Re: [neonixie-l] Re: Homebrew high voltage nixie power supply

[Richard Scales]

That sounds promising, I note that in your suggested diagram you have also
connected the HV enable to the same ground - was that in order to first
resolve the glitches before moving on to using the HV control (which has
worked fine thus far)?
I can connect the HV output ground to the Smart Socket Array Ground, which
is the same point as the 5V supply ground and Data signal ground - is that
right?
I am treading on uncertain ground here (absolutely no pun intended) -
where rules of which I am unaware are coming in to play!


On Sun, Nov 24, 2019 at 6:35 PM Kevin A. 
wrote:

> Richard,
>
> Looking at your schematic again, I realized that the High Voltage return
> path was right along your signal ground from the SmartSockets. This is a
> big red flag as far as grounding issues.
>
> I highlighted in purple the HV return path on your original schematic to
> illustrate this. There is no doubt in my mind that this will cause problems
> such as glitching in the smartsockets.
>
> Please try the wiring I have illustrated in the new schematic, also
> attached.
>
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Re: [neonixie-l] Re: Homebrew high voltage nixie power supply

[Kevin A.]

Thers is certainly some usual interference between the power supply and the
driving electronics. For the time being, I would recommend leaving the
enable terminal unconnected from the controller. You can also tie a jumper
between the enable and ground terminal blocks to ensure that it is being
pulled down.

I start each power supply under a 200 milliamp load on the High Voltage
output and let it run for 4 hours without interruption, at 12 volts input.
It is impossible that the high voltage load is causing the power supply to
cut out and go into restart.

I'll need to really exhaust all the possibilities I can think of and get
back to you. Some consultation from my colleagues is in order too.

On Sun, Nov 24, 2019, 10:15 AM Richard Scales 
wrote:

> A quick lack of progress update - Having beefed up all cables I was still
> experiencing the corruption issue.
>
> In an effort to make some progress I decided to put that issue to one side
> and add the remaining 4 tubes to make the 10 tube display complete - I
> could then work on the display code a little - knowing (hoping) that the
> corruption issue might get resolved on day.
>
> I added the last 4 tubes and noticed that, on power up the HV supply would
> shut down (neon goes off) and then after what seemed an eternity (though
> most probably about 20 seconds) it would come back on. This was evidenced
> by the neon going off then on as well as the displays (most but not all of
> them) would light up.
>
> I measured the current being delivered at this point and it fluctuated
> between 12 and 18mA depending on the data being displayed.
>
> Crazy I thought. My expectations were that the HV supply would be up to
> delivering much more than that without difficulty.
>
> In a last minute desperate attempt to make some progress, I removed the HV
> supply and put the NCH6100HV back in its place.
>
> The thing powered up, all digits displayed, the clock runs and displays
> all required data and there was no corruption of data.
>
> Something about using your HV supply is causing something somewhere to
> misbehave.
>
> I have now run the clock on the NCH6100HV for an hour and all continues to
> work well. Yes, it gets a little warm but, if left alone, the HV is
> disabled unless there is any PIR action.
>
> In isolation, the supply appears to be fine. I have been running the thing
> from a 1.5A 12V plug top adapter.
>
> My issues only seem to have started since using the new HV supplies, where
> could I look next?
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Saturday, 23 November 2019 06:10:09 UTC, Kevin A. wrote:
>>
>> Glad to hear you're making progress. Interesting that moving the HV psu
>> away before did not make a difference, but in the new position it did.
>> Something must have changed with your electrical connections as well which
>> resulted in that improvement.
>>
>> Grounding is crucial to signal integrity no matter the circuit. Keeping
>> the ground path as short as possible with large, low impedance connections
>> should definitely improve the situation.
>>
>> On Sat, Nov 23, 2019, 12:38 AM Richard Scales 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> I put the 7805 in place but it made no difference whatsoever. I decided
>>> to change the position of things so that the HV supply was at the 'other
>>> end' of the clock and the CPU's were at the end where the signal goes to
>>> the Smart Sockets. There seemed to be some improvement, at one point i
>>> thought it was completely fixed though staring at the thing periodically I
>>> could see that it was not not totally 'fixed'. Reading your comment about
>>> ground wires I will beef-up the 0v and 5v connections to the logic boards
>>> as they are indeed skinny at the moment.
>>>
>>> On Wednesday, 20 November 2019 16:59:26 UTC, Kevin A. wrote:

 Does it seem like the degree of glitching has been reduced, is the
 same, or worse with those 2 changes?

 An LM7805 could support your 5 volt rail depending on how you implement
 it. The higher the input voltage, the hotter it gets. If you can adjust
 your buck module to 8 volts, then put the 7805 after the buck module and
 see if that works. If your buck module will not go up to 8 volts, you could
 try using the 7805 directly from 12 to 5 volts if you're not pulling more
 than around 0.75 amps (power dissipation (heat) is increased because of the
 greater drop from 12 to 5 as opposed to 8 to 5).

 If that doesn't solve the problem then improving grounding is the next
 way to go. Ground paths ideally are short and use larger conductors. Having
 long, narrow ground wires strewn about may certainly be contributing to
 glitches from noise and undesirable ground loops.

