- burn out protection (cycle all numbers for 10 seconds every 10minutes)
- in8 or in16 tube usable via adapter pcbs
- for 4 (hours:mins) or 6 tubes (hours:mins:secs)
- easy to expand
- simple schematic using THT parts only
- tube holders with simple mount for easy replacement
- using esp8266 to add wifi support
- NTP SYNC
- CAPTIVE PORTAL to set wifi settings
- set timezone
- start antiburn-in cycle
-
1 control pcb see
./documenation/nixie_clock_controller_gerber.zip
-
4 Nixie Clock Adapter board for IN8 tube
./nixie_clock_in8_gerber.zip
or IN16 tube./documenation/nixie_clock_in16_gerber.zip
-
4 Nixie tubes IN16 or IN8
-
4 nixie tube drivers SN74141
-
1 Arduino Nano
-
1 RTC Module DS1307
-
4 20k resistors 1/2w
-
1 Nixie power supply 180v
-
3 THT push button
-
2 shift registers 75HC595
-
3 5mm led 20ma
-
R1 R5 R6 = 10k pull up resistors
-
R2 R3 R4 = 330 (for the leds)
-
headers male and female
(you can wire a nodemcu directly to the rx/tx of the arduino, so no need for a pcb)
- wifi addon pcb
- esp8266 12-e
- lm1117 (e.g. LM1117IMP-3.3/NOPB)
- C1;C2; C3 = 470uf
- R2, R3,R5, R6 = 10k
- R1 = 1k
- R4 = 2k
- 2x 3x1 2.54 headers + 2 jumpers
resistors used for voltage divider for the tx(arduino)->rx(esp8266)
- seconds addon pcb
- 1 75HC595
- 2 Nixie tubes IN16 or IN8
- 2 nixie tube drivers SN74141
- 2 20k resistors 1/2w
- 7 wood pieces 10*20cm @ >8mm
- 4 tube cover pipe holder
./documenation/3d_parts/pipe_holder_bottom.stl
- 4 tube cover pipe covers
./documenation/3d_parts/pipe_holder_top.stl
- 2 tube pcb mounting brackets
./documenation/3d_parts/tube_pcb_mounting_bracket.stl
- 2 tube pcb mounting bracket covers
./documenation/3d_parts/tube_pcb_mounting_bracket_covers.stl
- 4 PCB spacers for M3
- 4 M3 screws 10mm
- 2 M4 screws 16mm
- woodglue
- 2k glue (mounting 3d parts on glass cover)
- hotglue
- drill 4mm 6mm 20mm(for tubes)
- saw
- soldering iron
- hotgluegun
- step-drill
Images, gerber and schematic can be found in the ./documenation
folder.
You also can use a breadboard or a arduino prototyping shield to build the simple schematic.
For the top wood plate i have made drill drawing where to drill the 20mm holes for the tubes, if you are using the 10x20cm wood plates.
The PDF can be found at ./documenation/nixie_case_drilling_plan.pdf
The important thing is that one pair of tubes are 35mm away from each other to match with 3d printed mounting brackets.
See the pictures of the build below!
You can replace the resistors with wires, except for the R115 Anode-Current-Resistor 20K
.
The other resitors are for adjust the brightness of each tube segment.
The SN74141
will be powered from 5V directly from the 5V rail from the Arduino. This works perfectly fine!
Ignore the 9V
marking on the PCB.
PLEASE USE THE CORRECT RESISTOR VALUES LISTED IN THE PARTS SECTION This wifi addon pcb sits directly under the Arduino Nano, and is soldered to its header pins. Then this sandwich is plugged into the control pcb. The Arduino-Nano is still required!
To program the ESP8266
, you have to use a USB2Serial
cable.
Solder The RX,TX,GND
pins from the cable to TX,RX,GND
of the ESP8266
.
Remove the two jumpers EN_UART
from the board!
To reset the ESP8266
to its flash-mode hold the BOOT
-Button and toggle the RESET
-Button. After that, click Upload
in your Arduino-IDE.
Use as sketch the /src/wifi_extention/wifi_extention.ino
for the ESP8266
This pcb add 2 more nixie tube outputs, if you want to have seconds. No software modification needed. it simply adds an other shift register at the end of the chain.
To flash the arduino you can use the Arduino IDE to flash the ./src/nixie_driver/nixie_driver.ino
Select the Arduino-Nano board and the serial port to upload the program.
After power up the clock you can use the buttons to change the time.
Select with the OK-BUTTON
to change between minutes or hours and change them with the + / - Buttons
.
The clock send out the current time string _t_hours_mins_secs_
.
To set the clock using serial you can use the st
time command: _st_hours_mins_
**Note: The _
at the end has to be send, with the \n
new line charater. **