Arduino Nixie Clock v10 - Open Rate open source rating and
Contents
1. Set Day Each short press will advance the day The day roll over back to one after reaching the maximum number of days in the month Set Month Each short press will advance the month The month roll over back to zero after reaching 12 Set Year Each short press will advance the year The year roll over back to 2015 after reaching 2099 Basic Settings 00 12 or 24 hour time The hours are displayed in 12 or 24 hour flashing mode y 1 flashing Blank leading 0 Blank out the leading 0 from single digit hours 02 flashing Scroll back Use the scroll back rapid count down effect when changing from 9 to 0 03 flashing Date format Set the format that the date is displayed in 04 flashing Display blanking To preserve the tubes you can set the display to be blanked 1 12 hour 0 24 hour default 0 1 blank 0 don t blank default 0 1 enable 0 disable default 1 0 YY MM DD 1 MM DD YY 2 DD MM YY default 2 0 Don t blank 1 Weekends 2 Week days 3 Always default 0 Special Effects Settings 05 flashing Fade Speed Slower Each short press will make the fade speed between digits slower 06 Fade Speed Faster Each short press will make the fade speed between digits faster flashing 07 flashing Scroll back Speed Slower Each short press will make the scroll back speed slower 08 Scr2. 0 and cathode 1 from the board to tube 6 and daisy chain to tube 5 Prepare the daisy chain connection to the next group but do not strip the wire to the next group yet You should have a result like this ama Turn on the clock and check that you can clearly see the digits 0 and then 1 light up in sequence on the seconds tube every 10 seconds Don t worry if there is ghosting on other digits at the moment this will resolve itself as you connect more tubes and digits There are still a lot of floating connections at this point in the build and we are not loading the HV generator propery Proceed to the other cathodes in turn each time leaving the unstripped lead to the next group hanging Try to pick an order you connect the tube cathodes in and stick to it This will give the wiring a regular feel If there are any tangles or crossovers in the wiring resolve them before soldering the wire in place e After you connected all the wires of the seconds group you should have a result that looks like this e Turn the clock on and you should now see the seconds counting correctly e Complete the other groups in the same way keeping the cathode connection colors and the order in which you connect them the same e At the end of the connection process we want to loom the wiring This involves binding and or plaiting the wires to make them regular For this you will need to disconnect the wires from
3. Change C4 and C9 to 220uF V0008a 06Jun2015 Add HV target voltage setting V0008b 09Jun2015 Clarify input voltage requirements V0OO08c 17Jun2015 Correct LED orientation V0009a 30Aug2015 Updated for board Rev2 V0010a 04Sep2015 Updated for board Rev3 V0010b 14Sep2015 Added options and more troubleshooting tips V0010c 010ct2015 Change GitHub software versioning V0010d 230ct2015 Move C4 into LV section correct 1uF to 2 2uF in HV section
4. The negative side of the input supply VIN The positive side of the input supply VCC Output of regulated 5V HV OUT Output of high voltage for driving external neons etc FRONT Front Panel These are the controls that go on the front panel The input button and the Light Dependent Resistor to detect ambient light GND The ground One lead of the button and one lead of the LDR and one lead of the button are connected to this BTN1 The other lead of the button is connected to this input DLS Dimming LDR Sense The other lead of the LDR is connected to this VCC Regulated 5V output to drive any LEDs or lighting Note that you can also connect the LEDs to the VIN if you want to reduce the load of the regulator LEDs The LEDs are connected to these sink they consume current not source it terminals To connect up you take the positive sides of the LEDs to either VIN or VCC and connect the negative sides of the LEDs to these terminals BL RED PWM cathode connection for the back light RED channel BL GRN PWM cathode connection for the back light GREEN channel BL BLU PWM cathode connection for the back light BLUE channel TICK LED PWM Cathode connection for the blinking tick LED RTC The connection for the RTC Real Time Clock module Connect this to the appropriately marked terminals on the RTC module CATHODES The terminals to the cathodes individual digits 0 9 for each tube Terminal 0 drives
