The NIXIE Tube, and How To Use Them

[@kengamble8595]

With so many youtubers that THINK they are teachers, I'm glad to find one that truly is a teacher ! Please don't let some of these commenters get you to change the way you communicate the information to us ! I believe the majority of us need your way to hold our interest and go on from there. Subed and looking forward to next installment, thank you sir !

[@JamesHalfHorse]

I only wish the technology that makes distance learning like this was available when I was a kid. Paul and his teaching methods reminds me a lot of my mentors/elmers I have had along the way though and am glad to of had them when I did.

[@CanDoo321]

I really enjoy the simplicity and teaching aspects of this video.

[@Flapjackbatter]

Yes it's all very clear and to the point. He stays on top of things all the time. Unlike some electronics engineers here on youtube, who is currently enjoying a nice Reagenesque slide into dementia, and is goofing up here and there. : ) Can anyone quess who I'm talking about?

[@Flapjackbatter]

No, no. Dave Jones is sharp as f. Im talking about an elderly American electronics engineer that was in the US millitary. Served in Vietnam. Do you understand now ? He seriouslly has a video out where he wrongly explain how LC circuits works. I informed him polightly that he was wrong and was blocked. Oh what the hell. I'll just say it. It's AllAmericanFiveRadio

[@orange70383]

You sir have a talent for teaching that I've found to be quite rare. Thank You'

[@GrandsonofKong]

DITTO!!!

[@ElectronicsAustralia]

Ditto as well! Awesome stuff!

[@Coffeeology]

I assumed he was a high school teacher.

[@unlokia]

orange70383 Yes he does. Makes "EEVblog" look like kindergarten for angry simpletons. The calm, gentle and thorough explanations minus ANY "opinions" or superfluous nonsense, is why Mr Carlson reigns supreme.

[@psient]

Dave is great in being benign about newcomers. Expressive and loudly proclaiming his fun. Mr. Carlson takes it like a stream of happening, a true problem solver for us new comers!!

[@MichaelLloyd]

Perfect! I really liked the calculation info for the base resistor. I'd like to see more of that

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks for your input Mike...and 9 others.

[@daytonaflorida2247]

Mr. Carlson, I think a lot of us who enjoy your videos would really appreciate a video on your educational background and how you became so knowledgeable. I have a Doctorate and have been in my Profession 35 years and doubt I know as much about my field as you do about yours. I just think a lot of us would be very interested in how you learned everything you demonstrate in these videos.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

I may do a "Bio" some day down the road. I "personally" find electronics much more interesting to talk about :^) Thanks for your kind comment!

[@dinosworkshop6870]

This is like a classroom. I do not think I have ever heard a finer explanation of resistor value computation.A really top quality video. Thanks from all us viewers!

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@Fireship1]

Mr. Carlson's Lab? More like Mr. Carlson's EMPIRE! You have a very impressive collection of equipment and knowledge. Great videos and explanations. Thanks for sharing!

[@lucrainville9864]

Your lab is so impressive !

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks Luc!

[@jose_simon]

It's videos like this that make the tubes' community still alive! Thanks!

[@swinde]

Nixies are cool. I have two instruments from the Heathkit company that use nixies. IM-1002 digital voltmeter, 3 and one half digit display. The half digit is acquired using an NE-2H lamp. The other is IB-1102 which is an eight digit frequency counter that measures from one Hertz to 120 MHz . They were purchased in kit form in approximately 1974. Both still function beautifully. All of the digits are still bright. 42 years and going strong. I did have to repair them a couple of times, but Heath's manuals are superb.

[@TheRadioShop]

This will be a great series Paul. I love Nixie tubes and would like to build a counter. Great explanation on how to tube the different elements on. A project such as this would be great for folks to learn on. Thanks for the video and big thumbs up.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks Buddy! Glad you stopped by.

[@TheRadioShop]

:-) will be waiting on the next one

[@LearnElectronicsCanada]

I'm with you on this. I have a bunch of the Russian IN-12A's IN-2's and such lying around which I'll finally get a chance to do something with. I also a a set of the Russian Ceramic Military Grade chips you are referring to but I'm more likely to follow along and use the easier replaceable components. Nice job on this one - great idea. I'm looking forward to the series.

[@KingNast]

Very well explained! Time to find the box of nixies I bought 10 years ago and finally do something with them.

[@harindugamlath]

Wow! Thank you very much for starting this project. Here is a promise, After you finish the series I'll definitely use Nixie tubes in the build that I'm planning to do. Will send the photos of the finished thing. Many thanks!

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Glad you enjoyed Harindu!

