PV Electronics Elite Nixie Assembly Instructions And User Manual Download Page 1

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Nixie Tube Clock ‘Elite’

Issue 3 (25 July 2018)

www.pvelectronics.co.uk

- 1 -

Assembly Instructions

And

User Guide

‘Elite Nixie’

Summary of Contents for Elite Nixie

Page 1: ...Nixie Tube Clock Elite Issue 3 25 July 2018 www pvelectronics co uk 1 Assembly Instructions And User Guide Elite Nixie ...

Page 2: ... 3 25 July 2018 www pvelectronics co uk 2 REVISION HISTORY Issue Number Date Reason for Issue 3 25 July 2018 Improved NL840 neon details ZM1000 Tube details added 2 07 June 2018 Added more NL840 details 1 04 May 2018 New document ...

Page 3: ...ng zero blanking Double dot colon neon lamps 11 colon neon modes including AM PM indication top bottom or left right railroad slow or fast etc Seconds can be reset to zero to precisely the set time Programmable night mode blanked or dimmed display to save tubes or prevent sleep disturbance Rear Indicator LEDs dim at night to prevent sleep disturbance Weekday aware Master Blank function to turn off...

Page 4: ...nerated by this circuit can give a potentially LETHAL ELECTRIC SHOCK DISCLAIMER This product is supplied as a kit of parts intended only for suitably qualified electronic engineers who are suitably qualified and experienced in electronics assembly and are familiar with safe procedures for working with high voltages The supplier his agents or associates accept no liability for any damage injury or ...

Page 5: ...r gun will be needed to shrink the heat shrink tubing over the neon lamp wires 2 2 Materials you will need Solder lead tin solder is highly recommended USE LEAD TIN SOLDER Lead free solder as now required to be used in commercial products in Europe has a much higher melting point and can be very hard to work with Desoldering wick braid can be useful if you accidentally create solder bridges betwee...

Page 6: ...Ceramic C7 0 22F Supercapacitor C8 C9 100nF Transistors Q1 IRFD220 Q2 MPSA42 Diodes D1 D2 1N5819 D3 1N4148 D4 1N5819 D5 UF4004 D6 D7 D8 3mm Yellow LED RGB1 RGB6 APA106 RGB LED Integrated Circuits IC1 LM2576 5V voltage regulator IC2 PIC16F1938 in socket Miscellaneous L1 L2 100uH inductor ALARM SET ADJ DST Miniature push button IC2 Socket 28 Way narrow IC socket for IC2 PWR 12V IN Socket 2 1mm PCB p...

Page 7: ...ator 1 PIC16F1938 8 bit microcontroller 1 Miscellaneous 100uH inductor 2 Miniature push button 4 28 way narrow IC Socket for IC2 1 2 1mm PCB power socket 1 Surface mount 3 5mm jack socket 2 Piezo sounder 1 500mA fuse 1 12 way MicroMatch connector Female 1 CY18 Rx Module 1 2 way Right angle connector 2 32 768KHz watch crystal 1 3 3 Packing Sheet Additional parts Driver Board Printed Circuit Board 1...

Page 8: ...be PCB Printed Circuit Board with pre soldered HV5622 ICs 12 Way Micromatch connector Male 4 X 4mm neon lamps 30cm clear heat shrink 66 gold socket receptacles 2 X 100nF ceramic capacitors 6 X 10 KΩ Watt resistors 4 X 390 KΩ Watt resistors 2 X 50mm tall glass cover tubes 3 6 Packing Sheet ZM1000 Tube PCB Printed Circuit Board with pre soldered HV5622 ICs 12 Way Micromatch connector Male 4 X 4mm ne...

Page 9: ...s Parts Identification stors used in the kit are 1 tolerance metal film They are coloured bands to identify the value However it is sometimes unclear in which direction the bands should be read Therefore we recommend that the resistors be identified with a the fuse will look like one of the pictures below It can easily be confused for a capacitor It is a self resetting fuse Inductors L1 and L2 may...

Page 10: ...ite side to the pre soldered ICs Now proceed according to the tube type you are using 4 2 IN 8 and NL84x Nixie Tubes There are 66 individual sockets that need to be soldered in The best method is a follows IN 8 Slide 11 sockets onto the 11 pins of the tube NL84x Slide 10 sockets onto the 10 outer pins on the tube With reference to the PCB check which one of the inner pins is needed the correspondi...

Page 11: ...ly in You may need to wiggle a little from side to side to get all the sockets to fully go into the holes to the level as shown below Flip over the PCB and solder the pins ensuring the tube stays vertical Solder sparingly as soon as you see solder flow around the annulus withdraw the solder and soldering iron Remove the tube then solder the next tube locations in turn Finally clip off the long tai...

Page 12: ...ee 20 Way socket strips into lengths of 5 Nail clippers are very effective for this At each location solder two of the strips and a single socket as shown Note carefully the location of the single socket Solder sparingly as soon as you see solder flow around the annulus withdraw the solder and soldering iron ...