 On Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 11:35 AM Richard Scales 
 wrote:

> I tried the first two suggestions and thought (initially) that all was
> good but upon watching in detail it would seem that it is the same.
>
> I have a L78M05 to hand - is that going to do the job?
>
>>>

Re: [neonixie-l] Re: Homebrew high voltage nixie power supply

[Richard Scales]

A quick lack of progress update - Having beefed up all cables I was still 
experiencing the corruption issue.

In an effort to make some progress I decided to put that issue to one side 
and add the remaining 4 tubes to make the 10 tube display complete - I 
could then work on the display code a little - knowing (hoping) that the 
corruption issue might get resolved on day.

I added the last 4 tubes and noticed that, on power up the HV supply would 
shut down (neon goes off) and then after what seemed an eternity (though 
most probably about 20 seconds) it would come back on. This was evidenced 
by the neon going off then on as well as the displays (most but not all of 
them) would light up.

I measured the current being delivered at this point and it fluctuated 
between 12 and 18mA depending on the data being displayed.

Crazy I thought. My expectations were that the HV supply would be up to 
delivering much more than that without difficulty.

In a last minute desperate attempt to make some progress, I removed the HV 
supply and put the NCH6100HV back in its place.

The thing powered up, all digits displayed, the clock runs and displays all 
required data and there was no corruption of data.

Something about using your HV supply is causing something somewhere to 
misbehave. 

I have now run the clock on the NCH6100HV for an hour and all continues to 
work well. Yes, it gets a little warm but, if left alone, the HV is 
disabled unless there is any PIR action.

In isolation, the supply appears to be fine. I have been running the thing 
from a 1.5A 12V plug top adapter.

My issues only seem to have started since using the new HV supplies, where 
could I look next?






On Saturday, 23 November 2019 06:10:09 UTC, Kevin A. wrote:
>
> Glad to hear you're making progress. Interesting that moving the HV psu 
> away before did not make a difference, but in the new position it did. 
> Something must have changed with your electrical connections as well which 
> resulted in that improvement.   
>
> Grounding is crucial to signal integrity no matter the circuit. Keeping 
> the ground path as short as possible with large, low impedance connections 
> should definitely improve the situation. 
>
> On Sat, Nov 23, 2019, 12:38 AM Richard Scales  > wrote:
>
>> I put the 7805 in place but it made no difference whatsoever. I decided 
>> to change the position of things so that the HV supply was at the 'other 
>> end' of the clock and the CPU's were at the end where the signal goes to 
>> the Smart Sockets. There seemed to be some improvement, at one point i 
>> thought it was completely fixed though staring at the thing periodically I 
>> could see that it was not not totally 'fixed'. Reading your comment about 
>> ground wires I will beef-up the 0v and 5v connections to the logic boards 
>> as they are indeed skinny at the moment.
>>
>> On Wednesday, 20 November 2019 16:59:26 UTC, Kevin A. wrote:
>>>
>>> Does it seem like the degree of glitching has been reduced, is the same, 
>>> or worse with those 2 changes? 
>>>
>>> An LM7805 could support your 5 volt rail depending on how you implement 
>>> it. The higher the input voltage, the hotter it gets. If you can adjust 
>>> your buck module to 8 volts, then put the 7805 after the buck module and 
>>> see if that works. If your buck module will not go up to 8 volts, you could 
>>> try using the 7805 directly from 12 to 5 volts if you're not pulling more 
>>> than around 0.75 amps (power dissipation (heat) is increased because of the 
>>> greater drop from 12 to 5 as opposed to 8 to 5). 
>>>
>>> If that doesn't solve the problem then improving grounding is the next 
>>> way to go. Ground paths ideally are short and use larger conductors. Having 
>>> long, narrow ground wires strewn about may certainly be contributing to 
>>> glitches from noise and undesirable ground loops. 
>>>
>>> On Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 11:35 AM Richard Scales  
>>> wrote:
>>>
 I tried the first two suggestions and thought (initially) that all was 
 good but upon watching in detail it would seem that it is the same.

 I have a L78M05 to hand - is that going to do the job?

 Otherwise I can get something like this 
 https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/low-dropout-voltage-regulators/1246447/ 
 very 
 quickly.



 On Wednesday, 20 November 2019 15:33:20 UTC, Kevin A. wrote:
>
> Here would be my first 2 suggestions in changes to your circuit:
>
> #1: I would definitely place the ground from my logic circuits 
> straight to the main power ground, instead of routing it though the 5V 
> buck 
> module. The buck converter is also a switching power supply and this 
> could 
> very well be coupling noise through the rest of your circuit, especially 
> if 
> it is the only ground path for the logic.
>
> #2: If #1 does not fully alleviate the problem, I would try placing an 
> electrolytic cap of between 100-470uF on the

Re: [neonixie-l] Re: Fortress Clock

['Greg P' via neonixie-l]

Nick,

The glass effect stuff really looks like..Glass.  Had me fooled.

Nice job!



On Saturday, November 23, 2019 at 8:14:04 PM UTC-5, Pramanicin wrote:
>
> Hi Greg, i have both a regular clear acrylic and a glass effect acrylic...
>
> Nick
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Nov 23, 2019, at 16:26, 'Greg P' via neonixie-l <
> neoni...@googlegroups.com > wrote:
>
> 
> Very nice Nick.
>
> Is the cover glass or acrylic?
>
>
>
> On Saturday, November 23, 2019 at 2:04:30 PM UTC-5, Pramanicin wrote:
>>
>> Premiun Aluminium case is ready. 
>>
>> -- 
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>  
> 
> .
>
>

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