5. must go with the right polarity The side has a flat on it and has the shorter lead see hint and must be connected to pin 4 of SV6 e R11 is needed to bias the LDR ambient light detection circuit to make sure that the LED lights up reliably The LED should be wired up with the longer lead to pin 4 of the CONN FRONT SV2 connector and the shorter lead to pin 4 of the CONN LED SV6 connector Pin 1 has a little o beside it on each connector on the board Once you have populated the components power on The LED on the RTC module should A come on and the TICK LED should flash on and off slowly on for one second off for one second It might take a second or two to come on but after that should pulse on Test Step aor Hint Trimming the extra pins on the RTC module ONLY if you want to mount the RTC module directly onto the main board you can also doit via flying leads trim off the pins 32K and SQW using a pair of precision side cutters If you want to mount using flying leads you can skip this step and use the four RIC Module with pins removed holes on the other side of the board Hint 2N7000 mounting To mount the 2N7000 FET bend the middle lead back slightly It will then fit in the PCB without problems 2N 7 000 After you have wired everything up it should look like this Note that here I have put the RTC module directly onto the main board The battery goes in the
6. outside of the board Once all the components are on the board hook up the power Give your work a careful check to make sure that the orientation of the components is right Especially check that the stripe on C1 is facing the top of the board not near the 170V test point Apply power to the board again Listen for any stressed sounding buzzing or humming A and check that neither the 7805 nor the IRF740 get excessively hot Test Step Check that the power LED still lights o Trouble shooting If you hear any angry sounding buzzing turn the power off immediately and check the orientation of C1 The circuit should run almost silently with only a very faint crackling sound If you can t reach the target voltage turn off and check the polarity of your components especially C1 If you have an oscilloscope you can check the voltage at the gate of the MOSFET and it should show pulses of high frequency square wave this is the driver waveform to the HV generator which is being turned off and on by the voltage detection trying to achieve the target voltage 180V default Be careful we are dealing with high voltages now The voltage may be significantly higher than 170V at the moment because the high voltage generator is powerful and the output is not loaded Once you add a load by connecting the tubes the voltage should oscillate around 170V 190V and might have a slight sawtooth appearance if you view it with an os
7. steps during the construction and the associated troubleshooting tips If that does not cover the problem you have please see below If you still can t find the answer contact us o Trouble shooting Trouble shooting o Trouble shooting The display brightness is not constant and appears to pulse rapidly This is a symptom that the High Voltage generator or the external power supply is overloaded First perform a factory reset to make sure that no strange values have been left in the EEPROM Next check the value of the PWM On Time configuration Try increasing this until the brightness is constant but be careful not to set the value too high The longer the On Time the more the MOSFET has to conduct current and this will cause it to heat up A good value for small tubes is 120 150 larger tubes may require 150 200 The display is too dim Check if the auto dimming is working If the display does not change in low or high ambient light your LDR does not appear to be working Check the connections to the LDR If the LDR is correct perform a factory reset to make sure that no strange values have been left in the EEPROM Check the LDR reading by pressing the button three times in quick succession You should see a value between 01 00 00 and 09 99 00 Changing the light conditions should change this value It is normal that the value is not stable when it is in the middle of the ran
8. the cathode 0 and so on ANODES The terminals to the anodes for each tube The allocation of anode to tube is Tens of hours Hours Tens of Minutes Minutes Tens of seconds Seconds Below is the schematic for the clock EEK ous To THEE KickstarterNixie Document Number Date 09 10 15 08 39 1 1 And for the external components showing how they are connected Light Dependent Resistor and Switc Driving 1 TICK LED Driving 2 TICK LEDs Driving 4 TICK LEDs Drive from VCC or VIN Drive from VIN Drive from VIN a TITLE KickstarterNixieExternal Driving 1 RGB LED Driving multiple RGB LEDs Document Number Drive from VCC or VIN Drive from VIN No additional resistors needed Additional balancing resistors needed Date 09 10 15 10 33 One side of the LDR and switch are connected to ground pin 1 SV2 The LEDs are driven from VCC or VIN depending on the configuration Here are some suggestions 1 TICK LED Run the TICK LED directly from the board either from VCC or VIN 2 TICK LEDs Run the two TICK LEDs in series from VIN You don t need a balancing resistor because the LEDs are in
9. with a stripe See hint e The LED must go with the right polarity The side which has the shorter lead goes nearest the diode See hint e PutIC1 so that the metal tab lines up with the white stripe on the board The metal side faces to the outside of the board Once all the components are on the board hook up the power and check that the power A LED comes on Test Step Check also that the voltage is 5V between the GND test point and the VCC test point and at the power connector If the LED does not come on turn off immediately to avoid damage to the components Check your soldering and the polarity of the components Trouble shooting If the components are in the right way connect the power again and check that the 7805 voltage regulator does not get hot If it does not measure the voltages in the low voltage circuit Measure the voltage at the input Vin and at the cathode side of D1 nearest the centre of the board This should measure 0 7V less than the input voltage If all is well proceed to the next step If not check carefully the orientation of the components and the power leads Diode D1 protects the board from having the power connected inverted If the LED comes on check for a few seconds that the 7805 does not heat up It should stay almost cold Hint The 220 uF capacitor The electrolytic capacitor has a stripe on it to denote the negative side of the capacitor The positive side of the c
10. Arduino Nixie Clock v10 Operating Instructions amp Construction Manual Document V0010d Contact Information If you want to get in contact with us please email to nixie protonmail ch We ll usually get back to you right away We can help you with kits or construction We also offer discounts for direct purchases we save the Ebay fees and share this with you Contact us for information Usually this works out as about 10 The software is available on GitHub at the address https github com isparkes ArdunixNix6 releases This board works with Release Revision 3 boards under the Releases tab Troubleshooting If everything does not work as you expect please carefully look at the tests in the construction steps and the troubleshooting tips At the end of the manual there is a troubleshooting section which goes through some of the common problems The Arduino Nixie Clock is a beautiful mix of old and new resulting in a high accuracy low power clock which will be a talking point in your home The clock has the following features Battery backed temperature compensated high accuracy clock The accuracy is Accuracy 2ppm from 0 C to 40 C Maximum 1 minute per year The battery life should be 3 years in normal use Retains the date and time even when turned off not just for a few minutes but for as long as the battery lasts Leap Year Compensation Valid Up to the year 2100 Based on the
11. Arduino micro controller Easy to program an well documented Open source hardware and software Nothing is hidden in this clock You may modify and load the software Low power consumption Anti Cathode Poisoning ACP makes sure that the tubes will stay healthy for many years with no intervention from you All settings are stored in non volatile memory Once they are set they are remembered forever or until you change them again RGB back lighting allows you to set the the color of the back lighting to practically any color you desire Ambient light sensing with automatic tube dimming which sets the tube and LED brightness according to the light conditions The tubes could be disturbing during the night if they are left at full brightness Absolutely silent operation Some Nixie clocks emit an irritating buzz or hiss which is especially annoying if you keep the clock in a bedroom Long tube life The multiplexed display and automatic dimming used in this design extends the life of the tubes indefinitely Some other designs run the tubes too hard and this causes a rapid degradation in the useful life of the tube Automatic week day or weekend blanking extends the life of tubes even further The clock has different modes of operation which you select using the pushbutton When you start the clock up th very first time it will start in Time Display Mode We set it up to be the right time for where the clock is being shipped t
12. Digit 8 Cathode 9 Digit 9 Cathode 0 is next to the tiny o printed on the board next to the connector Side note There are some tricks in the software to make the wiring and the PCB easy and logical We use a translation table in the software and cross some of the standard channels to make the PCB more logical You can also see this on the digit control section of the schematic This means that we are not using the 74141 O output to drive digit 0 but instead we are using digit 2 of the 74141 to drive digit 0 In the code available on GitHub we see this Used for special mappings of the 74141 gt digit wiring aid allows the board wiring to be much simpler lt int decodeDigit 16 2 3 7 6 4 5 1 0 9 8 10 10 10 10 10 10 When we come in with a 0 we decode this to 2 the 0 element of the array and in fact it is the 2 output that is activated but the wiring brings the 2 output to the 0 connection The cathodes to the tubes the digits for each tube need to be wired in parallel daisy chaining them so that the run to the same digit of each tube The anodes run exactly one tube each Tube wiring If you bought a kit without a display board there is the task of wiring the tubes to be done It can take a long time but if you do it carefully it can give a very beautiful retro feel There are a number of small tricks to make the task easier and the result better Plan how long
