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7.
CARE AND MAINTENANCE
7.1. The Clock Body Care
The clock body does not need any special care or protection coating
application throughout the entire service life. To remove the dust accumulated
off the body and tubes use dry or slightly wet cloth without any detergents.
Do NOT wash the clock or wipe them with wet cloth! Do NOT wipe the clock
body with alcohol-containing liquids!
7.2. Tube Care (Cathode Recovery)
IN-18 Nixie tubes, like any other glow-discharge tubes, are susceptible to
cathode poisoning effect. This effect is demonstrated in case of the long-term
glow of one digit in the tube which results in the oxidation of the local areas
of the tube cathodes. This effect is manifested as non-uniform glow areas in
the digit as shown in the picture below.
In AiV Nixie clock cathode recovery mode is provided. The cathodes are
recovered by means of their multi-hour heating caused by increased current.
The recovery should be performed for each tube and each digit in the tube.
Only one digit may be recovered at a time. The clock function hereby is not
accessible. Depending on the poisoning degree the recovery of each digit may
take from 1 to 10 hours.