[@audiotechlabs4650]

I must say this a very ambitious series. I have always enjoyed and learned from your videos. Right now, since I am a working guitar player, my focus is on tube guitar amps. I have seen your videos on tube amp and they were great. In the future, if you have the interest, a series on a tube amp build would be of great help to me and others. Thank you for sharing, your vast knowledge of electronics. Thankz

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks for your comment!

[@harveyellis6758]

Great video! I designed and built a Nixie based 24 hour clock (with seconds display) about 30 years ago. They were old school even back then :-). Good to see the technology still generates interest.

[@RadioWhisperer]

As always a big thumbs up. I just found you channel a month ago and I'm enjoying every minute. Thank you for what you do.

[@cosmicmatrix6238]

clear, concise, easy to understand. THANKS!

[@gregorywest2029]

Great video Paul, you just gave me a solution for a problem I have with the old IC in a Freq. Difference Meter. Looking forward to the rest of the series. Keep them comming, Greg

[@jwl9286]

Again, you rock! So clear, so precise, so interesting! I learned a great deal of this at believe it or not the National Radio Institute. Used some of it on occasion but in the plug and play world allowed much of it to fade away! You are a class of your own. Thanks for taking the time to do these video's! I love them. Included are your video and editing the techniques. Wonderfully assembled. Cecil B. Demille would be envious!

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks for your kind comment!

[@dennissmithjr.5370]

Loved the video, I am a novice in electronics and this was very cool to learn about. Don't think I am ready to mess around with NIXIE tubes just yet. Thanks for sharing.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Your welcome Dennis!

[@VintageLabSilvioPinheiro]

Please Paul, make some kits with this an take all my money !! Thanks for sharing ...

[@PeterEdin]

I agree. If Paul made a Nixie tube kit I'd buy one.

[@cassvirgillo3395]

Hi Paul, Great explanation of the Nixie Tubes. Hope all is good. Thankyou for sharing your knowledge and experience. Happy Summer, C.

[@evelarrythomas3521]

Paul, I can remember when digital instruments and calculators first came out. These used nixie tubes for their digital displays. (I guess I am dating myself) Anyway, nixie tubes have always had a definite "cool factor" in my opinion. A couple few years ago, I decided to design a nixie tube clock. After considering a couple different design approaches, I decided to make use of the very low cost Arduino UNO as a computing platform and design a 6-digit nixie display that would interface to the UNO. The circuit I designed utilizes a 12 volt AC input from a 1-amp Plug-in wall transformer. The use of low voltage AC power allowed an easy way to produce the needed high voltage for the nixie tubes (using a transformer), low voltage DC to run the UNO and other logic, and also provide a reliable 60 Hz time base for time keeping. I developed a PC board for all the circuitry, interface to the UNO, and a long 64 bit shift register which drives the individual elements in 6 nixie tubes plus decimal points in 3 of the nixies. I chose to use the IN-8-2 nixies (from Russia) as they are a nice size, have a decimal point, and feature distinctive "2" and "5". I also incorporated some additional features on the board - a power relay, speaker, potentiometer, temperature sensor, and several switch inputs. The UNO program I wrote runs the 6-digit display as a clock with added date and timing functions. I still have a couple of unused PC boards and would be happy to send you one at no cost. Might make for an interesting video. Let me know if you are interested.

[@juntistik]

Fantastic video, looking forward to the next :D

[@hiworx]

Wow! Lots of information revealed in a single video; current limiting, the principles of transistors, Nixie tubes and ICs. I liked the way you explain the math behind current limiting. That's a great video for a beginner like me. Thanks.

[@kippyjohnson]

more videos! this is by far my favorite channel.

[@unlokia]

kippyjohnson Also mine. What a guy!!

[@bwack]

Well explained. I sent the link to this video to a friend because you explain it so much better than I can do myself. :)

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

I hope your friend understands :^)

[@Satchmoeddie]

Would you like a NIXIE from the last nuclear generating station built in the USA? Reply, and I can PM you. A salvage place bought up 1000s of Nixies when GE changed the control panel designs mid project. One of the scariest things you could hear in the 1970s, was two nuclear power plant technician's discussing how nicely the glass top control panels worked for snorting cocaine. Then upon closer inspection you can see cocaine on the glass panel. It was the 1970s, and workplace drug testing was unheard of outside the military & Vietnam.

[@jeffreyhill4695]

I want some! I need 14 either 14s 18s or ones ( front faceing)

[@davecc0000]

Thank you Mr. C especially for the math. "Teach a man to fish" a resistor and he can calculate one for any number of applications.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Glad you enjoyed Dave!

