Nixie Tube Ornament

The Nixie Tube Ornament is a homage to the light-up&motion ornaments from the early 90's. The ornament looks cool on a tree and makes a great gift. Finally, a use for IN-12/15 top view tubes!

I used an IN-15A symbol nixie in this ornament. An IN-12 works great too.

A video of the ornament alone:

A video of the ornament in my tree. (Yes, the walls are changing color. I have the si-light system in my apartment: http://si-light.sourceforge.net )

Details you will find in this instructable:
1. A small high voltage power supply that runs the tube.
2. A tube carrier to mount the nixie tube in a socket so it can be changed.
3. Firmware that runs the power supply and changes the digit displayed on the tube.

Everything you need to make your own nixie tube ornament is included in the project archive:
1. Circuit board in Eagle (Cadsoft).
2. Compiled firmware HEX file, and Mikrobasic source for the free (demo) Mikro compiler.
3. This instructable in .odt (Open Office) format.

Step 1: Design overview

The nixie tube ornament has 3 main parts:
1. A power supply – boosts 5 volts to 180 volts for the nixie tube.
2. A tube driver – changes the lighted tube digit by grounding one of the 10 tube cathodes. I used the Russian KD155-whatever.
3. A microcontroller – a PIC microcontroller ties everything together – it runs the power supply and changes the digits shown in the nixie tube through a four wire interface to the tube driver IC (see previous).

Comments

[mr-mishin]

OOooo great. I'm from russia, and i realy surprise to see IN here=)

[Tvmender]

Thats really cool! I like the idea of a retro tree ornament, its a shame you didnt have a job lot of these and make a set of ornaments. I think they would look great all flashing away like they do with random characters. - Tvmender

[SaNjA2659]

Your nixie tube shows random characters insteard of numbers! I want this sort of nixies, too.

[uberdum05]

Yay somebody uses OpenOffice

[panstar1]

(removed by author or community request)

[Pie Ninja]

Just wiki it.

[Thelonelysandwitch]

where did you get the multi tool?

[hallcp]

It seems like an extraordinarily bad idea to go stringing high voltage on your Christmas tree, plus a poor use for what must be an almost extinct type of vacuum tube. Or am I missing something obvious?

[rocketman221]

this does seem like a bad idea if something were to short across the hv power supply it could set the tree on fire.

[mever]

Technically, you really can’t say that high electrical voltage is dangerous because its not, electrical current is. That’s a common misconception. I don’t know what amount of current to expect from this project but from an electrical engineering standpoint, you can’t judge how dangerous something is based on voltage alone. The static electricity to hold a balloon to the wall after rubbing it on carpet a few times can create 10,000 volts easy but virtually no current. Another example is the old Van de Graaff Generators (the metal balls that make your hair stand on end). Remember the signs that say “Danger – High Voltage!” still mean “Danger”… but the “High Voltage” part was not suggested by an electrical engineer. So consult an electrical engineer before making your next sign for proper terminology ..haha, just kidding. Great instructable ian! This is some really nice work.

[static]

I have a 5" BW battery powered TV, that most likely 5K volts inside the cabinet, safe to use unless the cabinet is opened or breached somehow. The same is true for tree ornament. I'm not so sure it's a poor use of what may be a rare device. What would a waste is for it to sit on a shelf for years and eventually tossed, because lack of demand. Ian did nice work, archiving is just as nicely. However the end product may not everybody's "cup of tee", I jut really don't see a hole lot of persons duplicating this project, thereby any depleting existing stock. I would think most persons looking to duplicate the ornament would chose an LED display

[ian]

I wouldn't really consider the HV 'strung' through the tree. Its pretty contained. Also note that the 'HV' in the nixie ornament is a few mA of 170V DC, while the christmas lights are strung about the tree and are actually higher voltage at 220V AC.

I planned to put the whole thing inside a clear plastic 'make your own memories' christmas tree ball, a sphere with two halves that snap together. Unfortunately, the store was sold out of them by the time I finished the project.

IN-12's are really common and cheap, but yes, the IN-15 is somewhat rare. I had to track mine down for previous project I've yet to complete.

[Derin]

VV W

[TJ 2]

Really cool project! too bad there arnt many of those types of vacuum tubes left though or I would have made one.

[thecheatscalc]

That's pretty awesome! (love the knife too, aren't they great?) Love the nixie tubes, I have GOT to pick some of those up. so much better looking then leds.

[MadMechanicMike]

hight voltage? exposed circuits? chrstmas tree? am i missing something?

[IamTheCreator]

Nice tutorial, the SI light system would be cooler if it like changed the whole color of your wall though/ your walls were like huge monitors or somethin', ('sept that'd probly cost too much...) Anyways I give this a 10/10. :)

[JazzyTunes]

COool! Perhaps, you could use the tubes for turning the tree to a hifi amplifier too. ;P

[smidge147]

dude wherre did u get ur tool?

[ian]

Its an instructables laser etched leatherman. I won an orange one and a purple one in the first two instructables project contests.

[James (pseudo-geek)]

is there a way to buy them withuot winning them?

[burokrat]

russian nixie tube driver IC =)))
it was realy fun for me to read your description, because 155ЛН1 is 6 logical elements well known as NO. Look her analog for russian IC is sn7404.

Ether the less project is nice.

[codeguy9]

Very cool. You did a very nice job on this.

[sanches]

it is not russian :) but it is making the xmas tree look more techie. cool Vac tube:) electrifyin'!

[mutinyishell]

hey, whered you get the instructables leatherman?

[Jesus10555]

what is it saying, is it saying anything? or just random figures?

[mrmath]

My Russian is pretty bad. What's it say?

[ian]

No need to brush up on your Russian, though a bit of Greek helps: The symbols are: %/+/-/M/m/n(eta)/K(kappa) P is rho, I think. the upside down U is probably a capital Greek pie, or perhaps Russian. the small u is µ - mu, meaning micro (as in uC for microcontroler)

[ian]

Here is the datasheet for the IN-15A (NH-15A). It shows all the characters in the tube.

[zachninme]

Why do people think it is Russian?

[mrmath]

So they are just random characters? Looks like it was something used in a calculator or something if that's the case.

[thadrien]

Really great! I dont speak russian, but it is excellent!

[Zujus]

Realy nice job! ;)