Comments on: Single Tube Nixie Clock

By: Orv

Orv — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:02:01 +0000

@agent420: I agree, actually. For practical driving analog gauges are best, and they’re what I want in my daily driver. But custom cars are often more about what looks cool.

Actually, in my daily driver I took it a step further and twisted the auxiliary gauges (voltage, oil pressure, oil temperature) so that the needles all point straight up when I’m driving on the freeway and everything’s normal. That way I don’t have to read them at all, just glance at where the needles are.

By: Nisei

Nisei — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:31:50 +0000

I like the idea of the flashing led beneath the tube but I would’ve used an IN-3 neon bulb which has the same color as the Nixie tube itself.

By: dthyne

dthyne — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 22:19:47 +0000

What about a nixie display of portions of what you get from top or htop? You will get huge props for making a whole terminal from nixies. I doubt anyone makes ASCII nixies though, so you would have to map certain characters to displayable characters.

By: amishx64

amishx64 — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:39:24 +0000

I like. The green LED accents it very well.

By: Ayush

Ayush — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:38:46 +0000

“cought”

really? can you please english good?

By: John Smith

John Smith — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:51:26 +0000

“Can anyone else come up with any good nixie tube applications other than the stereotypical clock?”

I have a nixie tube frequency counter.

By: twistedsymphony

twistedsymphony — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:32:07 +0000

@Agent420: I’ve read the same thing… I think it was related to airline controls where the pilot can more easily scan over the gauges to determine that everything is ok rather than try to interpret dozens of digital readouts.

The thing about a digital speedo though is that most of the time speedos are off by a good 3-4% even more if you’ve swapped out your tires for a different size. Anyone who’s used a GPS and compared the speed readout of that to the readout on their dash should know what I’m talking about.

some gauge clusters have an adjustment pot in the back, which is handy if you’re so inclined to improve the accuracy of your speedo. (FWIW tach outputs are typically spot on)

By: JD

JD — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:05:40 +0000

I’m not sure about other people’s brains, but I utilize the center digital display in my car for speed (I can set it to different types of info) rather than the large analog dial speedo immediately to the side. My brain more easily recognizes huge “75″ in red, rather than “roughly 2:30″. So, although I’m sure for the average folk, analog is a great “gauge” for their speed, I prefer to know if I’m going 72 or 78 on the highway (analog only gives rough indications) which means the difference between an uninterrupted drive to work and a speeding ticket (plus 6 years of surcharges on my insurance).

Summary: A nixie tube dash would be awesome!

By: Agent420

Agent420 — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:51:52 +0000

^ while the nixie element might be cool, i’ve never been a fan of numeric dashboard displays… research has demonstrated that the brain can interpret analog methods such as dials or bargraphs much more readily than numeric symbols. i’m sure that’s the reason why digital dashboards quickly fell out of fashion after they were first introduced in the 80′s.

By: calebkraft

calebkraft — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:42:46 +0000

@orv,
I’ve been tempted to do something along these lines with one of my vw busses. imagine a nice nixie display across the dash of this: http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_images/3/435/121/26085060013_large.jpg

that’s not mine, but almost identical. I’m thinking a clock might be my best bet, though a tachometer would work.

By: twistedsymphony

twistedsymphony — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:13:55 +0000

OOOH that gives me a very cool idea. I’ve got a few Nissan 240SXs in the S13 chassis they came with an optional Digital gauge cluster which included a heads up display of the digital speed read out… I have said cluster and an extra HUD projector unit that I was planning on fitting up to one of my cars…

the projector looks like it’s just a couple of 7 segments in a little reflector housing.

once I’ve got that installed I might just try to see if I can fit up the spare projector with a couple of nixie tubes…

you wouldn’t happen to know of a good circuit for driving nixie tubes using automotive 12V would you?

By: Orv

Orv — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:08:45 +0000

@twistedsymphony: I always thought a Nixie tube digital dashboard for a car would be cool. It’d have to be the right car, though; putting one in an ’83 Corolla or something just wouldn’t be right.

By: twistedsymphony

twistedsymphony — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:52:50 +0000

I’d love to see a nixie tube application other than a clock…

the only two things I could come up with is a Nixie thermostat/termometer or a nixie calculator. The former might be kind of cool, the latter wouldn’t really be that useful.

Can anyone else come up with any good nixie tube applications other than the stereotypical clock?

hmm thinking about it just now maybe hack it into a tube amp to display the volume level :)

By: Agent420

Agent420 — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:20:06 +0000

^ ok, that is just damn cool.

By: glum

glum — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:59:13 +0000

Here is a nixie tube pov clock.
http://www.nixiana.com/hardware/ntpclock.shtml