Hi fellow Arduino enthusiast and nixie lovers,
i recently started to build my own nixie clock based on an Arduino. Why i wanted to do that? Oh well i like the shiny glow of nixies
.
Anyway the real reason is that the builds that are available on the internet didn't fit my needs and i always wanted to programm some sort of µC. I wanted a fully configurable clock including directly driven nixie tubes (no multiplexing).
I know the Arduino project since quiet a while, but i never felt like buying a unit and play with it.
But now i finally got a reason.
I decided to mainly use pre-made modules so i didn't have to design a pcb.
The following parts were used to build the clock.
Parts:
6x SmartNixie IN-18 Socket
>>>1361-SX<<<1x SmartNixie IN-12
>>>1328-SX<<<1x High voltage power supply
>>>1364 HVPS-H<<<1x Real time clock DS3231
>>>DS3231<<<1x Temperature sensor
>>>DS18B20<<<1x Adafruit HTU21D-F Temperature & Humidity Sensor Breakout Board
>>>Link<<<1x Adafruit MPL3115A2 - I2C Barometric Pressure/Altitude/Temperature Sensor
>>>Link<<<1x 5v step down power supply
>>>Link<<<1x 12V wall power supply (old stock)
1x DCF77 reciever (old stock)
Misc. stuff such as resistors, pin headers, cables and mosfets etc.
Tubes:
6x IN-18 Nixie tubes
>>>Link<<<1x IN-19A Nixie tube
>>>Link<<<4x IN-3 Colon Dot
The SmartNixie modules are i2c adressable modules. It's very simple to drive them. They're well made and include everything you need such as a nixie socket and the ic logic.
My arduino sketch allows the clock to have quiet a few options such as:
- 24h time format
- auto sync time via DCF77 reciever.
- anti poisoning mode (slot machine + counter)
- night mode configurable for each day of the week (overrideable with a button for a definable time span)
- time display (pretty obvious since it's a clock ^^)
- temperature display
- date display
- humidity display
- pressure display
- configurable through serial commands
- "loop through" digit transition or no transistion configurable
- operating counter for the nixie tubes, so you know how long they were burning until now.
Todo:
- clean up sketch
- make more stuff configurable
- build case for the clock
- make a video of the features and post it here