Siren Alarm Clock Question

[I_Love_Sirens_lol]

"^" is just as hard as typing "up" as they both use two keys.

We use words on this forum. Real words. None of this "u, ^, ur, dat" crap. People that don't learn this usually don't get to stay around very long.

dont be hatin cuz im not from ur country im sorry if my newly learned english upsets u my lord i just like sirens man does it really matter how i show that love?

[Daniel]

ACH DU HEILIGE SCHEI?E!!!! I'm going insane trying to get through these posts and decypher what this stuff means. Once you guys get into the real world, you will be required to learn how to spell and use reasonably intelligible grammar at work, assuming you can get through the resume process.

dont be hatin cuz im not from ur country im sorry if my newly learned english upsets u my lord i just like sirens man does it really matter how i show that love?

Spreekt U Nederlands? Afrikaans? That is the only language I know of where "U" can mean "you". Most Dutch I know speak excellent English when they want to. Your grammatical structure suggests that you know better, but are trying to annoy us.

[Nelso90]

ACH DU HEILIGE SCHEI?E!!!!

Well said Dan!

[kx250rider]

So far it looks like the best source for them is eBay. I've been spending the past few days looking at different tubes, and I think I'll probably go with the IN-14 (picture here). It's easy to find, looks nice, is a decent size (approximately 3/4" digits), and mounts vertically to a PCB (my PCB will be mounted flat). The funny thing is it uses an upside-down "2" as the "5" cathode.

I'm planning to use the two decimal points in each tube to indicate which digit is selected when setting the time.

Thanks for offering your help anyway, I appreciate it.

Those tubes are really neat-looking when they're on in a dark room! I have run into a few of them since I deal in vintage electronics. I don't have any at hand right now, or I'd offer them to you.

Those were used in old calculators and cash registers, which usually are free or cheap when they turn up at a thrift store. Also, if you have any electronics surplus/junk store nearby, look at old test equipment. Many items like frequency counters, digital voltmeters, etc etc, used those tubes in the 60s and 70s. If you got them that way, you'd have the sockets and power supply all together.

If you wind up needing 9-pin sockets, I probably have some.

Charles

[Blasty]

If we had an electronics junk store here, I'd have nowhere to sleep because my room would be full! It seems I only run into these sorts of shops in big cities .

[Robert Gift]

I use a nixie tube to choose Lotto numbers.
(This tube is neon with very nicely shaped numerals stacked closely together.)

The tube is mounted near the top of my 5 foot Jacob's Ladder.

As the arc rises, it's "flame" passes the many wires from the tube and usually makes primarily one digit glow.

The tube's common lead is close to but notouching the other high voltage wire so the arc does not stay on any one lead for more than a second before continuing it's ascent.

Lots of fun, but I never won.
(Guess you have to buy a ticketo win.)

[AllSafe]

Should we get Daniel for swearing in German?

BTW...I read a long time ago about a nixie alarm clock project which used a board from an old Federal siren/PA unit to generate an authentic wailing emergency siren tone. It was PIC (microcontroller) controlled, constructed almost entirely of walnut and had a big 20A steel toggle switch on top of it to turn the alarm on and off. I can't remember the website off hand though.

[Daniel]

That particular word doesn't pack quite the punch in German that it does in English, but if you must, du kannst mich mal . . .

I am a big fan of nixie tubes. For years I had a 16 digit nixie calculator on my desk, and if it weren't so large, I'd be using it now. I also have some old Dekatron tubes, which predated nixies and have an end-viewed "rotating" display of orange neon (or sometimes purple argon) dots. On 1950's equipment with Dekatron displays, the tubes would protrude from the panel and the glowing dots would align with numbers 0-10 printed on the panel. Somebody once made a clock with six Dekatrons for hours, minutes, and seconds, and I would love to build one too, if only I could find an inexpensive and reliable circuit.

[Robert Gift]

Daniel, can you show a photo of a Dekatron tube?

The tube did not display a number, but would light next to the number
indicated? That must have been fun to have to interpret.

Since you would need power to operate that clock, you can counthe 60 Hz AC as a timer. Utility companies keep AC extremely accurate.

Danka,

[Daniel]

Here's a photo of a simulated Dekatron clock, courtesy of John Smout and Konfabulator, using photos of actual Dekatron tubes.



Here is the tube on a Dekatron spinner circuit, shown on the website of Sphere Research Canadian Test Equipment Site, which sells nixies, Dekatrons, and other items. www.sphere.bc.ca This site is a must for anyone interested in buying or learning about these displays.





This is a Panaplex display, a 7-segment, high voltage neon display popular in the 1970's, especially on gas pumps and NCR cash registers. They light up a bright orange-red. I have a unique clock which uses these, and the numbers are created not by an electronic circuit, but by rotating encoders driven by a 1 RPM electric motor. And Blasty, I bought it at a junk store in Bend.



But my favorite displays of all are lightguide displays, of which I have 5 waiting to be turned into a clock. www.electricstuff.co.uk