[@OnHoldAt50]

Great presentation. In one video, you've convinced an expert electronics technician to subscribe to your channel. That's tough to do. Congratulations.

[@skycarl]

Thanks Paul, going to enjoy this series. Would love to have a schem of this board. Thank you again pal. Carl

[@LakeNipissing]

17:13 . . . The 4017 IC is still your friend to this day for not cremating it!

[@78trav]

I'm looking forward to the next episode. Great video as always Paul!

[@mrjohhhnnnyyy5797]

Your vids are pure gold! I'm addicted to them now :) And yeah, I was thinking about making nixie counter but decided to use VFD's. Nixies are very popular, giving sellers excuse to put bizarre price tags on them.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks John!

[@mikesradiorepair]

Got a new box of 100 tubes somewhere. Going to have to dust them off and build one. Been looking for a good project for them. Great job on the explanation. Looking forward to the future episodes. Mike

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks Mike!

[@AlmarJohansen]

very educational video! You are a very gifted teacher

[@W1RMD]

Those look like 1N16's. The digits look big, but that could be the camera angle. Nice looking tubes!

[@OnEvenKeel]

So excited about a build series!

[@Nexalian_Gamer]

LED's will never beat the awesome orange glow of Nixies.

[@BlackAdder4Ever]

Thank you for this video. Very informative, says all that needs to be said. I hope for a followup video focused on a proper design of stable 170V source.

[@pumppingiron]

Nice bench set-up!

[@oscarrobles5994]

Nice job on the detailed visual explanation. I know there are many places that sell Nixie tube desktop clocks but I want to build one from scratch using an old Analogic AN2534 Voltmeter unit. It has 4 Nixie tubes plus the high voltage source. Now that you showed me how to drive the Nixie tubes I will just disconnect the voltmeter driver section and feed in my own circuit (basically a Silicon Labs Busy Bee Microcontroller which will multiplex four CD4028 BCD drivers). In order to make this compact I'm using OnSemi's MSD42WT1G NPNs (in a surface mount SC-70 package) > 32 transistors should do it for a 4-digit 12hour clock.

[@lelandclayton5462]

The Nixie Tube "tester" circuit would be fine. I wish 7 segment displays were this easy.

[@PokéDude83]

He is so smart and his teaching skills is second to NO BODY!

[@cristrigotti9933]

Paul, Great video. You are very easy to learn from. Your videos are the best.

[@koffibanan3099]

I really love your thorough explanations! Including the math is always great!

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks Koffi!

[@nubowner1]

Great video. You can get creative and control a bunch of tubes with only 3 mcu pins (well 4 if you include ground) by using shift registers(which are easily daisy chained) to drive the BCD to decimal converters. You could use shift registers directly, but most only have 8 outputs, not 10 and if u want to use an mcu's hardware spi peripheral (as opposed to bit banging), most of those send data by the byte.

[@bundylovess]

Thanks mr Carlson looking forward to the next video Big thumbs up

[@JamesHalfHorse]

Probably one for Patreon once I figure that out. I love indicators of all kinds. I can sit and watch old school VU meters move for hours. Nixies are one of my favorites and built a couple of clock kits. I would like to build the frequency counter as well but I am also fascinated by the magic eye tubes. I would love to see a standalone project (or one that could be added to the counter) that could be use for tuning or signal strength.

[@andredevilliers0]

Hi there Paul, thank you for all the great videos. You are like a pro when it comes to teaching. This is the best channel to learn from simple to complicated electronics. I can see you know what you are talking about. Respect. Regards from South Africa.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks Andre! Glad your enjoying the channel.

[@powersonic6255]

Thumbs up , Thank you for the theory behind this old tech Nixie Tubes .

[@Reuben1024]

Really enjoying this Paul, looking forward to the rest of this series, and yes Nixie tester diagram would be appreciated

[@SuperCarver2011]

Back in the early 70s, before 7 segment LED displays became avaiable at affordable prices, I needed to build a 2 inch wide professional audio tape recorder display and encoder for editing and finding spots on the tape for overdubbing. I designed the high speed bearing tape encoder to retrofit at a spot of the tape path before going through the 24 track recording heads. I found a bunch of surplus nixie tubes and started to build my own display unit that had TTL logic and was driven from rotational pules from the encoder capstan. The nixie tubes required special TTL drivers (BCD to Decimal) 74141 from what I remember due to the high voltage on the anode. I think the 10 o/ps to the nixie cathodes were at TTL open collector level pulled to ground to turn on the appropriate digit with 4 inputs, which were internally decoded to go only from 0000 to 1001, the other values 1010 to 1111 were ignored inside the driver chip. The rest of my logic board to support the nixied BCD drivers was composed of TTL up/down counters, and some TTL schmitt trigger logic to clean and square up the pulses from the tape encoder.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Sounds like that was a neat project.

