Table of Contents
How long do Nixie tubes last?
Average longevity of Nixie tubes varied from about 5,000 hours for the earliest types, to as high as 200,000 hours or more for some of the last types to be introduced.
Why are Nixie tube clocks so expensive?
The reason is that nobody is making nixie tubes on a commercial basis nowadays. As old tubes get used up, they also become more expensive. The tiny tubes used in watches are especially rare because they were rarely used in the nixie display age. The thing is that tubes were not popular in clocks until recent years.
How much voltage does a Nixie tube need?
Nixie tubes require high voltages (>170 volts) to illuminate. A single anode is connected to a high voltage source via a dropping resistor and cathodes shaped like numbers are grounded to make them illuminate. Drivers, then, must be capable of withstanding the driving voltage.
Are Nixie tubes hot?
Although the voltage is high, the amount of current flowing is very small, so the clocks do not use much power. They only consume about 3 to 4 Watts of power, and consequently generate almost no heat. The tubes are not hot or even warm to the touch.
Why did they stop making Nixie tubes?
In the 1970s, Nixies were eclipsed by LEDs, which were not only much cheaper to make and use but also more versatile. The tubes might have died the lonely death of countless other obsolete devices—and yet they did not. Some Nixies lingered on in legacy equipment, of course.
Do they still make Nixie tubes?
The last nixie tube was made in the early 90s, when this beautiful technology was replaced by lower-cost alternatives. But production has now resumed in the Czech Republic.
Are Nixie tubes toxic?
It’s somewhat safe but potentially lethal. I tested everything with a meter and shorted all leads together to make sure mains are off. Be careful and think twice before you do anything.
Are Nixie watches safe?
Yes, it is safe to power nixie tubes all the time, the power consumption is below 1W per tube, they stay at room temperature. Our clocks are powered from power adaptor which is able to deliver only 24W, in case of short-circuit of any kind in the clock/tube, the power adaptor cuts off the power.
How can you prevent cathode poisoning?
How can you prevent cathode poisoning? Exercise inactive cathodes (occasionally cycle the tubes through all cathodes). This will keep cleaning the coating off before it becomes too thick. Example- Nixie Clocks: Rotate the numbers like in a slot machine (a.k.a. one-armed bandit or fruit machine).
Who invented Nixie tubes?
The first stable and well-functioning nixie tube construction was invented by Haydu Brothers Laboratories, which was founded by two Hungarian brothers namely George Haydu and Zoltan Haydu in 1936.
What does Nixie mean?
noun. a letter or parcel that is undeliverable by the post office because of a faulty or illegible address.
How do vacuum tubes use neon?
Neon lights, also known as cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL), work when electrodes on each end of a vacuum tube filled with neon or other fluorescing gas are subjected to an alternating current, according to the Edison Tech Center. The current ionizes the atoms causing the tube to be filled with free electrons.
What were Nixie tubes used in?
Nixie tubes were initially used as digital displays for equipment like voltmeters, early calculators, and frequency counters (you know, science stuff).
What is a vacuum tube radio?
A vacuum tube, also called a valve in British English, is an electronic device used in many older model radios, television sets, and amplifiers to control electric current flow. The cathode is heated, as in a light bulb, so it will emit electrons.
What is nixie tube poisoning?
Nixie tube cathode poisoning can be detected by monitoring the on-voltage and current through the Nixie tube while igniting the digit. As described by www.tube-tester.com, if a nixie tube is operated without exciting all the digits, the unused digits will often become coating by a highly resistive sputtered material.
What is a Nixie Watch?
It is a two-digit wristwatch using Nixie tubes, a forty-year-old display technology that is delightfully easy to read. The watch requires no button-pushing to operate. Just hold the watch at your standard viewing angle, and the hours, then the minutes, will appear in perfectly-formed, 14mm tall, glowing orange digits.
Do Nixie tubes use AC or DC?
Nixie tubes need about ~180Vdc to light up and thus on most devices, a DC-DC converter is needed. Here we designed a simple DC-DC switching regulator capable of powering most of Nixie tubes. The board accepts 12Vdc input and gives an output of 150-250Vdc.
What is a Nixie mermaid?
Nixies are mermaid dolls that really swim in water.
What is the meaning of Nyx?
Nyx. / (nɪks) / noun. Greek myth the goddess of the night, daughter of ChaosRoman counterpart: Nox.
What are Nixie switches?
“NIXIE” refers to an unusual and extremely rare MX BLACK variant known only from Nixdorf keyboards, such as the Nixdorf CT06-CT07/2 M Softkeys. The upper part of the switch housing is transparent instead of black.
How does a Nixie display work?
Much of the light that glows from a nixie tube is produced by collisions between gas atoms, ions, and electrons, just like in a neon tube. But some of it is also produced another way. Some of the positive ions hit the cathode directly, while others hit the gas atoms and push those into the cathode instead.
What does argon stand for?
Argon is an inert, colorless and odorless element — one of the Noble gases. Used in fluorescent lights and in welding, this element gets its name from the Greek word for “lazy,” an homage to how little it reacts to form compounds.
Why do vacuum tubes sound better?
We use tubes simply because they make the music we create sound better: smoother, warmer and cleaner. Ditto for guitar amplifiers used in creating music. The ways that tubes distort when pushed to the edge are much more musical than the artificial sounds that come from transistor amplifiers when overdriven.
What was the main disadvantage of vacuum tubes?
They produced heat and often burned out.
