NIXIE TUBE DRIVER MODULES - Part II

This Instructable is a follow-up to the nixie tube driver module (Part I) that I posted here.

The nixie driver board is designed to receive serial input from an external microcontroller (Arduino, etc.) and output decimal information and route power to one pair of nixie tubes. The pair of nixie tubes mount on top of the nixie driver board which supports two IN-12A type nixie tubes in two phenolic sockets. The high voltage requirements of at least eight pairs of IN-12A nixie tubes may be provided a high voltage power supply. The right-angle male and female header pins on the nixie driver board allow multiple pairs of nixie tubes to be joined edge-to-edge. This densely packed configuration permits minimum digit spacing while threading power and serial data connections to all elements.

Step 1: Parts List

1 - nixie driver printed circuit board
2 - K155ID1 (74141) 16-pin IC
1 - 74HC595 16-pin IC
3 - 16-pin IC socket
2 - straight 12-pin female header (1x12)
2 - right-angle 6-pin male header (1x6)
2 - right-angle 6-pin female header (1x6)
2 - 47k 1 watt resistor
1 - 100 uF electrolytic capacitor
1 - 0.1 uF metal film capacitor

Comments

[TechDante]

hi again just wondering which pins on the driver goes to the data strobe and clock of an arduino

[gluplug]

You can check out page 5 and 7 of the driver guide posted here:
http://www.ogilumen.com/guides/driver.pdf

[TechDante]

Hi was just wondering what size the boards come out at.

[gluplug]

board size is 44 x 44 x 2.4 mm (chunky thick)

[vishalapr]

This is fantastic rated 5 \* have a look at my ibles as well

[gomjabar]

Never mind. I have been told what I have are filament Nixies.

[awsomehighvoltage]

thats called a numitron tube.

[gluplug]

A couple year's ago, Mike was in Vancouver, and by chance I met him at a Dorkbot meeting. He's got a great intro a lot of things, including a range of nixie tubes here: http://www.electricstuff.co.uk

[gomjabar]

I have giant Nixies. Do you think they might work?

[gmoon]

This instructable is almost entirely cut-n-pasted from the assembly PDF on the ogilumen.com....which makes this dangerously close to spam... Still think it's cool, though. Adding the schematic, and some more info about the usual Russian driver ICs would make it less spammy..

[gluplug]

Added a direct link to the Eagle pcb files for this project.

The Russian-type 74141 driver ICs used to throttle the nixie tube elements are BCD-to-Decimal-Decoders, but importantly are able to withstand the high peak-inverse-voltage that is the case when driving nixie tubes. These chips are available through eBay and other sources as NOS (new old stock) items, and also are available new from NTE.