Your Nixie Clock Headquarters
IV-18 Soviet VFD CLOCK
by Turbo_Hobby / eBay
Starting at $69.99
User Turbo_Hobby has released a new clock based on the IV-18 VFD tube and it looks pretty slick. There has been other clocks based on this tube but no other ones, based on my recollection, include a calculator function. That's right, it is also a calculator. It seems fitting that the tube that was originally designed for calculators is finally being used for one in this vacuum tube Renaissance.
The production time on each one of these devices is significant. Each one of his creations is hand assembled and even the transformer is hand wound. In practice, this means that he is only able to produce about one per month. Given that, the starting price is pretty good. (I sure wouldn't want to hand solder the SMT components.)
Turbo_Hobby is also the same guy who created the single digit nixie clock that I really like. He doesn't have a lot of feedback on eBay yet but I would not hesitate to do business with him again.
From the auction:
This is a fully assembled IV-18 VFD clock, with alarm, date, temperature and calculator function! Largest 8-digit VFD tube from USSR, NOS. Please refer to the video below or contact me for detailed explanation. Assembled with high-quality SMD components, with calibrated accurate clock pulse generator. The clock can be powered by either mini USB port or a 3.5mm 5V DC power supply, and keeps time by a SMD lithium battery when powered off.
Features:
- 8 digit, 7 brightness level
- Displays time, date (DD.MM.YYYY), day (1-7) and temperature (°C and °F both) every 30 seconds.
- 3 alarms
- Dual input (mini USB or 3.5mm 5V DC wall adaptor)
- AC driven VFD provides uniform display
- Four buttons control (set, select, up and down)
- Made by high quality components
- Extensible 8-digit calculator (please purchase the matrix keyboard separately)
- Uses high quality components
- Philips RTC (Real-time Clock) - PCF8563
- Accurate SMD Clock Oscillator
- Murata (Japan) SMD Clock Trimmer Capacitor
- NEC 6312 Specific VFD Driver IC
- EPCOS SMD Tantalum Capacitors
- ATmel M32 Microprocessor
- SANYO SMD CR2025 Backup Battery
Links
NixieNeon
by Joe Croft / NixieNeon.com
Price: $160 (kit), $399 (fully built)
Joe Croft sent in his NixieNeon clock. What I really like about this kit is simply the number of neon bulbs and the use of less-common green neon bulbs as well. The manual itself is worth reading through. Clearly lots of work went in to designing this device. (Apparently the original intent was not to use a single processor!)
The software itself is open source under the GPL license. The core of the clock is based on an Arduino bootloader and library.
As far as the description of the operation goes, I won't try to paraphrase his description from the site:
The NixieNeon is a nixie tube clock designed with ring counters built using neon bulbs to allow the viewer to see the electronics perform the actual counting of time. This electronics kit offers the builder a glimpse back in time before semiconductors became inexpensive and plentiful. The Hour of the day is displayed using the twelve neon bulbs (the hour ring) circling the two 2 nixie tube digits which represent the minutes. The 4 green neon bulbs are for showing the positions for 12, 3, 6 and nine o'clock. They also blink to give a pendulum effect while the clock is operating.
See it in action:
Links
Smartsockets
It looks like Chris Barron is making some good progress on the Smartsockets project. Head on over to their Yahoo group to learn more and if you're not already a member, join http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smartsockets/ (It is things like this that make me wish I stayed in electrical engineering....)
If you're not familiar with smartsockets:
Smart Sockets were born from a desire to create a family of products which consists of different types of popular displays, each with a standard uniform command set and a large number of display mode functions.
There are many inbuilt fonts and transition effects which can run at several speeds. This allows you to make an interesting display display routine with the minimum of fuss, the only requirement in terms of data signals is an industry standard 9600,8,N,1 input. This means they can be driven directly by a PC, a PDA, or a microcontroller.
There are also user-definable characters, which allows for the creation of a new character set, which is stored in non-volatile memory.
KOSBO VFD Round Clock
by Kosbo.com
Price: 49.95 EUR
Kosbo has just come out with a new VFD clock that is different from just about any other on the market. Instead of using discreet 7-segment tubes like the IV-11, this used one single display in the shape of an analog clock.
I personally own one of his IV-11 clocks and I’m quite happy with it. The PCB board is professionally assembled and I like the design of it. This round VFD clock takes it to the next level – soon there will be an acrylic base to complete the device and based on the renderings provided, it looks quite attractive.
Once the base is released, I may order one and do a more formal review based on that. In the mean time, go over to Kosbo.com and check out the rest of the photos and the specs. If you already have one of these, please leave me a message in the comments. I'd really like to get your opinion on this device.
From the site:
- Newly designed VFD Round Clock - just arrived on the market
- Unique compact design - there is nothing similar on market yet
- Circuit boards diameter is the same as tube's one - just make 30mm hole for whole clock installation
- Based on the modern Vacuum Fluorescent Display, which has 60 two sizes handle segments for real analogue clock simulation
- Reliable, simple to connect and easy to use Clock
- High efficiency and low power consumption for energy saving
- Use it as a Clock on your office table or as Alarm Clock to wake you up in your bedroom
- Convenient Time display reading
- Easy control with only 2 buttons.
- Over current and mixed polarity protection.
- Integrated Backup battery to keep Clock running in case of power failure for up to 14 days.
Links
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