NIX4 and NIX6
User’s Guide
NIX4 and NIX6
User’s Guide
15
8.
Maximising Tube Life
Your nixie clock uses authentic soviet-era IN8-2 tubes, manufactured 40-50 years ago. Steady demand and no new
manufacturing means replacement tubes are relatively expensive and in limited supply.
The most significant way to ensure long tube life is the use of the built-in On-Off timer. This feature allows the
setting of up to two independent on and off times each day of the week, during which the tubes and LEDs are
completely off and the clock is in a low-power state. A common use of the on-off timer is to automatically turn off
the tubes when its owner is asleep (eg: 11:30PM to 6AM, 7 days a week) and at work (eg: 8AM to 4:30PM, 5 days
a week). Using this feature (see
) will significantly increase tube life, and in the example above, the life
would be increased 2.1 times, since the tubes are only on for 48% of the week. When your clock is sleeping, pressing
any button will wake it up immediately.
When setting the tube brightness, ensure that the brightness is high enough to keep the digit completely
illuminated. It is normal for a tube to a few seconds to become fully illuminated after being switched on from cold,
however after that time, all digits should be fully illuminated without any dark spots or flickering. When turned on
from cold, the tubes will be lit at full brightness for 10 seconds to help them start up, before returning to your set
brightness value.
As the tubes age they may develop dark spots or partial illumination, particularly if used at low brightness for long
periods. In this way, using a higher brightness is better. To reduce the formation of dark spots (known as cathode
poisoning), use the built-in antipoisoning feature (see
), which cycles through all digits at
high brightness every 10 or 60 minutes. For the best preventative measure, use the 10 minute option. From the
Web App, you can also set the antipoisoning to start and continue until stopped, which can resolve mild cases of
cathode poisoning when run for 24-48 hours.
If a tube fails to illuminate at all even when set to max brightness, or if it instead of a digit, it shows a glowing orange
cloud, the tube may be defective or damaged. This can occur if the glass tube cracks, so care should always be taken
not to exert any force on the tubes, for example, always carry your clock by the base and not the tubes. If a damaged
or defective tube is suspected, or for any other assistance, please contact
9.
Maximising Temperature Accuracy
Your nixie clock features sophisticated digital compensation to maximise clock accuracy over a wide operating
temperature range. For best compensation performance, the temperature sensor is located inside the case.
Although this gives the best clock accuracy, the temperature readout feature uses a correction algorithm so that
the temperature displayed to you is as close as possible to the ambient air temperature, rather than the
temperature inside the case (which is usually about 3-5°C warmer). This correction gives best accuracy when your
clock is located in free space, with relatively still air and after a 1-hour stabilisation time after turn-on or changing
tube brightness.
10.
Settings and Time Backup
All settings are saved permanently to memory, which has a storage time typically greater than 10 years. During a
power outage, the time and date continues to run off a supercapacitor, which has a run-time between 5 to 7 days.
Keeping your clock plugged into power and avoiding prolonged exposure to high temperatures will maximise the
supercapacitor’s life.