13. RTC module with the back with the writing on it upwards Anode Control Circuit Parts List mk 14 4 5 6 1 1 1 1 1 1 C SV3 CONN_ANODE R R R R R R k k k R12 k k k This circuit controls passing the HV to the anodes of the tubes The micro controller multiplexes the anodes by turning each of them on it turn for a very short period of time The software controls the rate of the multiplexing and the order in which the anodes are activated Notes e The Opto Isolators fit into the 24 pin socket snugly Be careful to put them in the right way round The dot denotes pin 1 and should be on the side closest to the micro controller All 6 should fit perfectly into the 24 pin socket e The Opto Isolators are socketed because they are sensitive to heat and are easily destroyed if you apply too much heat to them Putting them in a socket means that we don t run the risk of destroying them while soldering e If you receive the connector header as a single strip break off 6 pins for SV3 Hint Putting the resistors in A trick that can speed assembly up is to use a piece of normal sticky tape to hold things in place while you solder them This makes is easier to solder and gives a better result Place the components and then temporarily tape them into place A be UP MAO Using tape to hold resisto After you have installed the Anode controls that part of the board should look this
14. apacitor which goes into the on the board is the other one 220uF capacitor stripe Hint The LED orientation The LED has one lead longer than the other and a flat on one side The side with the shorter lead the cathode goes into the hole on the board nearest the diode The LED The LED should look something like this Anode Cathode At the end of the low voltage circuit build your board should look like this Low Voltage Circuit High Voltage Circuit Parts List The high voltage circuit uses the micro controller to drive the boost circuit with a high frequency square wave and has a feedback loop in which the controller reads the voltage produced via an analogue input and regulates the brightness of the tubes so that there is no flickering or unwanted dimming Notes e See the section on Component Identification for help with identifying the components e C4 must go the right way round The negative side is marked with a stripe see hint e Put Q1 so that the metal portion lines up with the white stripe on the board The metal side faces to the outside of the board e D2 should be placed so that the white stripe on the body lines up with the white stripe on the board e Put the micro controller socket in first Make sure that the depression on the end of the socket lines up with the marking on the board When you put the chip in the chip should go in with the depression faces to the
15. cilloscope Note also that the Power header also has high voltage exposed on it This is if you want to drive neons instead of LEDs for the colons Be careful handling the board it is easy to touch the Power header by mistake If you are sure you won t be needing it you can snap the extra pin off and populate only the bottom 3 pins on the connector Test Step Trouble shooting Check the voltage at the 170V test point You should read a voltage in excess of 170V You can also test using an old neon lamp if you have one Temporarily connect the neon lamp between the GND test point and the 170V test point with an appropriate ballast resistor turn the power off first Turn the power on and the neon lamp should come on Q1 can get warm but should not get too hot to touch If it gets hot you need to check the orientation of the components and that there are no solder bridges If you don t get the expected voltage reading and instead you get around 90V 150V please temporarily connect the LDR and re test Under some circumstances the HV generator is started in the off state and the missing LDR means that it does not recover Hint Mounting the 28 pin socket Mounting the 28 pin socket can be a little tricky A good trick is to fix it in place with a small piece of tape and the solder one leg in place You can hold the socket firm while you wet the solder again which will hold the socket firmly enough to solder t
