Hi,
I have had some NI-4 tubes laying around for ages, and I have finally started a project where I am going to use them. I have a nixie power that can deliver 80-200v, which is perfectly, as I seem to need between 150-170v to drive the nixie.
Everything seems to be in order, and I have successfully lit the letters with test-leads. The problem is that I cannot find any information about how to correctly use the NI-4 since it has 2 anodes and 1 shield. Most nixie tube projects seems to use tubes that only have 1 anode.
So the first question is. I know the two anodes are for odd and even digits. But do I really have to cut the anode-power of the odd digits when using the even digits, and vice versa? It really complicates the circuit more than I really want.
Next question: I have read somewhere that the shield should have a ~50v input. Do I need to create a custom constant-voltage circuit to keep this pin at 50v? Or is it something you only would do to prolong the life of the tube a bit?
Anyone have any inputs for me?
Project info:
I was planning on driving 6 tubes with the usual K155ID1 russian chips (74141 equivalent) and some 74HC595 bit shift registers that in turn gets connected to an external mcu. But if they need custom odd/even handling, I'd have to add another 74HC595 and some transistors etc, for handling the anode-power of each tube, I guess.
I have had some NI-4 tubes laying around for ages, and I have finally started a project where I am going to use them. I have a nixie power that can deliver 80-200v, which is perfectly, as I seem to need between 150-170v to drive the nixie.
Everything seems to be in order, and I have successfully lit the letters with test-leads. The problem is that I cannot find any information about how to correctly use the NI-4 since it has 2 anodes and 1 shield. Most nixie tube projects seems to use tubes that only have 1 anode.
So the first question is. I know the two anodes are for odd and even digits. But do I really have to cut the anode-power of the odd digits when using the even digits, and vice versa? It really complicates the circuit more than I really want.
Next question: I have read somewhere that the shield should have a ~50v input. Do I need to create a custom constant-voltage circuit to keep this pin at 50v? Or is it something you only would do to prolong the life of the tube a bit?
Anyone have any inputs for me?
Project info:
I was planning on driving 6 tubes with the usual K155ID1 russian chips (74141 equivalent) and some 74HC595 bit shift registers that in turn gets connected to an external mcu. But if they need custom odd/even handling, I'd have to add another 74HC595 and some transistors etc, for handling the anode-power of each tube, I guess.
