How do you wire up a nixie tube?

Connect the cathodes of your Nixie tube to the corresponding pins on the SN74141 and connect the the anode of the Nixie tube to 180vdc+. The IC chip takes a binary input on D, C, B, A and outputs the corresponding digit of the nixie tube. Low, Low, Low, Low for 0. Low, Low, Low, High for 1 and so on.

What voltage do Nixie tubes run at?

170 volts
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.

How do you program a Nixie clock?

Nixie Clock Instructions

1. When first powered up, your clock will read 12:00 noon and will be set to display 24-hour time.
2. To toggle between 12 and 24-hour mode, press and hold the “Set” button for 5 seconds.
3. To change the display brightness, hold the “Set” button while pressing the “M” button.

Are Nixie tubes AC or DC?

The overall circuit is powered through an off-the-shelf low-voltage AC-to-DC adapter. This version will use the IN-12A Nixie Tube design.

How do you Nixie multiplex tubes?

To multiplex nixies, you need to includer anode driver circuits in your design. These turn on and off the anodes of the nixies. The anode drivers “float” at the supply voltage of 170-250 V, and they are driven by the main circuit (your clock, meter, calculator) that is at ground potential.

How much power does a Nixie clock use?

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.

Are nixie tubes hot?

Are nixie tubes a fire hazard?

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. No risk of setting surroundings on fire.

How to control a Nixie tube with an Arduino?

Connect the cathodes of your Nixie tube to the corresponding pins on the SN74141 and connect the the anode of the Nixie tube to 180vdc+. The IC chip takes a binary input on D, C, B, A and outputs the corresponding digit of the nixie tube. Low, Low, Low, Low for 0.

How many pins do you need for a Nixie tube?

If you want to drive two Nixies independently, it will take up 8 Arduino digital pins or you could use a shift register (see figure 4) to only use 3 pins with two nixie tubes. For more information on using a shift register with a nixie tube, visit this instructable.

How many Nixie IC chips are in Arduino clock?

This chip will drive two 74141 nixie IC chips so its important to understand how these work. The chip is essentially a way to expand IO ports on an arduino controller, but here it is being used to drive the nixie tube control chips. You will use one for hours, one for minutes, and one for seconds, three chips in total.

How to set up a nixie step up chip?

BE CAREFUL NOT TO TOUCH THE GROUND AND HOT WIRE AT THE SAME TIME! Once you have the positive anode side of the nixie tube set up, plug a jumper wire into the ground terminal on the high voltage side of your step up chip and leave the other end unconnected.