I'll definitely keep it original as all the circuits inside are beautifully hand made, and to a high standard at that. Whilst it would be a cool project, in my opinion this would be sacrilegious. This is a one off piece of history I'll never get back if I replace the internals. After all I know nobody with a nixie advertising sign of any sort.
Kevin A. schrieb am Dienstag, 14. November 2023 um 01:15:48 UTC+1: > Wow this is an exciting find! Yes, I would certainly use a high voltage > supply with fine current adjustment to try un-poisoning the partial glowing > cathodes. > > Cheap way would be to get a low cost PSU such as NCH6300HV and get a large > variable resistor (rheostat), perhaps one up to 20K with a few watts > rating. You can then lower resistance when powered and see effect of > increasing current. Might also he good to have a dmm or other current meter > in series to monitor. > > This display would make an awesome retrofit project for a ESP32ish WiFi > capable controller with clock, custom message functions, weather, etc. As > much as I appreciate originality, you could keep the look original but make > it a full featured unit with internet, synced time, cross fading and other > cool effects, dimming and PIR sensors (to save tube life), etc... just > thinking out loud. > > On Mon, Nov 13, 2023, 3:07 PM Magnedyne <miro.s...@airgrips.de> wrote: > >> Well, this serves as my introduction and and as a thread about a >> beautiful sign I just picked up. >> Firstly something about myself. >> I’m a 17 year old collector and (hobby) historian of vintage computers, >> my interests are mainly minis, mainframes, early micros and kit/diy >> computers. But I’ve got a few other different bits and bobs throughout the >> history of technology as well. >> Now back to the reason I joined this group. >> I came across an absolutely beautiful Telefunken advertising sign for >> the, frankly underdocumented, Telefunken Varisymbol tubes. They were >> Telefunkens response to the Burroughs 7971 alphanumerical tubes. These were >> only sold for a very brief amount of time and exclusively in Europe. >> Interestingly these are flat like panaplex tubes and the anode is not a >> grid, but a coating on the inside of the tube. These are the earliest gas >> discharge tubes, well the ones I’m aware of anyhow, which used such a >> coating. >> The sign is a handmade one off which was lugged around to fairs to >> advertise the Varisymbol to potential Customers. It implements all three >> sizes of the Varisymbol ZM1350 ZM1360 & ZM1370. It can alternate between >> „TELEFUNKEN“ and „VARISYMBOL“ at four different speeds. Switching between >> the sign reading „TELEFUNKEN“ three times, then „VARISYMBOL“ three times >> and the sign reading „TELEFUNKEN VARISYMBOL TELEFUNKEN“/ „VARISYMBOL >> TELEFUNKEN VARISYMBOL“ is possible as well. Unfortunately three tubes >> don’t display quite properly. I’m hoping it’s just the electronics, I >> haven’t had time for a detailed diagnosis yet. Even if it’s the tubes, it >> seems to be the most common type at least, the ZM1350 which seems to have >> popped up most often in the past. >> Any further info about the Varisymbol is greatly appreciated. >> Cheers, >> Magnedyne >> [image: IMG_0026.jpeg] >> >> [image: IMG_0025.jpeg] >> [image: IMG_0021.jpeg] >> >> >> >> -- >> 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+...@googlegroups.com. >> To view this discussion on the web, visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/20e32d2c-3ac1-4656-b532-77b22f6a35f1n%40googlegroups.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/20e32d2c-3ac1-4656-b532-77b22f6a35f1n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- 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 view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/76ee6349-2345-407e-87fd-7cf469c9d5e1n%40googlegroups.com.