Page 13: ...e is no need As with all the components after soldering clip the excess leads off 4 5 AM1 AM2 PM1 PM2 4 mm neon lamp Each neon is separately addressable and many flashing and indication modes are implemented see the configuration setup later in the manual Cut the clear heat shrink tubing into 8 lengths acording to the tube type Tube Type Long Pieces Short Pieces IN 8 35mm 20mm NL84x 30mm 15mm ZM10...

Page 14: ...lock Elite Issue 3 25 July 2018 www pvelectronics co uk 14 Finally solder the neons in place on the PCB with the taller neons at the back The glass cover tubes can be placed over later The tube PCB is now complete ...

Page 15: ...est to fit the tube board temporarily so you can be sure everthing is in perfect alignment Gather together the components below The screws are the shorter 4mm ones Then screw the hex spacers in position as shown below and also loosely place the 12 way connector Then place the tube PCB in position and engage the 12 way connectors and screw together with the longer 5mm screws ...

Page 16: ...t L1 100uH Inductor IC1 LM2576 IC1 is a Surface Mount part but it is large and easy to solder Start by wetting one pad with solder Then place the part in position and heat the lead so the solder below it melts and anchors the part The four other leads can then be soldered Do not solder the heatsink tab C1 and C2 are polarized The Positive lead is the longest and goes in the pad marked The diodes a...

Page 17: ...tmeter Touch the black probe on the GND test point and the red probe on the 5V test point The voltage should measure between 5 6 and 5 9 Volts If not disconnect power and check your work Do not proceed with the assembly until the error is corrected Once the test is completed disconnect the power 5 4 High Voltage Generator components Socket for IC2 R1 R3 4 7 KΩ R2 390 KΩ C3 1uF C4 220uF D4 1N5819 D...

Page 18: ...ion the socket does not really matter Also the MOSFET needs to be placed with the two joined pins as marked on the PCB 5 5 High Voltage Generator Test Refer to the warnings on page 5 Insert IC2 into its socket Orient the notch on the IC with the notch on the IC socket and the PCB marking Power up the PCB and using the GND and HV test points measure the high voltage generated using a voltmeter on D...

Page 19: ...w pvelectronics co uk 19 5 6 R7 4 7 KΩ C5 10pF C6 33pF X1 Watch Crystal C8 100nF The 10pF capacitor is usually marked 10 and not surprisingly the 33pF is marked 33 The 100nF is marked 104 Don t switch C5 and C6 or the timekeeping will be very slow ...

Page 20: ...ight and all start counting from zero to 9 and repeat Please note this is a count UP not a count DOWN If you contact us with a support issue at this stage please be clear about the count UP If you refer to a count DOWN it will be very confusing and slow down your support query If you do not get this count UP or have missing or overlapping digits stop and check your work Missing digits is usually r...

Page 21: ...22F C9 100nF PIR GPS SMD Jack Sockets The 0 22F capacitor is polarised note the arrows on the PCB to correspond with the arrows on the part To solder the SMD jack sockets first tin one pad per jack socket Then place the socket over the pad and re heat the pad to wet the solder and anchor the part The remaining pads can then be soldered ...

Page 22: ...CY18 Module and Connectors Push the two connectors onto the end pins of the CY18 receiver Module Then position on the PCB Press the black connectors level with the the PCB and check alignment of the module before soldering the four pads Then withdraw the CY18 module until later ...

Page 23: ...me and are not electrically connected By only soldering the two active pads if you make a mistake it is much easier to remove or re position the switches It is easier to solder one pin per switch first then re position by rewetting the pad until the switch is fully pushed into position Then solder the second pin 5 12 D6 D8 3mm Yellow LED Using the LED bending jig bend D6 and D8 as shown below ...

Page 24: ...and DST switches Use the jig again to align the LEDs above the switches This will give the correct spacing for if you want to use one of our cases Now bend and solder D7 The longer lead goes in the pad with a circle around it Think about the orientation before you bend the leads D7 should be level with the GPS jack socket next to it and protrude by its full body length from the rear of the PCB ...

Page 25: ...2018 www pvelectronics co uk 25 5 13 RGB1 RGB6 APA106 RGB LED Using the large hole in the LED jig bend the LED leads in three steps as shown below noting the position of the longer two leads Then install the RGB LEDs from the base of the PCB ...

Page 26: ...s of the 5mm heat shrink over the LEDs It is not necessary to shrink the tubing If you choose to shrink it be careful as it may shrink so narrow that almost no light comes out 5 14 Antenna wire Strip 3mm insulation from the end of the wire supplied and cut the wire to 17cm length Solder the wire to the ANT pad as shown below ...

Page 27: ...Tube Clock Elite Issue 3 25 July 2018 www pvelectronics co uk 27 5 15 Final Assembly Plug in the wireless receiver module Then re attach the tube board You can now place the glass colon covers over the neons ...

Page 28: ...e seconds will become highlighted Continue holding the button a further 2 seconds until the clock displays in this format 00 XX 99 The 99 in the seconds digits tells you that you are in the configuration menu In configuration mode the hours digits diplay the current parameter being adjusted and the minutes digits display the current value stored against the parameter For each parameter and referri...

Page 29: ...l days 10 Colon neons mode 0 Both off 1 AM PM Indication left right 2 AM PM Indication left right flashing 3 AM PM Indication top bottom 4 AM PM Indication top bottom flashing 5 All slow flashing 6 Slow flashing left right 7 All flashing 8 Both illuminated 9 Railroad fast 10 Railroad slow 11 Colon neons during night dimmed mode 2 As per parameter 10 12 Radio time signal source3 0 to 3 reserved 4 G...

Page 30: ...od 8 Set this parameter to 1 to restore factory configuration settings Internal operations will then load all the original settings and restore the value to 0 18 Snooze period 0 6 minutes default 1 9 minutes 2 12 minutes 3 15 minutes 19 Reserved 20 Time Calibration Factor 0 99 each unit adjusts by 0 2s per day 21 Time Calibration Polarity 0 Make clock slower 1 Make clock faster 22 Slots Mode5 0 Sl...

Page 31: ...ton to set the hours Proceed in this fashion to set the calendar Year Month and Day Finally briefly Press SET again to revert to normal clock operation Showing Date From time display mode briefly press SET button Date will be shown for 5 seconds then revert to time display Auto Date Display Setting parameter 27 to 1 or 2 will enable auto display of date between 50 and 55 seconds past each minute N...

Page 32: ...p To force a Cold Start do the following Toggle the DST on by pressing the DST button if necessary From time display press ALARM once Press ADJ once to illuminate the ALARM LED Immediately disconnect power The Power sensing sleep routine is not called from within the Alarm setup so the clock will drain the supercapacitor via the DST and ALARM LEDs Wait 2 3 minutes until the LEDs are fully off On p...

Page 33: ...Supplied as a complete hobby kit of parts For shipping reasons batteries are not included the kit takes approx 30 40 minutes to comfortably assemble The TCXO IC is pre soldered so there is no fiddly SMD soldering to worry about Naturally XTERNA is sealed against rain ingress Battery life is estimated between 6 to 12 months We recommend high quality branded batteries for the longest operation betwe...

Page 34: ...rature will not be displayed until after the first synchronisation Set Celsius or Fahrenheit using parameter 29 Fahrenheit 1 Celsius 2 Temperature is displayed between 30 and 35 seconds past each minute Celsius is displayed with 0 5 C resolution Fahrenheit is displayed with 1 F resolution Positive and negative temperature is indicated by the left hand neons Neon indicator PM2 acts as a decimal poi...

Page 35: ...equentially and finally exiting back to time display Please see the table below Stats Menu Item Description Range of Values Example 1 Minimum Temperature in last 24 hours 40 C to 60 C 40 F to 140 F 2 Maximum Temperature in last 24 hours 40 C to 60 C 40 F to 140 F 3 Voltage of XTERNA Battery 2 5V to 5 0V 4 Time required for last GPS fix loaded into the TCXO 0 to 98 sec 99 no fix at last attempt 5 H...

Page 36: ...our cycling effect at your choice of speed 8 1 Entering RGB LED menu Press and hold the DST button until the display shows 00 0 00 NX3 will not be lit For each hour 0 23 you can set a custom colour Each custom colour can have your choice of BLUE GREEN and RED values from 0 colour off to 8 maximum brightness Mix the colours using the ALARM ADJ SET buttons Use low values 1 2 and 3 for low brightness...

Page 37: ...nics co uk 37 Colours are displayed live during RGB menu In the example above between 11 and 12 hours the LEDs will be purple 8 blue 0 green 8 red In the example below between 19 and 20 hours the LEDs will be blue with a hint of green 8 blue 2 green and 0 red ...

Page 38: ... hour The speed of the cycling will then be governed by the GREEN value 0 very slow change 9 very fast change This auto colour cycling mode is explained in the picture below Red 9 therefore Auto Colour Cycling is enabled for 12 13 hours Green 3 so speed is 3 Blue value has no effect Note The colours do not cycle live during Auto Colour Cycling setup The cycling starts only during normal time and d...

Page 39: ...sentence 9 1 Configuring for GPS Synchronisation Set parameter 12 to value 4 Set the baud rate in parameter 13 Set parameters 14 and 15 for the hours and minutes your time zone is offset from UTC Time This is usually only whole hours Set parameter 16 to identify whether the offset is minus 0 or positive 1 of the time source D7 will light when the clock has received a recent GPS or XTERNA synchroni...

Page 40: ...High Voltage generator tubes and RGB LEDs when the PIR time period has expired Configuration Parameter 17 0 No PIR installed default 1 15 seconds 2 30 seconds 3 1 minute 4 2 minutes 5 5 minutes 6 10 minutes 7 15 minutes 8 20 minutes 9 30 minutes It is important to remember that the function does not override Night Blanking and Master Blanking so when the clock is in Night Blanking or Master Blanki...

Page 41: ...Nixie Tube Clock Elite Issue 3 25 July 2018 www pvelectronics co uk 41 11 CIRCUIT DIAGRAM ...

Page 42: ...Nixie Tube Clock Elite Issue 3 25 July 2018 www pvelectronics co uk 42 ...

Page 43: ...Nixie Tube Clock Elite Issue 3 25 July 2018 www pvelectronics co uk 43 ...

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