[neonixie-l] Steampunk Nixie Watch battery life
Over the past few weeks I did some extensive tests for battery life of my Nixie Watch. When I started with the design, I took David's numbers as a reference. An average of 50 readings per day at 1mA tube current (about 185mA battery current) results in 4 to 6 months battery life. Say 5 months, that would be 7,500 readings for 1 battery. I wanted my battery to last for 1 year, so it needed to be able to last for say 20,000 readings. I started off with making the HV circuit as efficient as possible which resulted in the fact that I could drive the tubes with 1mA at around 95mA battery current. I could use this advantage to go from say 7,500 readings to 15,000 readings (or 5 months to 10 months). However, I decided to increase the tube brightness to go from 1mA to 2mA so that the tubes would be better to read when you're outside. This meant that to increase battery life, I had to be able to adjust the tube brightness according to the amount of ambient light, which would also make it much more convenient to read the time when it's dark. The high efficiency of the total circuit resulted in a minimum of 6mA battery current when reading the tubes at night and around 185 - 200mA in (very) bright daylight. To test battery life, I implemented a feature that the watch can automatically display the time with intervals of 5 seconds. This comes down to around 600 readings per hour. I also implemented a 16 bit counter that would keep track on how many time readings had been triggered. I had estimated that the number could be anywhere between 20,000 and 50,000 so that's why I choose 16 bits. To estimate battery life, and check how the watch would behave when it would run out of juice, I then installed a new battery and set the watch to display the time 600 times per hour and 24 hours per day. Wherever I went, I was wearing the watch and I only took it off at night. Now the interesting part. After about 4.5 days, my 16 bit counter overflowed, passing the maximum of 65,535 readings. And it didn't just do that once, no, several days later it overflowed again, clocking a total of 131,000 readings! But, it didn't stop just there because the battery still had enough juice to go on for another 100,000 readings. Then, the display faded and in the end at 270,000 readings the battery was dead!! Now, that's what I call an increadible result! Sure the tubes are not at their brightest, and the low current (6mA) during the night would compensate for the higher current the watch would use during the daytime. Then I did a second test, basically the same but now with the tubes set to a constant 100% brightness, 600 times per hour. Not surprisingly, the battery could not supply the required power anymore after about 14,000 readings. I built a feature into the software that monitors the battery performance and automatically reduces the tube brightness to a minimum when the battery is nearly flat. This way, the time will still display at low tube brightness (which is 25% of maximum brightness) and you can change the battery before it is completely flat. This also means that if we would set the watch to a constant 50% brightness (1mA tube current), the battery will last for about 25,000 readings, enough for 1 year. http://xiac.com/Images/Steampunk_Nixie_Watch.JPG Michel http://facebook.com/nixiewatch -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups neonixie-l group. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/neonixie-l?hl=en-GB.
Re: [neonixie-l] Steampunk Nixie Watch battery life
Nice report [and I like the tone]. That photo of watch is interesting - I hadn't looked at yours before; was waiting for firm results. Good job, congrats John K Australia - Original Message - From: Michel mic...@xiac.com To: neonixie-l neonixie-l@googlegroups.com Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2012 8:23 PM Subject: [neonixie-l] Steampunk Nixie Watch battery life Over the past few weeks I did some extensive tests for battery life of my Nixie Watch. ...clip... -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups neonixie-l group. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/neonixie-l?hl=en-GB.
[neonixie-l] Sale a big VFD tubes ILC1-1/8L
Although I've never been able to work out a display tube deal with Oleg, I have purchased high voltage electronic components through his eBay store before. My transactions have always been smooth and my packages arrived quicker than others from that part of the world. -otto -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups neonixie-l group. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/neonixie-l/-/T8IxHAK-cZIJ. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/neonixie-l?hl=en-GB.
[neonixie-l] Anyone have an Eagle library for Soviet K176-series ICs?
I figure it is a long shot, but it never hurts to ask. I've been thinking about re-drawing the Elektronika 7 family schematics in a style more understandable to Western readers. This will involve (at a minimum) not splitting a single connector onto multiple pieces of the schematic, showing all the connector pins in sequence on the schematic, clarifying when a bus is used (right now, it is a line the same width as a single connection with numbers noted in a random position when a signal enters / exits the bus), showing Western ground and +V symbols instead of just labeling wire ends A abd B. And of course, I'd change all of the comments and notes to English, leaving only the part numbers in Russian. K176 databook here: http://www.tmk.com/transient/k176-data.pdf A typical problem schematic: http://www.tmk.com/blog/elektronika-schematic.jpg Has anyone ever tried this before, and maybe has some leftover libraries that would help? If I get that far, I could also use a library with IV-6, IV-26 (type 1, 2, and 3), and IV-17. But I could create those myself - it is the work of getting the ICs and their functions in that I'd rather not repeat if it is available. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups neonixie-l group. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/neonixie-l?hl=en-GB.