16. continue to work as usual telling you that the clock is still running You can configure the display to blank at weekends during week days always or never the default In order to display the time during blanking just press the button and the time will be displayed for the rest of the minute Tube Healing Mode After a long period of time tube filaments which are not often used e g the 9 on the tens of hours or minutes can get dim despite the ACP that is regularly done If you make a super long press of the button more than 8 seconds the clock will enter filament healing mode All the power will be placed through a single filament of a single digit to clean it A short press will change the selected filament Another super long press or cycling through all the filaments will return the clock to normal Caution Don t leave a single filament in this state for an extended period of time It is a harsh process and may damage the tube if you leave it in this mode for too long Normally a few minutes will restore the cathode digit Factory Reset To reset the clock back to initial settings hold down the button while powering on The tick LED will flash 10 times to signal that the reset has been done Everything will be reset back to the factory default state External power suppl The perfect voltage for the external power supply is 7 5V or 9V DC You can use 12V DC If you use more than 12V be aware that you might
17. current is Ip 5 2 2 1k 2 8mA In this case you can safely run 6 LEDs off the channel Front Panel components When all the components are installed you are finished with the board The switch connects to ground when closed It uses the internal pull up resistor provided by the Atmega on the input pin to pull the input to VCC when the switch is not closed The switch is de bounced in software so practically any switch you want to use is suitable A simple switch is provided in the kit but you might want to substitute this switch with one that suits you case The LDR should be mounted in such a way that the flat face of the LDR is exposed to the ambient light This will allow it to detect the ambient light and adjust the brightness for it Connecting the tubes When all the components are installed you are now ready to install the tubes Either you can wire then by hand or you have a board to put them on I prefer hand wiring because I think it has a more retro feel The anodes are arranged like this Anode 1 Hours 10s Anode 2 Hours Anode 3 Minutes 10s Anode 4 Minutes Anode 5 Seconds 10s Anode 6 Seconds Anode 1 is the one next to the tiny o printed on the board next to the connector The cathodes are arranged like this Cathode 0 Digit 0 Cathode 1 Digit 1 Cathode 2 Digit 2 Cathode 3 Digit 3 Cathode 4 Digit 4 Cathode 5 Digit 5 Cathode 6 Digit 6 Cathode 7 Digit 7 Cathode 8
18. e 1 The color code for the 390k resistor is ORANGE 3 3 zeros in this case BROWN 1 196 Tolerance 390000with 196 tolerance 390k resistor Alternative 2 The color code for the 390k resistor is ORANGE 3 WHITE 9 YELLOW 4 4 zeros in this case GOLD 5 Tolerance 390000 with 5 tolerance 390k resistor 2 7k resistor Alternative 1 The color code for the 2 7k resistor is RED 2 VIOLET 7 BLACK 0 BROWN 1 1 zero in this case BROWN 1 1 Tolerance 2700 with 1 tolerance 2 7k resistor Alternative 2 The color code for the 2 7k resistor is RED 2 VIOLET 7 RED 2 2 zeros in this case GOLD 596 Tolerance 2700 with 5 tolerance 2 7k resistor 100nF capacitor The coding on the 100nF capactor is 104 It does not matter which way round it goes This is decoded as 1 then a 0 and then 4 more zeros 100000 pF 100nF capacitor 100 nF 1 nF 1000 pF 22pF capacitor The coding on the 22pF capactor is simply 22 It does not matter which way round it goes 22pF capacitor RGB LED The Pin out The RGB LED has one pin longer than the red cathode 5mm LED rest This longer pin is the common oo INN anode i blue cathode RGB LED LED The LED has one pin longer than the 2 Anode other The long pin is the anode the short pin the cathode Cathode LED Revisions V0007a 20May2015
19. efault 180 flashing higher by 5V Max 200 Min 150 14 HV Target Voltage Lower Each press sets the HV target voltage Default 180 flashing lower by 5V Max 200 Min 150 15 PWM On Time Longer This setting controls how long the PWM On Default 150 flashing pulse is Normally you should not have to change this but you can Max 50 try changing this is the HV generation is noisy or you have unusual Min 500 tubes 16 PWM On Time Shorter This setting controls how long the PWM On Default 150 flashing pulse is Normally you should not have to change this but you can Max 50 try changing this is the HV generation is noisy or you have unusual Min 500 tubes Information Settings 17 Current case temperature Show the current temperature inside flashing the case used as part of the temperature compensation for the clock crystal 18 Clock version Show the clock software version flashing Digit Test Will roll through all digits on all locations to check that the display is healthy Note HV Settings Before leaving the clock for long periods with a new HV Generation setting check that neither the IRF740 MOSFET nor the 7805 voltage regulator is running too hot If either of these components gets too hot either adjust the high voltage settings or add a heat sink Display Blanking Mode During display blanking mode the tubes will be off depending on the display blanking settings but the back light LED will
20. ge We read the LDR many times a second and it is unusual that two readings are identical The display does not come on but I do have a high voltage Try pressing the button If the display comes on you probably have display blanking mode set Check the configuration Check the orientation of the opto couplers Check the LDR connection In some cases the dimming algorithm does not start up as expected when no LDR is present Shine a bright light on the LDR In some cases a factory reset can help Component Identification We can t always guarantee to get exactly the the same components Where we have alternatives they are listed separately under the same heading 10k resistor Alternative 1 The color code for the 10k resistor is BROWN 1 RED 2 2 zeros in this case BROWN 1 196 Tolerance 10k Em 10000with 1 tolerance resistor Alternative 2 The color code for the 10k resistor is BROWN 1 BLACK 0 ORANGE 3 3 zeros in this case GOLD 5 Tolerance 10000 with 5 tolerance 10k resistor 4 7k resistor Alternative 1 The color code for the 4 7k resistor is YELLOW 4 VIOLET 7 BLACK 0 BROWN 1 1 zero in this case BROWN 1 1 Tolerance 4700 with 1 tolerance 4 7k resistor Alternative 2 The color code for the 4 7k resistor is RED 2 2 zeros in this case GOLD 596 Tolerance 4700 with 5 tolerance 4 7k resistor 390k resistor Alternativ
21. have to provide a heat sink for the power components and adjust the HV voltage generation It is not advised to use more than 12V The absolute maximum permissible is 24V DC Higher voltages than this will surely damage the clock Board layout For reference the board layout is as shown viewed from the top LEDs FRONT O Ww a B a c 3 4 z E 3 Er O m D o m a gt e aa a i 2s ee 3 4 lg 2l Pa D VE VE 09 GND 2 2 2 KO Hv OUT 42 Ca GX 9 19 SH vee U 4 D TN AIT A SCL m i E x 7 P p 7 M X 9 OAL F2 U EA PA yh of 74 i fa d 2 AY j 4 42 2 1 1o 2 w ERAN sorore 1 TA es ae M HA ZR a Bh 8 EXEC nds T i i 7 74 2 i i i l CATHODES ANODES The connections are ILLIC BEEN ECS CRETE Power External power should be applied to the board with this connector Any DC input source is possible from 7 5V 12V Higher voltages may be possible but could cause the digits to flicker if the voltage is too high and you might have to provide a heat sink for the the MOSFET and voltage regulator The absolute maximum input voltage is 24V Any higher voltage than this will damage the board within a few seconds The input VIN is protected against the input being connected reversed The input current ranges from 300mA to 1A depending on the size of the tubes and the number of LEDs you are driving GND
22. he remaining pins One leg is 2 c usually enough to hold the socket in place Mounting 28 pin socket while you solder the others C4 F 3 QO O At the end of the high voltage circuit build your board should look like this 86 7967 26 156 Pen Pen Bem Oe Pam Pm om T S ee M BI sus 00 High Voltage Circuit TICK LED Circuit Parts List This step will check that the Micro controller can talk to the RTC module and that the time counting is working properly The flashing rhythm of the tick LED comes from the RTC module and we want to check that we are able to communicate with the RTC module Notes e If you want to have two LEDs for the tick circuit you can place these in series and power them from the unregulated VIN voltage e Q6 should be orientated with the flat side as shown on the board Some FETs come with the leads in a row rather than in a triangle If this is the case bend the middle lead slightly so that it fits the holes in the board see hint e The RTC module has two sets of contacts on it You can use either the side with the pins on it or wire up the other side with flying wires If you use the side with pins you should carefully remove the two unused pins see hint If you use the contacts on the module you should leave CONN RTC off the board e Ifyou receive the connector header as a single strip break off 4 pins for SV6 and 4 pins for SV2 e The LED
23. o so in the best case you will not even need to set the clock the first time The other modes of operation are described in the following sections The voltages produced in the High Voltage circuit can reach peaks of 400V Take precautions not to electrocute yourself If you are not sure what this means please do not use this clock and return it for a full refund A shock from the clock high voltage circuit is at least a nasty bite At worst it can kill you We decline any responsibility in the case of injury or death REPEAT If you are not sure please do not use the clock Time Display Mode Normally the clock will show the time To show additional information press the button with a short press Each press cycles through the following information After 5 seconds the display will revert to the normal time display ETE Description Date Date The current date will be shown Temp Temperature The current internal temperature inside the clock case will be shown in degrees Celsius If this goes above 40 you should consider ventilating the case because the temperature compensation is not able to work at such high voltages and the clock life may be reduced and the time may drift Light Ambient Light Reading This shows the current ambient light 100 darkest reading from the LDR light dependent resistor It is a normalized 999 brightest value and goes between 100 dark to 999 bright This controls the dimming of the t
24. oll back Speed Faster Each short press will make the scroll Default 50 Max 200 Min 20 Default 50 Max 200 Min 20 Default 4 Max 40 Min 1 Default 4 flashing back speed faster Max 40 Min 1 Back Light Settings 09 Back Light Mode This sets the mode of the back light 0 Fixed flashing 1 Pulse Fixed mode will show the back light color according to the Red 2 Cycle Green and Blue channel intensities default 0 Pulse will make the intensity of the back light pulse brightening for a second and then darkening for a second but always respecting the relative intensities set by the Red Green and Blue channel intensities Cycle fades the back lighting randomly and does not use the Red Green and Blue channel intensities 10 Red Channel Intensity Sets the maximum intensity of the red Default 15 flashing channel back light This will be dimmed according to the display Max 15 dimming Min 0 1 Green Channel Intensity Sets the maximum intensity of the green Default 15 flashing channel back light This will be dimmed according to the display Max 15 dimming Min 0 12 Blue Channel Intensity Sets the maximum intensity of the blue Default 15 flashing channel back light This will be dimmed according to the display Max 15 dimming Min 0 HV Generation Settings See HV Settings note 13 HV Target Voltage Higher Each press sets the HV target voltage D
25. on one side and one lead longer than the rest The common anode is the longest pin The Red cathode is next to the flat on the case The green is next to the anode and the blue is on the side farthest from the flat e The RGB LED anode is connected to pin 4 VCC of SV2 Red is connected to pin 1 of SV6 green to pin 2 of SV6 and blue to pin 3 of SV6 The Pin out red cathode 2 mm LED common anode green cathode blue cathode You can run more than one back light LED for each R G or B channel If you want to do this replace this resistor with a simple PCB link and put a 1k resistor in series with each LED cathode instead You can run between 4 and 6 LEDs off the driver depending on the type and the supply you can choose the regulated 5V or the unregulated VIN The total current for each channel should not exceed 200mA Often when running from VIN you can leave the 1K resistor on the board and additionally place a 1K resistor in series with each LED cathode Likewise you can run two TICK LEDs in series from VIN with the 1K resistor on the board Calculate the current consumption of the LEDs If you want to drive multiple LEDs or want to run the LEDs from VIN please check the current consumption It is very easy To calculate the current drawn you can measure the forward drop Vw across the LED when it is on and use the following formula to calculate the current Leo Vcc Vewo 1k For example with a Viw of 2 2V the
26. rs in place Cathode Control Circuit Parts List IC3 74141N K155 516 SOCKET 16 SV5 CONN DIGIT This part of the circuit controls which cathode will be lit Each time the digit to be displayed the correct cathodes have to be set Notes e Instead of the 74141 you might have the Russian equivalent K155 e Be careful to orient the 74141 correctly e Ifyou receive the connector header as a single strip break off 10 pins for SV4 Place the 16 pin socket and the connector and then put the cathode driver on the board After you have done this that part of the board should look like this zig may a LEDs and front panel Parts List R20 1k R21 1k R22 1k Q3 2N7000 Q4 2N7000 Q5 2N7000 LDR LDR S1 SWITCH LED RGB LED RGB Common anode These are the final parts of the clock apart from the tubes and are intended as the elements which the user Sees and touches This is the last step of the main board build Notes e The FETs should be orientated with the flat side as shown on the board Some FETs come with the leds in a row rather than in a triange If this is the case bend the middle lead slightly so that it fits the holes in the board see hint e If you want to run more than one back light LED from the board see the note below e The LDR is connected between pin 1 GND and pin3 LDS of SV2 e The switch is connected between pin 1 GND and pin2 BTN1 of SV2 e The RGB LED has a flat
27. series 4 TICK LEDs Run the TICK LEDs by putting 2 in series and running the two series combinations in parallel In this case you need a 1k balancing resistor in each series 1 RGB Back Light LED Run the RGB LED directly from the board either from VCC or VIN Multiple RGB Back Light LEDs Each RGB LED needs a series balancing resistor on each Red Green and Blue cathode I normally run 6 in this configuration Kit Contents When you unpack the kit you should find the following contents as listed in the BOM Bill of Materials It is best to check the contents before you start and notify me straight away if you are missing any components Please see the appendix to help you identify individual components Low Voltage Circuit Parts List The Low Voltage circuit is a very traditional voltage regulator using a linear regulator It s job is to reduce the external voltage from the power adapter down to a known and stable 5V to drive the micro controller and the 74141 Put the parts on the board in the marked locations in the order they appear on the list Notes e See the section on Component Identification for help with identifying the components e D1 and D2 look very similar but have different jobs to do Be careful to get the 1N4001 and not the UF4004 e D1 should be placed so that the white stripe on the body lines up with the white stripe on the board e C9 must go the right way round The negative side is marked
28. the board Make a note of the colors of each of the cathodes and anodes because we will need to reconnect them in the same way e usually plait the 6 anodes together in 3 groups two wires each and the 10 cathodes in 5 groups of two wires 3 plaiting and 5 plaiting can be found on YouTube It is optional to plait the wires and simply binding them gives a good result as well The wiring for the tubes is this CONN CATHODES CONN ANODE Here is a picture of a plaited loom in action This particular version of the clock has two blue tick LEDs in series and three RGB LEDs one for each digit group Hacks and alternatives There are a number of options which can be built into the board easily Using Neons instead of LEDs for the Tick LED This is a very simple modification Replace the 2N7777 Q6 with an MPSA42 The MPSA42 transistor has a compatible pin out to the FET drain collector gate base source emitter but can withstand 300V After doing this you can connect one or more neon lamps instead of the LED Sa A GA LA GA 22 2 66 disci MA ids This gives a more retro feel to the result For each neon place a 56 100k resistor in series and drive from the HV output on the power connector on the board Here is an example with a 56k resistor and two INS 1 neons Driving 2 neons from the Tick circuit Troubleshooting If not everything goes as you expect please refer to the test
29. ubes Setting Mode To enter setting mode press the button for more than 1 second medium press The tick LED will start to flash instead of pulse The number of consecutive flashes indicates the mode you are in Each medium press of more than 1 second will move the setting mode onto the next When you finish the setting modes the clock returns to normal time display mode To exit the setting mode before going through all the options press the button for more than 2 seconds long press The tick LED will start to pulse again Another way of exiting is to cycle through all of the setting options after which you will return to time mode To change a setting press the button for less than one second and then release it short press _ Mode jp Description Values Time mode This is the normal mode and displays the time It is the normal start up mode of the clock If you do nothing The clock is in this mode In this mode a short press cycles through the values given in Time Display Mode but always returns to the standard time display after 5 seconds Time and Date Settings Set minutes Each short press will advance the minute The minutes roll over back to 0 ffter reaching 59 minutes Each time you set the minute the seconds is reset to 0 Set Hours Each short press will advance the hour The hours roll over back to zero after reaching 12 or 24 depending on the 12 24 hours mode
30. you want the lead to the board to be and how far apart the groups of digits hours minutes and seconds should be Temporarily either glue tape or bind together the groups of digits while you are working on them Later you can choose to substitute the temporary binding or keep it if you wish If you use heat shrink do not shrink it until the end of the wiring The reason for this is that we will complete the looming at the end and will need to disconnect the board from the loom to tidy it up Also for the identification of errors it is useful to be able to switch or disconnect connections Pre cut the wires you are going to use use different colors for each cathode or anode if possible Keep the same color for each cathode as you proceed through the wiring Make sure that all the wires for each task are the same length The main wire tasks are e Flying cathode connections recommended 30cm e 10x flying cathodes from the board to the tubes e 6xflying anodes from the board to the tubes e Intra group cathode connections recommended 7cm e 3x 10 x cathodes e Inter group cathode connections recommended 7cm e 2x 10 x cathodes e Flying anode connections recommended 40cm e 6xflying anodes from the board to the tubes Wire anode 6 and anode 5 to the first group seconds from the board to the tube Always make the flying lead connect to tube 6 first then tube 5 This means our connection loom will come out at tube 6 Wire cathode
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