Introduction: 1 Single Digit Nixie Clock

About: I am a researcher leading quantum optics labiratory. Previously I was working on development of optical atomic clocks. Electronics is my hobby since childhood when my uncle was bringing me old phones to play a…

Young people are fascinated by Nixies. They have not seen such neon lights in the present solid-state era.
IN-18 is the largest neon digit indicator produced during USSR times that was used in scales on food markets and in scientific equipment.

Below is described how to make a single digit Nixie clock that shows time in the following order:

tens of hours - blank - hours ones - blank - tens of minutes - blank - minutes ones - longer blank.

Single digit simplifies the boring soldering task as only one Nixie needs to be connected instead of 4 or 6. Single digit add dynamics to the clock and also makes clock cheaper. A single IN-18 tube on E-bay costs around 30 EUR. Any other Nixie you get hold of can be used with the circuit described in the attached file. Arduino program code is also attached that works with a library ArduinoRTC_DS1307.

  1. First you need to assemble HV module and check that you can light Nixie digits.
  2. Independent task is to learn to read out the RTC chip using Arduino.
  3. Final task is to bring everything together.

Step 1: