I've cobbled together a preliminary test of a circuit to drive a Burroughs B-5853ST nixie tube using an Arduino Mini, some opto couplers and a HV switching power supply taken from a disposable camera. The whole thing runs off a single AAA battery. This is still a work in progress, but just wanted to share. More details, and a photo here http://wayne.holder.googlepages.com/nixietest
Well done! Can you share the schematics? I am curious to know how you did the power supply...
Cheers!
I'm working on adding to my web page on this project and plan to include the schematic to the HV power, and a few other notes, as soon as I get them correct (I tentatively posted the HV power schematic only to realize I'd misread the wiring on the transformer.)
wholder,
I like the way you powered the arduino with a AAA battery. I was actually looking to do something similar to that. If you feel like sharing the information. I would very much like to use your power source on one of my projects...
Thanks,
Tony
Please keep us up-to-date. This is certainly a cool project.
I have a question: Is 160V too much for a breadboard? I assume that when the voltage is high enough it will "bleed" to neighboring runs. Is this true?
I've updated my page on this project (see http://wayne.holder.googlepages.com/nixietest ) to include a rough schematic for the HV supply. I'll add some mroe details as time permits.
As to the question about using high voltage on a breadboard, I'm not an expert on this, but I would caution anyone thinking of playing around with any HV power to be careful. I haven't noticed any issues with bleed over, but I do think the weakpoint on a breadboard is the underside where the contact runs are covered over by just a layer of plastic film. So, I'm careful not to handle the lower portion of the board (notice my fingers are only underneath the top portion of the board in the photo.) I also make a point of discharging the HV output cap after I turn off the power so I don't inadvertently get zapped.
However, all in all, if you do want to play around with nixie tubes, I think a low current, battery based HV supply is better than using something like a voltage doubler connected to 120 VAC. Of course, even a battery based HV supply deserves respect. Just take a look at the people out there that build homemade "tasers" out of the flash units from disposable cameras...
Hello wholder,
could you give me the part list for this project?
http://sites.google.com/site/wayneholder/breadboardpower
Thanks in Advance,
Tony