Nixie Clocks

[jgg85234]

Since it's too cold for many people to cook, how about a different obsession.

Anyone have a Nixie Clock?

For those who have had one for a while, how do the tubes stand up over time?

Did you buy it pre-assembled, or build it from a kit?

Front facing, or top facing (IN-12 vs IN-14 or even IN-18)?

Thinking about getting one, and wondered what others think of them.

Best regards,
Jim

[Frozen Smoke]

So military time? Kind of cool looking probably be fun to build from a kit.

[jgg85234]

That particular example has an add on for GPS (to get the time), remote control, and USB connections as options. It will display military time, (24 hour) or 12 hour time, and has a programmable board (Arduino) so you can make it do whatever you want.

Ancient soviet era vacuum tubes meet modern technology. Why someone thought a vacuum tube should be able to display a number is beyond me, as I think these came about long after transistors.

Jim

[SmokeyGator]

They are cool. I think the retro revival has even resulted in new production tubes. You need high voltage to drive them, so keep that in mind when building the kits. Don’t want to be poking around with them powered on or anything.

[Huskee]

Never seen such a thing, cool. I have a few guitar amps that are run by tubes, but that's it.

[MBMorgan]

I haven't seen a nixie tube for years (decades, really) although I probably still have a couple of them buried somewhere in my electronics parts boxes. Nixies aren't really vacuum tubes at all. They are basically just big neon bulbs with multiple cathodes. Each cathode is shaped like a number, letter, or a symbol ("+", "-", etc.) and when voltage is applied to one of them, it will light up. I think they first came out back in the 1950's (when I was too young to care about such things) and were still in common use through at least the 70's or even later until LCD and/or LED displays took over.