Nixie clock at home ?

Ok, I’ve been off for a while right now. In fact, I’m playing with electronic’s stuff a lot. I just decided to build a nixie clock (for the fun).

For those wondering what is a nixie. Take a look at Wikipedia

And a nixie clock look like this:

http://jkx.larsen-b.com/photos/NixieProject/dsc01941.sized.jpg

There is a couple of hard stuffs to fix for that:

  • find the nixies (ouch prices)
  • build a custom power supply. (~170 VDC.. not really easy without external transformator)
  • find a way to drive the nixies (BCD drivers with 250VDC are hard to find)
  • find a way to have a working clock. Crystals aren’t really stable with temperature.. perhaps a DCF77 module is the right way
  • Build the stuff without too much pain, and too much money.

That sound funny ..so let’s give it a try ;)



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6 thoughts on “Nixie clock at home ?

  1. Salut ;)

    J’ai bien envie de me lancer moi aussi dans l’aventure des horloges rétro. J’ai commencé a collecter des informations (in english in the text) sur le sujet depuis une bonne quinzaine de jours et je commence presque a y voir clair… J’approche du yapuka en somme :o)
    Si tu es intéressé fais-moi signe ;)

    Ping

  2. Bah, j’ai déjà qques trucs qui fonctionne sur l’établi ;)
    Il reste à trouver les nixies, et les drivers (ou alors je multiplexe le tout avec des transits). La prochaine étape pour moa est d’arriver à générer le 170Vdc.

  3. Arf… je n’étais pas passé par là depuis… la dernière fois :o)
    Donc pas vu la réponse :D
    Peux-tu m’envoyer un mél pour la suite ?

    @+ ;)

    Ping

  4. You know, I wish someone would make that into an actual clock- this those exact same russian tubes and put it into a nice wooden case. It would be an ultra sexy gift. Great work man!

  5. These are amazing things, i was looking at a website and found them and dicided to find out what they were, now im hooked and im going to make a nixie clock of my own!!

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