Nixie tube driver schematic

Nixie tube driver ics keep dying electrical engineering stack. Back in the 1950s they were used in computers, calculators, and laboratory equipment. Most nixie tube drivers require the obsolete and hard to find 7441 or 74141 ttl decoder. That means i will show you how you can control nixie tubes with a high voltage dc power supply and then i will combine 4 nixie tubes with an arduino, a. The driver can also be used for multisegment tubes e.

I sat down and sketched a super simple driver testing circuit to test them all. November072003 finished back to dieters nixie tube page email to dieter as i have dozens of old unknown condition 74141 and 7441 driver chips laying around. If you are a maker or nixie enthusiast, you have probably used or had contact with a nixie tube drivers e. There are a variety of integrated circuits capable of driving nixie tubes, such as the vintage 7441, 7441a, and 74141 ttl chips, and modern highvoltage drivers such as those made by supertex.

The corresponding numbershaped cathode is then covered with a pink to orange glow. The following schematic will explain, how they work. Sometimes vfd or ac electroluminescent display drivers such as hv5812 or hv5530 are used to control nixie tubes but they are mainly suitable for dedicated applications and the lack of. The pair of nixie tubes mount on top of the nixie driver board which supports two in12a type nixie tubes in two phenolic sockets. An anodescanning display, which even has a dimming control. See the boards in action in the video below, which features a. In this tutorial, you will learn how to control a nixie tube with an arduino nixie tubes were the only way to display numbers back in the 50s, before vfd and seven segments displays. A simple way to implement a 6digit rgb backlit nixie tube display into. The complete nixie tube schematic key points on this schematic. Nixie tube driver v1 easy to use only 3 control lines.

An scrbased neon lamp driver, usable as a cathode driver in a multiplexed circuit if there is a small interdigit pause to turn off the scrs. Unfortunately, these drivers have their technical limitations for modern projects. The driving circuits we will look at are rated with the following points to give a fast and easy overview about them. The nixie driver board is designed to receive serial input from an external microcontroller arduino, etc. This is the side that will receive all of the supplied. A nixie tube is a neon gasfilled tube, that has a wiremesh anode with various cathodes shaped like numbers or symbols. I wanted to produce a nixie display using easily obtainable parts well except for the nixies, and at the same time keep the parts count low. An scrbased nixie driver, nice but scrs are expensive today. I am hoping to use theses tubes in a project for my art a level so you really would be saving my life if you helped. This time the driver has 22 outputs so you can control two nixie tubes. Basically these nixie tubes are very simple devices. If you apply a voltage u b the voltage drops across the currentlimiting resistor when one of the cathodes k0 k9 is tied to gnd. The 7441 and its successor, the 74141 were very common nixie driver ics from the ttl era. In this tutorial, you will learn how to control a nixie tube with an arduino.

Youre not cool unless you have a few nixie tubes sitting around, and youre. Note carefully to orient the nixie driver printed circuit board with the component placement information facing up. Driver board makes nixie projects easier than ever hackaday. Proceed with care and youll have a working circuit in no time. Driver board makes nixie projects easier than ever. A simple nixie display driver bobs electron bunker. Is it mandatory to use the sn74141 chip or another high voltage ic driver like the. Would be nice if the author included a pdf of the schematic and gerbers for the.