On Sep 30, 2008, at 2:21 PM, Roy J. Tellason wrote:
I do a lot
of stuff with Nixie tubes.
7441s are pretty rare, but 74141s are around. The Russian clone
of the 74141, the K155, is readily available on eBay at reasonable
prices. I've used quite a few of them with good results.
That numbering is completely new to me, but then I haven't kept up
with a
fair amount of stuff anyhow. Do you know of datasheets for those
out there
somewhere?
I've put a copy of the K155 datasheet here:
http://www.neurotica.com/misc/74141-russK155.gif
Nixie tubes
really aren't that difficult to drive. If you decide
to give them a shot, drop me a note and I'll send you some info to
get you started.
I wouldn't mind playing with some, if I had the appropriate
transformer and
such to drive them with. Used to be that you could get a
transformer with a
nominal 125VAC output fairly easily, I haven't looked to see if
they're out
there these days.
Ugh, line power. Much safer to power stuff from low-voltage DC.
Try this step-up circuit; it is based on an MC34063 app note design
which I've tuned a bit and adapted for current component availability:
http://www.neurotica.com/misc/step-up-regulator.png
It's cheap, easy to build, and powers Nixies nicely.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL