Arduino nixie v41 Manuale utente
Arduino Nixie Clock v41
Operating Instructions
&
Construction Manual
Document V0041a
Contact Information
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Software
The software is available on GitHub at the address:
https://github.com/isparkes/ArdunixNix6/releases
This board works with Release “Revision 4 boards” under the “Releases” tab.
roubleshooting
If everything does not work as you expect, please carefully look at the tests in the construction steps, and
the troubleshooting tips.
At the end of the manual, there is a troubleshooting section, which goes through some of the common
problems.
Description
The Arduino Nixie Clock is a beautiful mix of old and new, resulting in a high accuracy, low power clock
which will be a talking point in your home.
The clock has the following features:
•Battery backed, temperature compensated, high accuracy clock. The accuracy is Accuracy ±2ppm
from 0°C to +40°C. (Maximum 1 minute per year).
•The battery life should be 3 years in normal use.
•Retains the date and time even when turned off (not just for a few minutes, but for as long as the
battery lasts)
•Leap Year Compensation Valid Up to the year 2100
•Based on the Arduino micro-controller: Easy to program an well documented.
•Open source hardware and software. Nothing is hidden in this clock.
•You may modify and load the software
•Low power consumption.
•Anti Cathode Poisoning (ACP) makes sure that the tubes will stay healthy for many years with no
intervention from you.
•All settings are stored in non-volatile memory. Once they are set, they are remembered forever, or
until you change them again.
•RGB back lighting allows you to set the the color of the back lighting to practically any color you
desire.
•Ambient light sensing, with automatic tube dimming, which sets the tube and LED brightness
according to the light conditions. The tubes could be disturbing during the night if they are left at
full brightness.
•Absolutely silent operation. Some Nixie clocks emit an irritating “buzz” or “hiss” which is especially
annoying if you keep the clock in a bedroom.
•Long tube life: The multiplexed display and automatic dimming used in this design extends the life
of the tubes indefinitely. Some other designs run the tubes too “hard”, and this causes a rapid
degradation in the useful life of the tube.
•Automatic week day or weekend blanking, extends the life of tubes even further
•Automatic time of day blanking, can blank between a start hour and an end hour, on week days,
weekends or every day
•Configurable suppression of Anti Cathode Poisoning when the clock is fully dimmed. In the middle
of the night, all the digits lighting up at full brightness could be disturbing. You can choose to stop
ACP when the clock is fully dimmed
•The micro-controller can be reprogrammed using the ICSP interface provided on the board
General
The clock has different modes of operation, which you select using the pushbutton. When you start the
clock up th very first time, it will start in “Time Display Mode”. We set it up to be the right time for where
the clock is being shipped to, so in the best case you will not even need to set the clock the first time!
The other modes of operation are described in the following sections.
Safety
The voltages produced in the High Voltage circuit can reach peaks of 400V! Take precautions not to
electrocute yourself! If you are not sure what this means, please do not use this clock and return it for a
full refund.
A shock from the clock high voltage circuit is at least a nasty bite. At worst it can kill you.
We decline any responsibility in the case of injury or death.
REPEA : If you are not sure, please do not use the clock.
Powering Up
When you power the unit up, it will display “88:88:88” for several seconds. This is for the calibration of the
High Voltage Generator to match the power adapter you have attached. During this time you might hear
some faint crackling noises from the generator. This is normal.
After finishing the calibration, the version number (“00:35:07”) will be displayed for about a second. The
clock will then go into normal operating mode.
ime Display Mode
Normally, the clock will show the time. To show additional information press the button with a “short”
press. Each press cycles through the following information. After 5 seconds, the display will revert to the
normal time display.
Mode Description Values
Date Date. The current date will be shown.
Temp emperature. The current internal temperature inside the clock
case will be shown in degrees Celsius. If this goes above 40, you
should consider ventilating the case, because the temperature
compensation is not able to work at such high voltages, and the
clock life may be reduced, and the time may drift.
Light Ambient Light Reading. This shows the current ambient light
reading from the LDR (light dependent resistor). It is a normalized
value, and goes between 100 (dark) to 999 (bright). This controls the
dimming of the tubes.
100: darkest
999: brightest
Version Display the version number. The format will be :”VV vv 07”, where
major version is “VV”, minor version is “vv” and the “21” is the id for
the version display.
00:35:07
Setting Mode
To enter setting mode, press the button for more than 1 second (“medium press”). The “RGB back light”
LEDs will start to flash white. The number of consecutive flashes indicates the mode you are in.
Each medium press of more than 1 second will move the setting mode onto the next. When you finish the
setting modes, the clock returns to normal time display mode.
o exit the setting mode before going through all the options, press the button for more than 2 seconds
(“long press”). The “RGB back light” LEDs will return back to their normal operation. Another way of exiting
is to cycle through all of the setting options, after which you will return to time mode.
