Nixie Clock Success! Print
Sunday, 12 February 2006 18:59

I've got a Nixie Clock - sweet!  What's a Nixie clock you say?  Ah!  That's what I was saying just a few short months ago... Well..  Here's a Nixie clock:

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Nixie Time - 1:51 

Nixies are are cold cathode numerical display tube that contains the numbers 0 - 9 as individual "wires" or cathodes, they are stacked on top of each other and glow a rich orange colour when powered.  They were produced from the mid-60's with most production stopping in the early 70's.  Russia continued to produce Nixies until the end of 1991.  The tubes that are around today are all 15+ years old!

CAUTION! Nixie's need quite a high voltage to run - about 170vDC.  This clock is wired up to 240v and is LIVE - contact with internal components will possibly cause DEATH and my break your clock.  Don't stick ya finger in there or you'll scream and die.  You have been warned!

More info?  Check out these websites:

Wikipedia Entry
Mike's Electric Stuff Click on the "Nixie Clock Project"
NeoNixie-L Yahoo Group

Now, I built my first clock around Mike's Nixie Clock Project with parts purchased from eBay and other websites, Jaycar and Dick Smith

Innitially, my clock would only display 11:xx and 12:xx, but Mike's site had some suggested fixes (as there seems to be an issue with the stability with some brands of IC's that are used in the project)  Here's two photos of the mod:

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Two small mods & the clock works like a charm! Cool 'eh ?  I think so!