique selling point. It might take me around 12 months from pressing the button to a finished product. I've looked, but there appears to be nothing else out there. So what does the group think? Are we nixie nuts a very small group? Are clocks enough? Is that price way too high? (the BOM costs means the price can’t be much lower, for small volumes!) Regards Laurence www.MrNixie.com (the one in England they call) Mr Nixie -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/6f8b3456-3add-41b2-9106-765741d98a48%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