[@SuperCarver2011]

Yes it was.I had my own custom electronic engineering company (basically me,myself and I) that went out and contracted anything I could repair or rebuild or design from scratch. There was a 24trk recording studio that had an Ampex 24trk recorder where the recording engineers had to find audible passages on the tape to cue up for overdubs. This was difficult sometimes in a large 2400ft reel of tape and one of them asked me if it was possible to come up with an electronic counter that they could record the footage on their master sheets and then refer to the spot on the tape during overdubs, rather than have to search for the audio track. The long searches cause lots of spill noise because as some may have heard, the sounds tapes make as they are shuttled back and forth to arrive at the right spot at speaker sound levels are not exactly pleasant if you have to do a lot of this. While the nixie tube display was relatively simple to engineer from scratch, the challenge was the addition of the tape footage counter measurement encoder capstan that had to be located on the deck, requiring drilling a hole in the deck at a specific place for the tape roller to contact the tape in an EXACT spot without affecting tape tension or introducing wow and flutter. This spot could not be determined ahead of time..so that was definitely a challenge for me. I had to convince the sound studio that if it didn't work the way it was supposed to work during the trial period, all there would be is a 3/8 hole in the deck that would be covered up with a chrome button, and only I would be out a lot of my time in designing it and installing it. It worked though and they were happy with the results as it made their jobs easier.

[@davidlagle172]

You got to pay attention. It will light up. This guy's good . .

[@joernone]

Paul, I actually understood all of it. You've achieved a quantum breakthrough in my gray matter. Congrats, my friend. Regards, John

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

LOL, Glad you enjoyed John!

[@WaybackTECH]

Very informative. Looking forward to this series!

[@tectalabyss]

Hello Paul. Thank you so much for this awesome series. I am looking forward to each and every video. All my very best. Bobby

[@FozziesRandomReviews]

Very clear and informative with the maths. Perfect to understand for a first year engineering student. Just gained a subscriber! Keep it up. Would love to know your favourite way to supply the 120 ish volts needed without hooking it up to an external supply.

[@jeanious2009]

I've watched EEV dave jones explain it and YOU SIR DID a whole lot better job at it. Nothing against Dave as I enjoy his channel but you take it your time to explain it very well and at a much more realistic pace. THANKS!

[@StealthParrot]

That was excellent Mr C. I understand exactly how this works but I'd like to see the schematic if you have time for it in the next video. Awesome as always!

[@MrBanzoid]

Very informative video. Thanks very much for the simple maths for calculating hard turn on. I wish some of my lecturers were as good as you!

[@petroldevo9934]

If you tied all the digit pins together so you would have just a plate and an anode, could a nixie be used as a triode ? Really good video by the way !

[@richardhall9815]

Where can you get Nixie tubes?

[@portalmaster555]

This was highly informative, thank you!

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

You're so welcome!

[@g0fvt]

Excellent video as always!

[@TimJackson-h9t]

Thanks for the voltage warning.

[@badass4226]

Mr Carlson, I love all your video. Thank you. I learn a lot just watching. I hope you have a lot more coming .

[@mal2ksc]

You give engaging and informative lectures. You deserve a bigger whiteboard, or at least something you can flip over.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks Scott!

[@macadamia1966]

Nice multimeter! Excellent intro to nixie tubes. Thank you!

[@kevinhamming4514]

I built a timer using counter chips. The digits are very flakey in that they flicker between digits on the same nixie tube. I built 1 version with leds without this problem. You use transistors , but you dont say why you do it. Im thinking that using a small DC to DC converter that I think is generating noise because of the inductor possibly making my digits unstable. Other than a chip like the russian version of decoder to decode BCD inputs to drive the the 10 digits, does using the transistors help make the display more stable? I really found that I need a timer because the LCD timers dont have a very loud alarm and you cant read the display from across the room, you certainly can barely hear it from more than 6 feet away.

[@henrygallego4698]

Great video! Keep up with the math too. For me, it is never redundant or boring.

[@pkplexing]

Nice, I look forward to the rest of the series :)

[@larryk4mu240]

Hi Paul, Bravo, excellent video. Looking forward to the others. 73

[@sunebrian1423]

Question, i do recall my ZM1032 design perfer uses the stage between on/off as it is better to control an Nixie Tube, correct me if i am wrong. I think it is between to control to off segment by a flow voltage that come from the zener diode plus a resistor rather than just let the transistor handle all the blocking high voltage.