[neonixie-l] Re: Anyone have an Eagle library for Soviet K176-series ICs?
Although I cannot give you any information re Eagle I would say apart from translating into English leave it as it is. style more understandable to Western readers Who does not understand this format? numbers noted in a random position when a signal enters / exits the bus The numbers are in numerical order from each connector, as they SHOULD be. showing all the connector pins in sequence No the BUS lines should be in sequence (see above) as they are. not splitting a single connector onto multiple pieces of the schematic Not a problem, that's schematics for you, still easy to follow and the ic's functions would NOT normally be put on the schematic (would be difficult as their pin outs are not in 'component' order unless you're planning to rearrange the bus order and make it more difficult to read) If you want to see all the CONNECTOR pins in numerical order then see a wiring diagram. Don't know about anyone else (here) but to me, and I'm in the UK, that is a standard type schematic. I used to build/service electric trains and can show you schematics from British Rail from the 60's/70's right through to today that use the same format. Just a thought Terry but 'Re-invent the wheel' comes to mind, if anyone struggles to read the example schematic they just need to brush up on their digram reading skills. P.s. it WOULD be great in English ;) On Sunday, 15 July 2012 14:55:07 UTC+1, Terry Kennedy wrote: I figure it is a long shot, but it never hurts to ask. I've been thinking about re-drawing the Elektronika 7 family schematics in a style more understandable to Western readers. This will involve (at a minimum) not splitting a single connector onto multiple pieces of the schematic, showing all the connector pins in sequence on the schematic, clarifying when a bus is used (right now, it is a line the same width as a single connection with numbers noted in a random position when a signal enters / exits the bus), showing Western ground and +V symbols instead of just labeling wire ends A abd B. And of course, I'd change all of the comments and notes to English, leaving only the part numbers in Russian. K176 databook here: http://www.tmk.com/transient/k176-data.pdf A typical problem schematic: http://www.tmk.com/blog/elektronika-schematic.jpg Has anyone ever tried this before, and maybe has some leftover libraries that would help? If I get that far, I could also use a library with IV-6, IV-26 (type 1, 2, and 3), and IV-17. But I could create those myself - it is the work of getting the ICs and their functions in that I'd rather not repeat if it is available. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups neonixie-l group. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/neonixie-l/-/90jEfMfOg90J. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/neonixie-l?hl=en-GB.
[neonixie-l] Re: Steampunk Nixie Watch battery life
Thanks for the comments John, This Steampunk version was actually a special order, I normally make them in olive drab colour. I still have an idea for another one to make it a very Australian Nixie Watch. Maybe I get that done in a few months time. Michel On Jul 15, 9:04 pm, JohnK yend...@internode.on.net wrote: Nice report [and I like the tone]. That photo of watch is interesting - I hadn't looked at yours before; was waiting for firm results. Good job, congrats John K Australia - Original Message - From: Michel mic...@xiac.com To: neonixie-l neonixie-l@googlegroups.com Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2012 8:23 PM Subject: [neonixie-l] Steampunk Nixie Watch battery life Over the past few weeks I did some extensive tests for battery life of my Nixie Watch. ...clip... -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups neonixie-l group. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/neonixie-l?hl=en-GB.
Re: [neonixie-l] Re: Curious Nixie watch listing on ebay
And with nixie watches being so amazingly common, I'm surprised anyone noticed it! ;-) Very curious indeed! On Fri, Jul 13, 2012 at 9:51 PM, Terry S tschw10...@aol.com wrote: Strange. From all indications, a legitmate seller. Yet a clear rip-off of data from your site. At least the auction has been cancelled. On Thursday, July 12, 2012 11:46:12 PM UTC-5, nixiebunny wrote: http://www.ebay.com/itm/**290739784194http://www.ebay.com/itm/290739784194 Says he'll make a Nixie watch to order, and 10 are available, yet has photos of one of my watches and a picture and lots of text copied verbatim from my website. Lots of good feedback, too. I can't make heads nor tails of it. -- David Forbes, Tucson AZ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups neonixie-l group. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/neonixie-l/-/t_B9g1bCgUcJ. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/neonixie-l?hl=en-GB. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups neonixie-l group. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/neonixie-l?hl=en-GB.
[neonixie-l] ZM1030 Dual Anode Nixies Available.
Greetings... I have 4 of those Philips ZM1030 dual anode Nixies that I don't really want. Anyone want to swap them for some real Nixies, or if they are worthless they can have them for the postage. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups neonixie-l group. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/neonixie-l/-/xdX1Rang98YJ. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/neonixie-l?hl=en-GB.
