Re: [neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

I removed and replaced the tubes, but put them back in the exact same order, so John could certainly try that. When we saw the max771 (if that's the high voltage IC) smoking it was with the tubes removed, I think. Then he bypassed it with that replacement circuit (sorry, don't recall who made

Re: [neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

Have you tried taking the tubes out and replacing them one at a time, then in pairs, rotating them between positions? This is a solid fault, so I'd focus on eliminating the easy stuff before worrying about signal degradation... If the max771 was cooking, that's not good at all. -- You

Re: [neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

It's still broken, still with jrehwin. I just hung out with him when he first looked at it and attempted a quick fix. On Wednesday, May 25, 2016 at 10:10:10 PM UTC-4, Nick wrote: > > Hang on... is it fixed now or us it still with someone? > > Nick > -- You received this message because you

Re: [neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

Hang on... is it fixed now or us it still with someone? Nick -- 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

Re: [neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

> > Whilst I think that most now agree that the signals should have been > level-shifted, that does not explain how a clock that worked for ages > suddenly goes nuts... good point that actually - was it a sudden fault or > did it slowly get worse? It was working perfectly right up until it

Re: [neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

Whilst I think that most now agree that the signals should have been level-shifted, that does not explain how a clock that worked for ages suddenly goes nuts... good point that actually - was it a sudden fault or did it slowly get worse? I would start by swapping the hv drivers over and seeing

Re: [neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

Nope. I should actually have explained in greater detail for the group. The issue had shown up once before and I thought I had fixed it. It ended up being an intermittent short below the surface of the PCB between the anode run and one of the cathode runs of the Seconds 1's tube. It was a very

Re: [neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

A latent internal short in a PCB concerns me; I always assumed a PCB would not fail over time unless there was severe mechanical, thermal, or voltage over-stress ? Was there something nearby that was high-temp, or high-voltage ? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the

Re: [neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

Just a general comment from one who has had a lot of experience building Jeff's clock, both the NixiChron and the NixiSat. I have built and sold over 25 of his wonderful NixiChrons in various forms and about 15, give or take, of his NixiSat's with absolutely no failures. Well, I take that back,

Re: [neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

Of course, and they often also include the decoupling, etc. But are you saying that we're missing one page with just that one chip's vcc/gnd? :) (when the other ones are all included on the schematic?). Doesn't seem likely, does it? perhaps the circuit was reworked and the CPU changed,

Re: [neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

Under the circumstances I would have to agree with you in this case. Perhaps he just left them off since it's so obvious that it does require Vcc and Gnd., or he simply forgot, and perhaps we will never know why with any certainty. Do we have access to other circuit schematics that he drew,

Re: [neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

"In my 50 years or so of worinkg on electronic equipment, I have quite often seen Vcc and Gnd, and others very often omitted from schematic diagrams, to help eliminate clutter. Quite often a separate page or diagram will then be used to show various, power and ground distributions. This is

Re: [neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

In my 50 years or so of worinkg on electronic equipment, I have quite often seen Vcc and Gnd, and others very often omitted from schematic diagrams, to help eliminate clutter. Quite often a separate page or diagram will then be used to show various, power and ground distributions. This is

[neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

You are right on the level shifters -- I didn't pick up on the VCC in an earlier post. However, regarding the schematic -- every designer has his/her own purposes in drawing a schematic. If I am drawing a schematic for my own use, I will do it differently than when I am drawing one for my

[neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

"It's not even a schematic error." I disagree: - you want your schematic to be consistent, in this case it's clearly not as most parts display their ground/power pins connected, except the MAX232A. - you want it to be unambiguous: obviously, it's not. - if you work with multiple voltage levels

[neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

OK, maybe error wasn't the best word - other cad packages do the same thing - perhaps "confusing" is better.. I still don't get this signal level issue. The 5530s have a Vdd of 11V, that makes their Vih 9V, not 4.3V which is the PIC's Voh. The fact that the 5530s make work with a Vdd of 5V is

[neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

It's not even a schematic error. Jeff used OrCad Capture, and Capture allows one to hide power & gnd pins. As long as they are named the same as the power & gnd nets, they get assigned to those nets and connectivity is established. They can also be made visible and assigned manually to any

[neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

Here's the complete NixiChron schematic. After Jeff stop actively selling that clock he was fine with providing the schematic to those who wanted it. So no issues with impropriety.http://goo.gl/f9UW4M On Thursday, May 12, 2016 at 3:12:12 PM UTC-7, Nick wrote: > > On Thursday, 12 May 2016

[neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

You can have a look at the schematic of the NixiSat (which was posted here earlier - not the NixiChron, but I assume it's similar: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v=forums=MDEwMDEwODgzMDkzNzgxMTU3NTQBMDI2MDI2MDkxODMwNDU5NDc0NjYBN3poTlVQTHJxcG9KATAuMQEBdjI=0) Interestingly, at least in that

[neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

My clock had the same issues, as I mentioned. It would go through the startup function, then it would start beeping and displaying invalid data. Put a scope on the output of the RS232 -> TTL level converter when the clock exhibits the issue, pins 11 and 12 of the MAX232CPE chip. Also, check

[neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

I used these for the HV IC's from Microchip. Work fine. http://www.onsemi.com/pub_link/Collateral/MC14504B-D.PDF -- 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

[neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

Quincy, were you able to fix your clock? It may be helpful to make a little video and post it on YouTube so that we get a better idea of how it's failing. Also, try it with and without the GPS plugged in, and try reseating the MCU as suggested. Also take some close up pictures of the circuit

[neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

Thanks. I ended up ruling out the external power supply by trying another similarly rated one and the clock doing the same. On Saturday, May 7, 2016 at 10:53:45 AM UTC-4, Mike Mitchell wrote: > > Judging by the photo MichaelB posted, the 12v wall brick plugs into a jack > near the rear center

[neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

Judging by the photo MichaelB posted, the 12v wall brick plugs into a jack near the rear center of the board. With the clock plugged in, measure the voltage across the metal lead at the back of the jack (positive) and the exposed part of the plug. You may have to withdraw the plug slightly to

Re: [neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

Silly me! I must be getting old, I still think chips are in dip packages. -joe On May 6, 2016 5:32 PM, "Quincy" wrote: > Thanks. And probably a stupid question, but maybe you know, was ever a > firmware update (or more recent chip)? The daylight savings time dates > changed

Re: [neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

Thanks. And probably a stupid question, but maybe you know, was ever a firmware update (or more recent chip)? The daylight savings time dates changed in the US after my version of the clock so that feature no longer works and you have to adjust it manually. Figured I'd ask since now would

Re: [neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

16F877 MCU used in the NixiChron shown on the right On Friday, May 6, 2016 at 1:47:12 PM UTC-7, joenixie wrote: > > Quincy, You may want to gently just lift the

[neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

Thanks. How do I check a wallbrick without a load? I assume it only puts out the voltage it says under the load it's designed for, and without a load the voltage would be way off. On Friday, May 6, 2016 at 8:02:10 AM UTC-4, Mike Mitchell wrote: > > Another component to check is the wall-brick

[neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

Another component to check is the wall-brick power supply. I have a clock with a 4-amp 5v supply, it worked fine for over a year then started acting strangely. Under load the wall brick was only putting out 3.5v, no load it was up at 5v. I replaced the wall brick and all is well.

[neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

Michael It's funny, I read your post literally 45 seconds after opening up the clock and discovering the NE-2 seemed to be soldered in and wondering if the only recourse was to desolder it. Someone near me on this list who has some expertise wrote and offered to take a look so I think I'll

[neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

Terry, thanks. I'll try that tonight! On Thursday, May 5, 2016 at 12:46:29 PM UTC-4, Terry S wrote: > > My suggestion would be to open the clock and re-seat the processor chip, > for starters. It is socketed. > Simple, even pressure with your thumb. Don't go crazy. Sometimes the > contacts

[neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

My suggestion would be to open the clock and re-seat the processor chip, for starters. It is socketed. Simple, even pressure with your thumb. Don't go crazy. Sometimes the contacts tarnish and a little re-seating will do the trick. Terry On Thursday, May 5, 2016 at 11:33:45 AM UTC-5, Quincy

[neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

Thanks Nick. Yes, I was so sad to learn of Jeff's passing. I only knew him slightly, partly through a few helpful emails related to nixie clocks and watches, mostly but through his beautiful work. His clock has been proudly on my mantle for the last 12 years, through a couple of moves. I'm

[neonixie-l] Re: My NixiChron is sick, what do I do?

Hi - Welcome to the group - this is indeed the correct place to ask this question. Jeff is unfortunately no longer with us, but there are folk here who know his work well and may be able to help. I have one of his NixiSat clocks - a thing of beauty - which has pride of place in our house - I