Dekatron clock.

[dr pepper]

Had some time to complete this while I was off during the hols, its a single dekatron clock.
The time after pressing a button is shown on a 1950's dekatron, there are 10 electrodes which will be numbered 0-9, the time is shown tens of hours, hours, tens of mins then mins, followed by a long gap.
The dekatron is tricky to drive as it needs 60v, 110v,220v and 420v rails, however a mc34063 and a multiplier can do this reasonably easily.
Heres another one of my totally naff vids, the time is 23:27:

As soon as I can find a strangely interesting case for it I'll build it into it.

Edit: video now embedded.

 

[Andrew_R]

Hello,

I just built two Dekatron clocks. One is with 6 Dekatrons and one with 7 Dekatrons.
I operate it with a 450V supply. No other voltages needed. (For sure the 5V for a microcontroller)

Complete building phase is shown on my site:
http://www.a-reinert.de/Dekatron_A101/dekatron_a101.html

here a video showing both:

Best Regards,
Andrew

 

[dr pepper]

It all seems to be in the finish, something made with a nice wooden box and brass escutcheons looks really nice.
My wife is keen on woodwork but I'm still waiting for various clock enclosures.

Your dekatron driver is very similar to mine, I biased the guide electrodes at 60v as I found with an older tube the glow wanted to rest on the anode ring as well as the number electrode.

I didnt use a rtcc chip, time is kept within the pic micro and I used timer 1 with a 32kc xtal, time is received from the radio time code (here in the uk its MSF on 60kc), and it resets itelsf within 2 mins so theres non need for a rtcc or a battery.

I like dekatrons, nixies, numitrons and thyratrons.

Oh yes welcome to the forum.

 

[Andrew_R]

It all seems to be in the finish, something made with a nice wooden box and brass escutcheons looks really nice.
My wife is keen on woodwork but I'm still waiting for various clock enclosures.

Hello, please share some pictures.

Your dekatron driver is very similar to mine, I biased the guide electrodes at 60v as I found with an older tube the glow wanted to rest on the anode ring as well as the number electrode.

I biased all kathodes and the guide kathodes at 80V and tested this circuit with 95 Dekatrons. All are working perfectly. But as you can see in my videos and on my pictures: At some Dekatrons the anode ring stays dark (clock with 6 dekatrons) and some have a light glow on the anode ring (clock with 7 dekatrons). But that doesn´t have an effect to the function. I´m not sure what I like more.

I didnt use a rtcc chip, time is kept within the pic micro and I used timer 1 with a 32kc xtal, time is received from the radio time code (here in the uk its MSF on 60kc), and it resets itelsf within 2 mins so theres non need for a rtcc or a battery.

Yes, that´s the same in Germany. We have the DCF77 time signal. So there is no need for a rtc or a 24/7 powersupply.

So, have a nice week...
Best regards,
Andreas

 

[dr pepper]

Sounds like your way ahead of me.

 

[Andrew_R]

Sounds like your way ahead of me.

Sorry, that was not my intention
I hope you aren´t angry with me now

 

[dr pepper]

Nope thats ok.
The only thing I dont like is the fact I have half a dozen of this type of project without cases, I have no problem designing and prototyping, but never seem to do a nice looking case, but thats my fault not yours.