To change a setting, press the button for less than one second, and then release it (“short press”).
Mode Description Values
ime mode. This is the normal mode and displays the time. It is the
normal start up mode of the clock. If you do nothing. The clock is in
this mode.
In this mode a short press cycles through the values given in “Time
Display Mode”, but always returns to the standard time display after
5 seconds.
ime and Date Settings
Set minutes. Each short press will advance the minute. The
minutes roll over back to 0 ffter reaching 59 minutes. Each time you
set the minute, the seconds is reset to 0.
Set Hours. Each short press will advance the hour. The hours roll
over back to zero after reaching 12 or 24 (depending on the 12/24
hours mode).
Set Day. Each short press will advance the day. The day roll over
back to one after reaching the maximum number of days in the
month.
Set Month. Each short press will advance the month. The month
roll over back to zero after reaching 12.
Set Year. Each short press will advance the year. The year roll over
back to 2015 after reaching 2099.
Basic Settings
“00”
flashing
12 or 24 hour time. The hours are displayed in 12 or 24 hour
mode.
“1” = 12 hour
“0” = 24 hour
default: 0
“01”
flashing
Blank leading “0”. Blank out the leading “0” from single digit hours. “1” = blank
“0” = don t blank
default: 0
“02”
flashing
Scroll back. Use the scroll back (rapid count down) effect when
changing from “9” to “0”.
“1” = enable
“0” = disable
default: 1
“03”
flashing
Date format. Set the format that the date is displayed in. “0” = YY.MM.DD
“1” = MM.DD.YY
“2” = DD.MM.YY
default: 2
“04”
flashing
Display blanking. To preserve the tubes, you can set the display to
be blanked.
Options:
•“4” = “hours”: Blanks between the start and end hour every
day.
•“5” = “H or weekends”: This blanks all day during the
weekends and between the start and end hour every other
day.
•“6” = “H or week days”: This blanks all day during the week
days and between the start and end hour every other day.
•“7” = “H on weekends”: This blanks between the start and
end hour on weekends.
•“8” = “H on week days”: This blanks between the start and
end hour on week days.
“0” = Don t blank
“1” = Weekends
“2” = Week days
“3” = Always
“4” = Hours
“5” = H or weekends
“6” = H or week days
“7” = H on weekends
“8” = H on week days
default: 0
“05”
flashing
Blanking Hour Start. Hour blanking will start at this hour, on the
days set by the Display Blanking Mode. If the display blanking mode
does not use hours, this setting is not shown.
Default: 00
“06”
flashing
Blanking Hour End. Hour blanking will end at this hour, on the
days set by the Display Blanking Mode. If the display blanking mode
does not use hours, this setting is not shown.
Default: 07
“07”
flashing
Anti Cathode Poisoning night suppression. The ACP which runs
during the night lights the digits up at full brightness, and some
people might find this disturbing. Using this setting, you can stop
ACP happening when the display is fully dimmed (e.g. at night).
“1” = don t do ACP
when dimmed
“0” = do ACP always
default: 0
Special Effects Settings
“08”
flashing
Fade Speed Slower. Each short press will make the fade speed
between digits slower.
Default: 50
Max: 200
Min: 20
“09”
flashing
Fade Speed Faster. Each short press will make the fade speed
between digits faster.
Default: 50
Max: 200
Min: 20
“10”
flashing
Scroll-back Speed Slower. Each short press will make the “scroll-
back” speed slower.
Default: 4
Max: 40
Min: 1
“11”
flashing
Scroll-back Speed Faster. Each short press will make the “scroll-
back” speed faster.
Default: 4
Max: 40
Min: 1
Back Light Settings
“12”
flashing
Back Light Mode. This sets the mode of the back light.
“Fixed” mode will show the back light color according to the Red,
Green and Blue channel intensities.
“Pulse” will make the intensity of the back light “pulse”, brightening
for a second and then darkening for a second, but always
respecting the relative intensities set by the Red, Green and Blue
channel intensities.
“Cycle” fades the back lighting randomly, and does not use the Red,
Green and Blue channel intensities. These settings will be skipped if
cycle mode is selected.
Options “0”, “1” and “2”, do not dim with the bulbs. Options “3”, “4”
and “5” do.
“0” = Fixed
“1” = Pulse
“2” = Cycle
“3” = Fixed/Dim
“4” = Pulse/Dim
“5” = Cycle/Dim
default: 0
“13”
flashing
Red Channel Intensity. Sets the maximum intensity of the red
channel back light. This will be dimmed according to the display
dimming. If you are in cycle mode, this setting will be skipped.
