That is great. I plan to make a portable 6 tube clock using some Z5900 tubes, so seeing details of how someone addressed the power issues is really useful.
On Friday, February 3, 2017 at 12:44:43 PM UTC-5, Craig Smith wrote: > > I thought I would post a few pictures of my finished Nixie watch that I > have been working on for a while and some pictures of the build. > > > The finished watch > > > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-eVPGAxYTAvI/WJSzl5xqHoI/AAAAAAAAACw/76eA51UPAB4-r3Iji9ldbvrFY6Tbu7ESQCLcB/s1600/NixieWatch-001.jpg> > The breadboard demo setup > > After testing lots of different shift registers to control the tubes. I > needed a shift register capable of doing the job and that would run at 3v. > I went for Micrel MIC5841. Although these are not meant to run at 3v, after > lots of testing they would work down to 2.1v very reliably, so operating > them at 3v should be fine. > > The microprocessor used is a PIC18F13K22 > I ended up using an analogue accelerometer (ADXL335) over the i2c one as > it drew a lot less current. > To get the 170v required to drive the tubes, I used a DC/DC converter IC > (LT1308) and a small transformer 31105R (which I got from David Forbes at > Cathode Corner) > To keep the time nice and accurately, I went for a real time clock IC. > This is a DS3231M. It has built in temperature correction. > The tubes are NL-5870 (B5870) > > The total current drawn when sitting there not displaying is only 96uA > > > The watch displays the time in a similar way to most of the other Nice > watches out there. You tip it to the viewing position and the hours flash, > then the minutes. As I wanted the date to shown also, if you keep the watch > in the view position, the date will also flash up, day then month. > > When the battery gets to 3.5v, the minutes flash twice to show the battery > is running low (I copied this idea from David Forbes). When the voltage > gets to 3.3v the watch stops displaying. > > > When testing the circuit I did 45 time reads a day and the watch lasted > for 18 days until it stopped displaying the time. It then ran for another > week until the battery had dropped to 3v. > > > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-QnzBHlM5Jgk/WJSz2xBodZI/AAAAAAAAAC4/g7msM07wYU45kG6TiX2SlcMcI5fPy9N-ACLcB/s1600/NixieWatch-002.jpg> > > PCB's etched by OSHPark > > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xMI68rjkIXM/WJS0HTgG43I/AAAAAAAAAC8/moyTRYhFcF8aezrgcMcHGhckco0oZfNFwCLcB/s1600/NixieWatch-003.jpg> > > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6uzVtV5CT80/WJS3KYDfGeI/AAAAAAAAADQ/mBnaJdHq-FscCUaQ3jSMT4GjrI6Sv8_MACLcB/s1600/NixieWatch-004.jpg> > > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-osnB21j6Cws/WJS3R9LXxCI/AAAAAAAAADU/IDE-j3v5t4cuBbdExvLzfToAU9SB3idGACLcB/s1600/NixieWatch-005.jpg> > > > PCB assembled. > > > > > > I was going to get the watch CNC machined, but it was going to cost a lot > of money, so I ended up getting some aluminium laser cut to the rought size > and machining it on my mate's lath and milling machine. > > > > I also anodised the case myself in my garage. > > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oozJ72ZCgtw/WJS-EMqG4OI/AAAAAAAAAD0/ZCB6Wg8tf64-_mt8yKU_g8v51-yZDPXiACLcB/s1600/NixieWatch-006.jpg> > > I was originally going to use a stainless strap, but opted for a leather > one instead. > > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NwUGlVJZP-g/WJS-IRZItQI/AAAAAAAAAD4/zmlsKzyJrP8HiwByXBLrukzgoOQgBOgOwCLcB/s1600/NixieWatch-008.jpg> > > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_HQduZXAkEM/WJS-LtDUhXI/AAAAAAAAAD8/79lSGAFBCNoLITtaKS8cwSpwfD4dKm_IACLcB/s1600/NixieWatch-010.jpg> > > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4zmzJxcJ68c/WJS-OoDGnZI/AAAAAAAAAEA/txqSpOHkUo8i0s6WjTRu8NP8C6XV9ypKwCLcB/s1600/NixieWatch-011.jpg> > > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8WCjyiqI67M/WJS-RxqpcEI/AAAAAAAAAEE/MxAMB9hi6BI8Jc9SCGBfhfXTXi5HP4m2QCLcB/s1600/NixieWatch-012.jpg> > > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-T6fA_Yn1Ccs/WJS-WHjkl0I/AAAAAAAAAEI/EpOBySkWHyYPGwdQuWCg43g82j1EJ7kbgCLcB/s1600/NixieWatch-014.jpg> > > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-bIuxIRrOxPM/WJS-axqS3aI/AAAAAAAAAEM/V8GNLIrlkok1wn1KNRnEVVnizeFvLwDDwCLcB/s1600/NixieWatch-017.jpg> > > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-vgC5DUdOOY8/WJS-er9IvQI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/m9e4p_-fbAU7OeXWrNlEpJpqGPu6dHrmgCLcB/s1600/NixieWatch-020.jpg> > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-o4PvS9rNgEA/WJS-hjSDeoI/AAAAAAAAAEU/uUTNCiUnMtYGeItyAm9OmuIpDBFcNixtgCLcB/s1600/NixieWatch-021.jpg> > -- 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/8669b373-18e1-47e7-b28c-0bade08dbd8b%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
