De-poison cathodes of gas-discharge tubes (nixie)

Thread Starter

Sjostedt

Joined Jan 21, 2017
1
Hey guys,
I have some nixie tubes where some of the digits suffer from severe cathode poisoning. I'm putting together some nixie tubes to use as a clock using the arduinix shield to convert 9 to 180v.
I don't have any tube tester equipment around to properly limit the current and in that way de-poison them.
I was thinking - is it possible to temporarily replace the current limiting resistor at the anode with a potentiometer to control the current and in that fashion burn the digits clean with the driver I have now used as a clock.
Or is there any other easy solution to it?
My last resort would be building a 180v dc/dc converter with current limiter but i'd rather spend that time on finishing the clock build.
 
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