Default: 15
Max: 15
Min: 0
“14”
flashing
Green Channel Intensity. Sets the maximum intensity of the green
channel back light. This will be dimmed according to the display
dimming. If you are in cycle mode, this setting will be skipped.
Default: 15
Max: 15
Min: 0
“15”
flashing
Blue Channel Intensity. Sets the maximum intensity of the blue
channel back light. This will be dimmed according to the display
dimming. If you are in cycle mode, this setting will be skipped.
Default: 15
Max: 15
Min: 0
“16”
flashing
Cycle Speed. If you are in cycle mode, this controls the speed at
which the colors cycle. The higher the number, the slower the
colors will change.
Default: 10
Max: 64
Min: 4
HV Generation Settings (See “HV Settings” note)
“17”
flashing
HV arget Voltage Higher. Each press sets the HV target voltage
higher by 5V.
Default: 180
Max: 200
Min: 150
“18”
flashing
HV arget Voltage Lower. Each press sets the HV target voltage
lower by 5V.
Default: 180
Max: 200
Min: 150
“19”
flashing
PWM On ime Longer. This setting controls how long the PWM On
pulse is. Normally you should not have to change this, but you can
try changing this is the HV generation is noisy or you have unusual
tubes.
Default: 150
Max: 50
Min: 500
“20”
flashing
PWM On ime Shorter. This setting controls how long the PWM On
pulse is. Normally you should not have to change this, but you can
try changing this is the HV generation is noisy or you have unusual
tubes.
Default: 150
Max: 50
Min: 500
Information Settings
“21”
flashing
Current case temperature. Show the current temperature inside
the case (used as part of the temperature compensation for the
clock crystal).
“22”
flashing
Clock version. Show the clock software version.
Digit est. Will roll through all digits on all locations to check that
the display is healthy.
Note “HV Settings”: Before leaving the clock for long periods with a new “HV Generation” setting, check
that neither the IRF740 MOSFET nor the 7805 voltage regulator is running too hot. If either of these
components gets too hot, either adjust the high voltage settings or add a heat sink.
Display Blanking Mode
During display blanking mode the tubes will be off depending on the display blanking settings, but the LEDs
will continue to work as usual, telling you that the clock is still running.
You can configure the display to blank at weekends, during week days, always or never (the default). Also
you are able to define hours during which to blank. For example I have a setting saying that the clock is
blanked on weekdays between 7am and 4 pm, while I am out at work. At weekends, the display runs all the
time.
You are also able to override the blanking. Press the button while the clock is blanked, and the display will
come on again. Pressing the button will display the time for about a minute (60 seconds, but the display is
only blanked on the minute change).
If you press the button multiple times within 5 seconds, the blanking will stay off for longer periods:
•1 Press: 60 seconds
•2 Presses: 1 hour
•3 Presses: 4 hours
ube Healing Mode
After a long period of time, tube filaments which are not often used (e.g. the “9” on the tens of hours or
minutes) can get dim, despite the ACP that is regularly done.
If you make a “super-long” press of the button (more than 8 seconds), the clock will enter filament healing
mode. All the power will be placed through a single filament of a single digit to clean it. A short press will
change the selected filament.
Another super-long press or cycling through all the filaments will return the clock to normal.
Caution! Don t leave a single filament in this state for an extended period of time. It is a harsh process,
and may damage the tube if you leave it in this mode for too long. Normally a few minutes will restore the
cathode digit.
Factory Reset
To reset the clock back to initial settings, hold down the button while powering on. The “tick” LED will flash
10 times to signal that the reset has been done.
Everything will be reset back to the factory default state.
External power supply
The perfect voltage for the external power supply is 7.5V or 9V DC. You can use 12V DC.
If you use more than 12V be aware that you might have to provide a heat sink for the power components
and adjust the HV voltage generation. It is not advised to use more than 12V.
The absolute maximum permissible is 24V DC. Higher voltages than this will surely damage the clock.
Board layout
For reference, the board layout is as shown (viewed from the top):
The connections are:
Connector Description Values
POWER External power should be applied to the board with this connector.
Any DC input source is possible, from 7.5V – 12V. Higher voltages
may be possible, but could cause the digits to flicker if the voltage is
too high, and you might have to provide a heat sink for the the
MOSFET and voltage regulator.
The absolute maximum input voltage is 24V. Any higher voltage
than this will damage the board within a few seconds!
The input VIN is protected against the input being connected
reversed.
The input current ranges from 300mA to 1A depending on the size
of the tubes and the number of LEDs you are driving.
GND: The negative side of the input supply
VIN: The positive side of the input supply
VCC: Output of regulated 5V
HV OU : Output of high voltage for driving external neons etc.
Indice
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