Some tubes were doped with Kr85. They have little radiation signs on them.... 122P224, Paul has a nice write up here ( https://www.nixies.us/bwg_gallery/122p224/). Half life is 10 years, so a lot of decay since manufacture....
On Thu, Nov 30, 2023 at 2:42 PM liam bartosiewicz < liambartosiew...@gmail.com> wrote: > If I remember correctly, there were some tubes manufactured that had a > small external radioactive source to make them more reliable. It wouldn’t > be very practical, or safe for that matter, but a radioactive nixie clock > does sound pretty cool. > > On Nov 30, 2023, at 1:43 PM, Nicholas Stock <nickst...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > May I suggest a small piece of uranium ore placed next to the clock? > > LOL. > > Just kidding Jeff! I like Jon's idea, up the voltage/series resistor. > > On Thu, Nov 30, 2023 at 1:38 PM Jeff Walton <jwalton...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Not dimmed. Tried to do a momentary hit on all segments to "wake" up the >> tube and it helped some but the extra flash is distracting. >> >> On Thursday, November 30, 2023 at 9:04:36 AM UTC-6 Paul Andrews wrote: >> >>> Are they also dimmed using an LDR? If so, turn dimming off - if you have >>> access to the source code, you could turn dimming off briefly when the >>> clock turns on. >>> >>> On Wednesday, November 29, 2023 at 9:43:48 PM UTC-5 Jeff Walton wrote: >>> >>>> I've recently come across a situation where I have some tubes in a >>>> clock that are being directly driven and are having trouble starting when >>>> the room is darkened but light right up when a room light is turned on. >>>> These particular tubes were probably intended for use in a calculator. >>>> They are seven segment neon MG-17G tubes. Once the tubes have any of the >>>> segments lit, there is really no issue with the performance. It's when the >>>> tubes go completely dark if a space is used while scrolling a message or >>>> lighting a dash on and off to emulate a colon. I'm wondering if others >>>> have found any particular tricks to help convince tubes to light up. There >>>> is no "baselighting" and the HV is ~172v. I'm considering increasing the >>>> HV by 10-15v but don't want to over drive the tubes. Short of putting a >>>> radioactive source in the vicinity, are there other things that anyone has >>>> had any luck with? >>>> >>>> Jeff >>>> >>> -- >> 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/69cbf16c-56c2-4785-b4d2-ab0f6bcb76e1n%40googlegroups.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/69cbf16c-56c2-4785-b4d2-ab0f6bcb76e1n%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/CAOX%2BRHKPrgPAGPbF1%2B2d0hNNp8Vk%3DXGe5OP5V2PropW0Oy7Xnw%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/CAOX%2BRHKPrgPAGPbF1%2B2d0hNNp8Vk%3DXGe5OP5V2PropW0Oy7Xnw%40mail.gmail.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/233BA8F1-AF6E-4CC8-B499-2A9ED404EC37%40gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/233BA8F1-AF6E-4CC8-B499-2A9ED404EC37%40gmail.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/CAOX%2BRH%2BW6k9E_cKv_dtpySxVk0JeNL4Q2jppZft%2BwCNxgNNPKg%40mail.gmail.com.
