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Pvelectronics Halo Chroma Assembly Instructions And User Manual Download Page 15

Nixie Tube Clock ‘Halo Chroma’ 

 

Issue 1 (1 April 2021)

 

 

www.pvelectronics.co.uk

 

- 15 - 

Also the MOSFET needs to be placed with the two joined pins at the 
position shown on the PCB by a thick white line. 
 

 

 

Take care that the notched end of the IC socket is at the end 
shown. However, if you find you soldered it with the wrong 
orientation, do not try to remove it. It is perfectly fine with the 

notch at the wrong end, just be sure to place the IC in the socket 
with the IC’s notch in the correct position.  

 

 

 

 

Summary of Contents for Halo Chroma

Page 1: ...Nixie Tube Clock Halo Chroma Issue 1 1 April 2021 www pvelectronics co uk 1 Assembly Instructions And User Guide Nixie Clock Type Halo Chroma For Parts Bag Serial Numbers from 000 onwards ...

Page 2: ...Nixie Tube Clock Halo Chroma Issue 1 1 April 2021 www pvelectronics co uk 2 REVISION HISTORY Issue Number Date Reason for Issue Issue 1 1 April 2021 New document ...

Page 3: ...tc 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 tubes and LEDs on weekends or during working hours Separate modes for colon neons during night mode Standard fading or crossfading with scr...

Page 4: ...onics co uk 4 1 2 Tubes Supported There are many types of tube this kit will drive all have the same pinout The commonest types are as follows Z560M Z5600M GN 4 ZM1022 ZM1020 B 5092 Digit height is generally 15 5mm for all these tubes A typical tube is shown below ...

Page 5: ... generated 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 ...

Page 6: ...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 between adjacent ...

Page 7: ...r Q5 Q9 MPSA42 Diodes D1 D3 1N5819 D4 1N4148 D5 UF4004 D6 D8 5mm Yellow LED D7 5mm Green LED RGB1 RGB6 APA106 RGB LED Integrated Circuits IC1 LM2576 5V voltage regulator SMD IC2 PIC16F1938 8 bit microcontroller IC3 HV5812 Miscellaneous L1 L2 100uH inductor AM1 AM2 PM1 PM2 4mm wire ended neon lamp ALARM SET ADJ DST Vertical miniature push button IC2 Socket 28 Way narrow IC socket for IC2 IC3 Socket...

Page 8: ...LED 1 5mm Yellow LED 2 APA106 RGB LED 6 Integrated Circuits LM2576 5V voltage regulator SMD 1 PIC16F1938 8 bit microcontroller 1 HV5812 1 Miscellaneous 100uH inductor 2 4mm wire ended neon lamp 4 Miniature vertical push button 4 28 way narrow IC Socket for IC2 1 28 Way PLCC Socket 1 2 1mm Vertical power socket 1 Vertical 3 5mm jack socket 1 Piezo sounder 1 500mA fuse 1 25cm Clear insulation for ne...

Page 9: ...ied with a multimeter Please note the fuse will look like the picture below It can easily be confused for a capacitor It is a self resetting fuse The 15pF and 33pF capacitors will be marked 15 and 33 respectively The 100nF capacitors will be marked 104 Q1 IRFD220 is in a very similar package to Q2 Q4 EL817 You can tell the difference in addition to the part marking by looking at the pins Q1 has tw...

Page 10: ... Be sure to insert the sockets from the front side of the PCB This is the side with substantially more white component markings on it Insert and solder all the sockets for each tube at a time before moving to the next tube location Be sure to insert the sockets FROM the tube side of the PCB the side with the tube markings After inserting the sockets the best way to hold all the sockets in place wh...

Page 11: ...the 11 sockets in place then remove the tube Repeat this for all six tube locations 4 2 Low Voltage Power Components J1 FUSE D1 D3 1N5819 D4 1N4148 IC1 LM2576 L1 100uH Inductor C1 C2 220uF Start by installing D1 D4 The diodes are polarized the band on the part must match the band marked on the white PCB marking ...

Page 12: ... 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 The leads of C1 C2 and the inductor L1 need to be bent as shown below The inductor is not polarized but C1 and C2 are polarized so note the positon of the pale stripe when bending the leads This will ensure the pale stripe matches up with the cross hatched marki...

Page 13: ... pvelectronics co uk 13 Then solder these three parts noting that the inductor L1 is placed on the opposite side of the PCB to the capacitors C1 and C2 Finally solder the fuse and connector J1 which is soldered on the opposite side of the PCB to the fuse ...

Page 14: ...s completed disconnect the power IF YOU CHOOSE TO PROCEED BEYOND THIS POINT WITHOUT GETTING THE CORRECT VOLTAGE WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO OFFER SUPPORT 4 4 High Voltage Generator components Socket for IC2 R1 R2 4 7 KΩ R3 R4 390 KΩ R5 300 KΩ C3 1uF C4 220uF Q1 IRFD220 L2 100uH Inductor D5 UF4004 Solder the 5 resistors and the diode first as they are lower profile its easier to solder the top pad rathe...

Page 15: ...e position shown on the PCB by a thick white line Take care that the notched end of the IC socket is at the end shown However if you find you soldered it with the wrong orientation do not try to remove it It is perfectly fine with the notch at the wrong end just be sure to place the IC in the socket with the IC s notch in the correct position ...

