Re: [neonixie-l] ZM1000 Nixie clock schematic?

[Jens Grabner]

It is possible, that this is the answer:
 
http://www.element14.com/community/thread/21452/l/converting-brd-to-sch?displayFullThread=true

> Marcin Adamski  hat am 3. November 2015 um 02:23
> geschrieben:
>
>
> Hi Damir,
> would it be this one (in the attachment)?
> Cheers, Marcin
>
> On 03-Nov-15 08:53, franetic wrote:
> > Hi to all!
> >
> > Ten years ago I build a clock with ZM1000 nixies and posted a few photos
> > of it in the old Yahoo neonixie group. I recently decided to revive the
> > project: http://betatronics.blogspot.com.
> > The thing is: I have lost the schematic file for this clock. (Loss of
> > data and no backup, of course...) I do however remember posting a link
> > to the schematic in the old neonixie group. (I checked - a dead link
> > now...) So this is a very long shot: Is any of the former group members
> > still here, who has downloaded that schematic, and still has it?
> >
> > Best,
> > Damir
>
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[neonixie-l] NL4998 4 digit watch

[nixiebunny]

Well, I finally noticed that Surplus Sales of Nebraska had a bucket-load of 
NL4998 tubes. So I bought them. I keep getting requests for 4 digit Nixie 
watches, and these tubes are the best candidates for making a Metro: Last 
Light style watch. It seems to be in some demand. 

Curiously, four of these tubes almost fit in the diameter of my round 
2-digit Nixie watch. 

The trick will be to make it have an acceptable thickness. The watch in the 
video game is imaginary, so its thickness is unknown. My round watch is 
.80" thick. The 4998 tubes are .81" tall not including the leads. I much 
prefer socketing tubes rather than soldering them in, so a very low profile 
socket is on my list of things to find. 

Thoughts? 

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[neonixie-l] Re: TaylorEdge SmartNixies and Arduino / AVR

[TheJBW]

John,

Thanks for your detailed reply. I hadn't had a chance to touch the Nixies 
for two months, so it's sat idle until today. I messed around with the code 
and it turns out that the addressing was the problem (I never doubted that 
the smart nixie modules were working correctly :-) ). What I found is that 
the Arduino I2C insists on using 7 bit addressing with a left shift, so I 
had to *right shift* my effective address. The code that works (I've tested 
it with an individual address instead of iterating and fun the individual 
test for the first five addresses in the space to confirm that something 
else isn't happening).
Here is my working code that simply counts 0-9 and loops:

#include 

void setup()
{
  Wire.begin(); // join i2c bus (address optional for master)
  Serial.begin(9600);


  for(byte j = 0; j < 6; j++)
  {
  Wire.beginTransmission(0x08 + j); // transmit to tube address
  Wire.write(0x0B);
  Wire.write(50);
  Wire.endTransmission();// stop transmitting
  }
}


void loop()
{
  for(byte i = 0; i < 10; i++)
  {
for(byte j = 0; j < 6; j++)
{
Wire.beginTransmission(0x08 + j); // transmit to tube address
Wire.write(0);
Wire.write(i);
Wire.endTransmission();// stop transmitting
}
Serial.println(i);
delay(50);
  }
}

Thanks again for your help and responsiveness. 

On Tuesday, August 25, 2015 at 3:16:59 PM UTC-7, taylorjpt wrote:
>
> The flash is the charge coupled from the fast rising transistor drains 
> coupled into the gates that turns on all segments just before the processor 
> boots and sets all segments to off.  This is the result of avoiding putting 
> pull down resistors on every gate for space considerations.
>
> The first thing to check is whether you are getting an ACK from the first 
> address write to the device, 0x10 for write and 0x11 for read:  Note that 
> 0x10/0x11 is the full 8 bit address of the device with the Read/nWrite bit 
> included and
> not a 7 bit address that needs to be shifted left to be 0x20 and 0x21 for 
> write and read respectively.  This can be clearly seen in figures 16a and 
> 16b of the datasheet (
> http://www.tayloredge.com/storefront/SmartNixie/DataSheets/Datasheet_SmartNixie.pdf).
>   
> If you are getting the ACK then the addressing is correct and then you can 
> move on to register access problems.
>
> jt
>
> On Tuesday, August 25, 2015 at 10:47:57 AM UTC-7, TheJBW wrote:
>>
>> John,
>>
>> Thanks for the advice. I definitely had the polarity of the switches 
>> wrong in my head. Unfortunately, I am still getting no joy out of the 
>> tubes. After a long power off, they will flash briefly when brought up, so 
>> I am fairly confident that the micro is alive. Voltages look good, and I am 
>> seeing clean pulses on the i2c lines... I tried poking the brightness 
>> register as in the datasheet, just in case, as well.
>>
>

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[neonixie-l] Re: NL4998 4 digit watch

[gregebert]

No easy solution for a wristwatch.

Tubes that are intended for socketing have thicker pins, so clipping them 
will put the tube under a lot of stress. Even a rotary tool with a cutoff 
wheel will subject the tube to a lot of vibration. 

I wouldn't even think of bending the pins.

I think that leaves 2 options

   - solder the tubes directly to the PCB. The big question there is if the 
   pins have a solderable surface material. Maybe you could use a rotary tool 
   *after* soldering the tubes because the PCB will reduce vibrations 
   traveling up the pins.
   - use socket pins. It will work, but it will also worsen the height.


Instead of a wristwatch, maybe a small wall-clock ?

