Re: [neonixie-l] Another simple Passive IR clock control alternative...

[gregebert]

The VFD for the display on my kitchen's oven runs 24/7, and after 12 years 
there are very noticeable dark-bands near the filament, which is probably 
the result of higher bombardment of electrons onto the phosphor. The 
filament does not glow bright enough to see it, and it's always on.

So, if you have VFD's I guess you want to keep the filaments always-on, and 
blank the anodes when not in use.

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Re: [neonixie-l] Another simple Passive IR clock control alternative...

[Paolo Cravero]

That's interesting Robert, thank you for sharing. I am not so comfortable
and fast with case building, so the less holes I have to drill, the better
;-)


>
> ... on one of my small VFD clocks it's difficult to modify the base board
> to remove filament voltage and I'm tired of replacing failed VFD tubes on
> this unit.
>
>
AFAIK, VFD tubes are very long lasting as long as their filaments are
treated correctly. What kind of VFDs are experiencing such a high failure
rate?




> I just came across low cost PIR power switches used to control the DC
> supplied to LED strips and similar lights.
>

I will look for a similar device that ships to Italy since your Amazon link
seller does not. Well, on the big Chinese marketplace they go for 4 €/$
each.

Paolo

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[neonixie-l] Another simple Passive IR clock control alternative...

[Robert L]

Hi folks,

Pretty much all my clocks have some form of passive IR control to avoid 
burning tubes when no one is looking... In many cases the PIR control is 
accomplished with modifications to the controller board, but some of the 
clocks are more of a pain to modify than others. In particular, on one of 
my small VFD clocks it's difficult to modify the base board to remove 
filament voltage and I'm tired of replacing failed VFD tubes on this unit.

I just came across low cost PIR power switches used to control the DC 
supplied to LED strips and similar lights. The switch I used is rated for 5 
- 24 VDC at 5 amps. It's available with fast delivery time from Amazon and 
for a lot lower cost on ebay, but with very long delivery time. Here's the 
Amazon part for the impatient among us:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LEEWBN4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'm using the PIR switch in three configurations at the moment...

   - An unmodified PIR switch in series with the 5V wall wart powering an 
   old USB hub. I added a jumper internal to the hub to supply power to the 
   USB ports with no computer connection. I also wired the red hub LED to 
   light when power is applied. The stock coaxial connectors matched the hub 
   connectors.




   - An unmodified PIR switch in series with the 12V wall wart powering a 
   clock. As with the USB hub above, the stock coaxial connectors happened to 
   be the proper size.
   - I modified the wired connections to a PIR switch so that it's in 
   series with power lines on a USB extension cable. The data lines are 
   disconnected and the extension cable powers a clock running off a plug-in 
   5V USB power cube.






Note that I also modified the PR module by changing a cap to extend the 
power-on time when motion is detected. Stock time is adjustable from a few 
seconds up to about 6 minutes. As modified, the on-time ranges from 2 to 39 
minutes.

Change the circled cap to a 0.1 uF/0603 part for the longer on-time.


Enjoy...

Bob

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