Page 16: ...p the PCB and using the GND and HV test points measure the high voltage generated using a voltmeter on DC setting It should be between 164 and 176 Volts If this is in order disconnect the power supply If you do not get this voltage do not proceed IF YOU CHOOSE TO PROCEED BEYOND THIS POINT WITHOUT GETTING THE CORRECT VOLTAGE WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO OFFER SUPPORT 4 6 C5 15pF C6 33pF X1 32 768KHz Crys...

Page 17: ...ww pvelectronics co uk 17 4 7 R13 R14 R15 1 KΩ 4 8 Q2 Q3 Q4 EL817 SIL Socket Strip You will either receive 2 X 6 Way sockets or a 12 way IC socket Assemble the parts as shown below paying attention to the orientation of the dot on the body of the parts ...

Page 18: ... corner of the socket with the marking on the PCB Be careful not to force in the socket if all pins are not aligned Ensure all pins are fully pushed through the holes before soldering in place If you find you soldered it in the wrong orientation don t try to remove it Contact us for an easy remedy Now insert IC3 with the dot and chamfered edge aligned as shown by the arrow in the picture below ...

Page 19: ... counting from 0 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 Try swapping tubes around to see if the problem ...

Page 20: ...ing arrows on the PCB 6 3 C9 100nF Note this part is likely to be marked 104 6 4 D7 5mm Green LED D6 D8 5mm Yellow LED SET ADJ ALARM DST Push switches All these components are mounted on the back of the PCB For the four switches you only need to actually solder the two pads of each switch closest to the PCB edge The other two pins pads are not used It makes it easier in case you ever need to chang...

Page 21: ...g into 8 lengths Our suggestion is 20mm which puts the top of the neons roughly in line with the front of the tubes but you may want to experiment with different lengths if you prefer the neons more or less protruding Slip the insulation over the neon lamp leads and with a hot air gun shrink the tubing Finally solder the neons in place on the PCB Its easier to solder one pad of the neon first then...

Page 22: ...ld light with uniform brightness This test is more important than just testing the neons because it confirms the clock is working before the next stage of installing the RGB LEDs Installing the RGB LEDs can be a major reason for the clock not working at the end due to solder bridges on the RGB pads Having done the above test you will know the reason is due to one of the RGB LEDs ...

Page 23: ...the next RGB LED Don t press any buttons or the clock will exit this cold start LED and tube testing cycling Insert the LED into large hole in the LED jig noting the position of the flat on the LED body Bend the LED leads in two steps as shown below The leads of the LED may have a different length configuration than shown below Then install the RGB LED from the back of the PCB and solder from the ...

Page 24: ... the 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 refe...

Page 25: ...dication 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 GPS 5 XTERNA 13 GPS Baud rate 0 4 8 Kbps 1 9 6 Kb...

Page 26: ...to show time for prescribed period 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 1 Slots every minute 2 Slots every 10 minutes default 3 Slots every hour 4 Slots at midnight 23 Dekatron Sync Sleep Mode 0 Dekatron always on 1 Dekatron off when night dimmed Dekatron off when tubes master bla...

Page 27: ...button 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 minut...

Page 28: ...up To force a cold start do the following Toggle the DST LED 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...

Page 29: ... time 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...

Page 30: ...mperature 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 ...

Page 31: ...n sequentially 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 ...

Page 32: ...colour cycling effect at your choice of speed 9 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 RED GREEN and BLUE 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 brightn...

Page 33: ...pvelectronics co uk 33 Colours are displayed live during RGB menu In the example above between 11 and 12 hours the LEDs will be purple 8 red 0 green 8 blue In the example below between 19 and 20 hours the LEDs will be Orange green 8 red 5 green and 0 blue ...

Page 34: ...ied 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 an...

Page 35: ...tence 10 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 The Green 5mm LED will light when the clock has received a recent GPS WiFi o...

Page 36: ... 36 11 CONNECTING OUR DEKATRON DRIVER The clock can be connected by just 3 wires to our DekaDuo Dual OG4 Dekatron Driver Please refer to the separate DekaDuo instructions for full details on how to do this Control of the Dekatron in night modes is possible using parameter 23 ...

Page 37: ... with IC2 out of its socket 5V test Point Should be 5 6V HV test point Should be approx 12V IC2 Socket Pin 1 Should be 5 6V IC2 Socket Pin 2 Should be 0 14V IC2 Socket Pin 24 Should be 0V IC2 Socket Pin 20 Should be 5 2V If pin 2 is not to spec check the feedback resistors R2 and R3 are correct and correctly soldered If pin 20 is not to spec check why the PIC is not getting power via D3 Orientatio...

Page 38: ...Nixie Tube Clock Halo Chroma Issue 1 1 April 2021 www pvelectronics co uk 38 13 CIRCUIT DIAGRAM ...

Page 39: ...Nixie Tube Clock Halo Chroma Issue 1 1 April 2021 www pvelectronics co uk 39 ...

Page 40: ...Nixie Tube Clock Halo Chroma Issue 1 1 April 2021 www pvelectronics co uk 40 ...

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