Dieter's
IN-1 / LC-516
Nixie Clock Project
last update, and finished: September-23-2005

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This project was based on the circuit I used in my first IN-18 clock.
If you don't know it, you can find it here.

What I had in mind when I starded project was:

• One board, for both IN-1 and LC-516 Tubes
• No DCF77 receiver, but a accurate RTC to make it work without antenna all over the world
• A new software with new features

THE IN-1 NIXIE TUBE
You find all technical data of this tube HERE!!!

Pinout/ Drawing:

THE LC-516 (Dolam) NIXIE TUBE
You find all technical data of this tube HERE!!!

Pinout:

Technical Data- Overview:

The Schematic
Click on the image to enlarge!


Lower left you can can see the switch mode power supply, which is powered by a 12VDC/1A power supply.
I used the very common MC34063A switching regulator. The power supply generates the 170VDV plate voltage for the Nixies.
Beneath on the right you see the Atmega 8515. It contains the software and manages all jobs in the clock.

For this clock I used the Dallas RTC DS1302. This Real Time Clock has an external crystal. The accuracy of the clock depends to the accuracy of this crystal. The RTC is puffered by a Lithium Battery which lasts more than 10 years. The Time and Date will be stored when no power iss supplied to the clock.
For the drivers I used the 74141 TTL – ICs.

Here you can see the voltage and current- diagrams of the switch mode power supply:

After the schematic was developed, the Layout cut be routed:

After the layout was done, I made some boards.
Here you can see top and bottom:

Here the equipped board:

The Clock with IN-1 Tubes:

The Clock with LC-516 Tubes:

The plate rersistors must be matched to tubes in use of course.
The tubes are mounted in sockets, so they easily can be replaced.

The Clock with IN-1 Tubes in the Case:

The Clock with LC-516 Tubes in the Case:

 THE CODE

The code was done in C++
A crossfading- feature was implemented in the code, so the digits can be faded from one to the next.
Unfortunately this nice feature can not be catched in pictures.

Features of this Clock:

• Accurate RTC, works all over the world without antenna.
• SMPS on board
• Works with a standard 12VDC/1A Power supply (not included!)
• 6 new matched IN-1 Tubes, mounted in pin receptacles.
• 12/24h mode
• Date in configuration DD.MM.YY or MM.DD.YY
• Cross fading: different modes to fade the digits from one number to the next
• Time is battery buffered when no line power is available; the battery will last for more than 10 years
• User settings are always stored
• Tubes are not soldered: easy to replace

• Here you can download the user manual of the clock: USER MANUAL.PDF

Thank you for reading and have much fun by playing around with nixies.

Yours, Dieter

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Schlüsselwörter: nixie nixieröhre nixieröhren röhre röhren tube tubes buizen indicator numerical vfd vacuum clock nixieclock uhr readout