[neonixie-l] Re: Cathode poisoning and tube's current flow

2016-04-15 Thread gregebert
I dont boost current at any time; it's regulated at 5mA. 

Tubes that run 0-9 uniformly during operation are turned-off during the 
depoison session.
Tubes that run 0-5 are 'depoisoned' while running 6-9

When I update the RTL code, I'll swap the date and time for a few minutes 
each hour and reduce the depoison session accordingly.

-- 
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 post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web, visit 
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/ff837f3a-57c7-4239-a96d-3eea927eb72f%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.


[neonixie-l] Re: Cathode poisoning and tube's current flow

2016-04-15 Thread GastonP
Do you mean 1 hour overcurrent each night or simply 1 hour of slot-machine 
effect?
Slot machine would not damage anything, but overcurrent will kill the 
nixies sooner than later, IMO.

On Thursday, April 14, 2016 at 11:56:43 AM UTC-3, gregebert wrote:
>
> My 14-digit clock has several static digits, so I run a 1-hour depoisoning 
> every night; maybe it's overkill ?
>

-- 
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 post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web, visit 
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/e86fc231-d423-4a1a-a133-87346073c81e%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.


[neonixie-l] Re: Cathode poisoning and tube's current flow

2016-04-14 Thread Luka C
Dana četvrtak, 14. travnja 2016. u 16:56:43 UTC+2, korisnik gregebert 
napisao je:
>
> I had no luck trying to depoison 1 or 2 Burroughs 5031 tubes, even after 
> several hours. I considered these tubes expendable and put so much current 
> thru them that they got hot. Darn! I didn't measure it, though.
>
> I'm amazed how quickly you were able to depoison your tubes; I was 
> expecting days or even weeks.
>
> Did you purchase your tubes in this condition, or did it occur while they 
> were in your project? I'm curious about the conditions and timeframe that 
> cause poisoning. My 14-digit clock has several static digits, so I run a 
> 1-hour depoisoning every night; maybe it's overkill ?
>



I bought the tube with cathode poisoning so I don't really know how long 
was it operating and under which conditions. To be honest, I was also 
surprised to see most of them recover in such shorter periods. I'm not sure 
if it's of any significance but I digits that took less time to recover 
were closer to the anode grid, perhaps there is something in that. 

>From what I read on the web, the reason why your tubes didn't recover may 
be that tubes have a certain point after which they no longer seem to be 
repairable because the current that would be needed for healing to 
effectively take place is way too high and would cause the destruction of 
the tube. I don't know if your tubes still operated after cooling down, 
mine seemed to be warm to the touch, but not hot?

Regarding my clock, I have the first version of it running for around half 
a year now and there are no signs of cathode poisoning, probably both due 
to the fact that the time was way too short for it to occur and also, I 
enjoy the slot machine effect that I made for cathode poisoning prevention 
so I let it spin for ~5 seconds every 1min. So I guess letting them run the 
routine for 1 hour at night can't be a bad idea, I mean, you're sleeping 
anyway and the tubes will sure benefit from it (I guess there is no damage 
from exceeding the "standard" amount of time dedicated to anti-poisoning 
routines) :) 

-- 
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 post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web, visit 
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/b071cbcc-c29d-4e14-96b4-4a70502f1349%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.


[neonixie-l] Re: Cathode poisoning and tube's current flow

2016-04-14 Thread gregebert
I had no luck trying to depoison 1 or 2 Burroughs 5031 tubes, even after 
several hours. I considered these tubes expendable and put so much current 
thru them that they got hot. Darn! I didn't measure it, though.

I'm amazed how quickly you were able to depoison your tubes; I was 
expecting days or even weeks.

Did you purchase your tubes in this condition, or did it occur while they 
were in your project? I'm curious about the conditions and timeframe that 
cause poisoning. My 14-digit clock has several static digits, so I run a 
1-hour depoisoning every night; maybe it's overkill ?

-- 
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 post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web, visit 
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/24d31d61-c9b2-42d1-8365-af8a7027b660%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.