Using VFDs as amplifiers
posted Dec 1st 2008 6:59am by Caleb Kraftfiled under: classic hacks, home entertainment hacks
[HP Friedrichs] sent us this cool writeup on how to use scrapped Vacuum Fluorescent Display tubes as amplifiers. For those unfamiliar, a VFD is a display device common to electronics. Many have been replaced by LCD, but you can still find them in modern products. [Friedrichs] points out that his 2008 ford has a VFD for the multimedia display.
Since these units are basically tubes, he figured that you should be able to use them as a tube amp. After some testing, he found it to be quite adequate. The project includes tons of background information on how tubes work, how VFDs work and how to utilize it for amplification. In the picture above, you can see him using one (middle) to amplify a home made radio (right).