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Re: [neonixie-l] NL4998 4 digit watch

[jb-electronics]

Nice find! Just out of curiosity, how many tubes are we talking?

Cheers
Jens


Am 03.11.2015 um 17:22 schrieb nixiebunny:
Well, I finally noticed that Surplus Sales of Nebraska had a 
bucket-load of NL4998 tubes. So I bought them. I keep getting requests 
for 4 digit Nixie watches, and these tubes are the best candidates for 
making a Metro: Last Light style watch. It seems to be in some demand.


Curiously, four of these tubes almost fit in the diameter of my round 
2-digit Nixie watch.


The trick will be to make it have an acceptable thickness. The watch 
in the video game is imaginary, so its thickness is unknown. My round 
watch is .80" thick. The 4998 tubes are .81" tall not including the 
leads. I much prefer socketing tubes rather than soldering them in, so 
a very low profile socket is on my list of things to find.


Thoughts?

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Re: [neonixie-l] Re: NL4998 4 digit watch

[JohnK]

1).  a shear cutter should be ok
and/or
2). wrap wire around the pin [and secure with silver-bearing epoxy?]

John K
  - Original Message - 
  From: gregebert 
  To: neonixie-l 
  Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2015 10:25 AM
  Subject: [neonixie-l] Re: NL4998 4 digit watch


  No easy solution for a wristwatch.


  Tubes that are intended for socketing have thicker pins, so clipping them 
will put the tube under a lot of stress. Even a rotary tool with a cutoff wheel 
will subject the tube to a lot of vibration. 


  I wouldn't even think of bending the pins.



  I think that leaves 2 options
a.. solder the tubes directly to the PCB. The big question there is if the 
pins have a solderable surface material. Maybe you could use a rotary tool 
after soldering the tubes because the PCB will reduce vibrations traveling up 
the pins.
b.. use socket pins. It will work, but it will also worsen the height.


  Instead of a wristwatch, maybe a small wall-clock ?

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Re: [neonixie-l] NL4998 4 digit watch

[David Forbes]

I acquired enough tubes to make a hundred watches. I sure hope they 
work! Military surplus, 1979 or so.


I am presently using some Mill-Max pins on my 2 digit watch. They are 
0.170" tall and fit in a .040" hole. I will consider the FCI pins if 
they fit better.


I do like the idea of cutting the pins, perhaps using a clamping gizmo 
to reduce the stress on the tubes. I'll check them out when they arrive. 
I don't mind buying a shear-type cutter if needed. I've trimmed the wire 
leads on thousands of 5870 tubes over the years, but they are flexible 
wire.



On 11/3/15 7:31 PM, John Rehwinkel wrote:

I'd probably go with flush-mount socket pins like Tektronix used to use to mount
 ICs and transistors.


- John




--
David Forbes, Tucson AZ

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Re: [neonixie-l] NL4998 4 digit watch

[John Rehwinkel]

> 
> Well, I finally noticed that Surplus Sales of Nebraska had a bucket-load of 
> NL4998 tubes. So I bought them. I keep getting requests for 4 digit Nixie 
> watches, and these tubes are the best candidates for making a Metro: Last 
> Light style watch. It seems to be in some demand. 
> 
> Curiously, four of these tubes almost fit in the diameter of my round 2-digit 
> Nixie watch. 
> 
> The trick will be to make it have an acceptable thickness. The watch in the 
> video game is imaginary, so its thickness is unknown. My round watch is .80" 
> thick. The 4998 tubes are .81" tall not including the leads. I much prefer 
> socketing tubes rather than soldering them in, so a very low profile socket 
> is on my list of things to find.
> 
> Thoughts?

I'd probably go with flush-mount socket pins like Tektronix used to use to 
mount ICs and transistors.

There's a picture here:

http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/115309/what-is-flush-mount-socket-in-this-40yr-old-tek-scope
 


They're a specialty part, but they're still made.  It's FCI's "Minisert" line.

http://portal.fciconnect.com/Comergent//fci/drawing/75540.pdf 


- John

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Re: [neonixie-l] ZM1000 Nixie clock schematic?

[franetic]

Thanks JensG, did not know that. I'll still consider it as a last resort 
only. I do not need the schematic anymore (I do not intend to develop this 
clock any further.), I just thought it would be nice to make it available 
on my blog.

Best,
Damir

On Tuesday, November 3, 2015 at 10:05:51 AM UTC+1, JensG wrote:
>
> It is possible, that this is the answer:
>  
>
> http://www.element14.com/community/thread/21452/l/converting-brd-to-sch?displayFullThread=true
>
> > Marcin Adamski  hat am 3. November 
> 2015 um 02:23 geschrieben:
> > 
> > 
> > Hi Damir,
> > would it be this one (in the attachment)?
> > Cheers, Marcin
> > 
> > On 03-Nov-15 08:53, franetic wrote:
> > > Hi to all!
> > >
> > > Ten years ago I build a clock with ZM1000 nixies and posted a few 
> photos
> > > of it in the old Yahoo neonixie group. I recently decided to revive the
> > > project: http://betatronics.blogspot.com.
> > > The thing is: I have lost the schematic file for this clock. (Loss of
> > > data and no backup, of course...) I do however remember posting a link
> > > to the schematic in the old neonixie group. (I checked - a dead link
> > > now...) So this is a very long shot: Is any of the former group members
> > > still here, who has downloaded that schematic, and still has it?
> > >
> > > Best,
> > > Damir
> > 
> > -- 
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> Groups "neonixie-l" group.
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> .
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> > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
>

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