[@atbglenn]

Great video Paul. I own a nixie tube clock that uses large Philips ZM1040 nixies. I've had it since 2003. I know that nixies eventually succumb to cathode poisoning. So far mine hasn't. I do rotate the tubes every 3 months. That probably has something to do with it.

[@TRXLab]

First class video Paul! Thanks for sharing! 73

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks Peter!

[@CytotoxicDingus]

Subbed! I like that you're very thorough. I'm in the middle of making a schematic in Eagle for a nixie clock, so I'll be waiting for the next video!

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

All three video's are available under the "show more" Tab, or search my video's list. I have another video in progress right now.

[@unlokia]

MJJMK Being thorough is a talent that most are lacking.

[@CytotoxicDingus]

unlokia Haha thanks for your input bud.

[@CytotoxicDingus]

unlokia honestly I went though all the videos on his chanel, but the title of part 2 kind of threw me off

[@carldavis2881]

One big question. Do you have a link to the high voltage DC power supply, and is it adjustable so as to set whatever B+ you want?

[@BrokebackBob]

Excellent learning episode as always. The Gold Standard.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks Bob!

[@tatterdemalion898]

Hello! I would have a question. Is there any way to drive these BCD to decimal converters without using a micro-controller with a ton of pins? I mean can i reuse some rails to somehow multiplex such pins? What i was thinking, is to maybe have an extra BCD IC and to source power to the other BCD ICs, using transistors to power them. Maybe this is a rudimentary way of thinking, but i could not find any satisfying description for thses ICs in the datasheets.

[@robbruno8246]

What about using the HV5812 instead of the 74141 to reduce the transistor volume. I have seen these devices used in NIXIE clocks. Thoughts?

[@DutchBrony]

i just went to my local "radio shack" and they had a bunch SN74141N that have never been used. i might have been luck no one needed it before :P

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Wow, that would be some really old stock!

[@DutchBrony]

indeed, if i need old component types i usually can get it there.

[@mdrew44628]

awesome job explaining everything.....I can't wait to explore your other videos

[@diegodonofrio]

Incredible video, I like it even though I hate those displays. I don't understand how people can read them numbers.

[@DonDegidio]

Paul, Looking forward to the series. I liked the countdown at the beginning using a Nixie tube. If one wanted to save on space and has smd skills, could the smd version of the mpsa42 be used? Also noticed a dryer hose up above your head. Is that for fume extraction?

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

For sure Donald, the MMBTA42 is great for Nixies, I use them all the time. The dryer hose is for fume extraction, I just pull it down over the work. There is a squirrel cage blower in line, so the suction is very high.

[@alankellerhouse1249]

I would like to see a schematic on the nixie tube project. I like the way you presented the nixie tube operation and ideas using the nixie tube

[@elanora-rp6eg]

Excellent video I would really like to thank you for your time and effort , I suspect i will not get much sleep tonight after finding your channel.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Glad your enjoying the channel Elanora!

[@GADELHAS82]

WoW. This was just in time. I'm going to do a project with nixies!!! Thanks!

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Great!

[@hobbyelectronics6630]

Excellent, very helpful. How about a video on the vacuum fluorescent display ?

[@cleatrampler]

Many years ago I helped someone rebuild nixie tubes that were cracked. The same leaded glass we used for neon was used to rebuild the tubes. I bet someone could build them from scratch!

[@billgull]

Interested in the schematic for using a 555 timer or something similar as a pulse source. Thanks.

[@berniken6511]

Hi Paul, I loved the nixie video. I have not used them before although I am used to tube circuitry. You mention in the video about showing the schematic for the frequency counter, I would like that thank you. I look forward to your video No.2................Berni

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks Berni!

[@esnam6557]

Thank you very much for the video and looking for the next episodes. It would be great to have the schematic of the circuit.

[@todden1804]

Thank you for that nice video of explaiming the operation of Niexie-Tubes. I wonder if multiplexing severel Tubes, for reducing the number of transistors, will shorten the lifetime?

[@fredfabris7187]

I like the math! I actually kinda hate doing the math but it fills in gaps and reveals the magic of electronics! Thanks for including it

[@davidhollfelder9940]

Do you have a reputable/reliable source for Nixie tubes?

[@CharlieTechie]

A good video again, looking forward to part 2.

[@Daniel-ib5bx]

Awesome video! Cant wait to see the other parts

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks Daniel!

[@gustavonavarro4205]

hi! how did you get the 100v for the nixies!? did u create the Power boost!? do u have a vídeo for a Power Boost? greetings