Nixie7 huge nixie tube clock kit IN9 IN-9 IN13 IN-13 Start Price GBP 89.00 Current Price GBP 89.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Thursday, September 04, 2008 End Time Thursday, September 11, 2008 Location Ware See more about 'Nixie7 huge nixie tube clock kit IN9 IN-9 IN13 IN-13' Description   Let me introduce you to… Nixie7 Nixie7 is a clock. It’s a clock that uses nixie tubes to display the time. But then it’s not just any nixie clock – it’s the biggest nixie clock you’ll find on eBay and probably anywhere in the world. It’s also unlike any other nixie clock I know of. If that intrigues you, read on… What’s a Nixie7? Start by taking a look at the photos in the listing. Nixie7 is a clock that uses genuine Russian nixie bargraph tubes to create a huge seven segment display. The current time in hours and minutes is then pulsed out on the display, one digit at a time. My version of the clock uses a custom black wood and glass case to create a sleek, modern slab that will look great in any environment. However, that's not quite what's on offer here. This listing is for a Nixie7 kit without the enclosure. It's a complete kit - all the electronics, software, genuine Russian nixie tubes etc, but no case and no mounting hardware. Why might you want this? Well, two reasons. First, it's cheaper- my enclosure is really funky, but it's also quite an expensive item. If you want Nixie7 on a budget, then this is the way to do it. Secondly, it allows you to put your own spin on the Nixie7 concept - use your own creativity to make a totally unique clock. For an example of this, check out the photo showing an IN-13 Nixie7 constructed using a light wood case with a shiny metal-effect rear panel. It's a very smart interpretation of the design by one of my happy customers, Rene Eickhoff (photo used with permission, naturally!). The possibilities are endless. So, if you want to roll your own Nixie7, stay here. If you want one just like the photos, then look out for a new listing of the complete full fat and sugar version with the enclosure. Anyway, enough of that. We digress from the key question of what a Nixie7 is. Well, there's lots more to read below, but for now, you’ll get the best impression by watching Nixie7 in action. Check out the YouTube video below. If the embedded video doesn’t work, go search Youtube for 'Nixie7' - there's only one such clock, so you'll have no trouble finding it. Enjoy...     Can you tell what the time is? (hint: I like my clocks running in 24-hour format, what the US folk call ‘military time’). Yep, it’s 21:34, or 9.34pm. Of course, if you like 12-hour format, that's not a problem. Nixie7 speaks that language too.   Nixie bargraph tubes The display you’ve just been watching gets its beautiful glow and movement from the special properties of the nixie bargraph tubes that it uses. Now, you need to be careful round here with the word ‘nixie’. Not everything you find on eBay labelled ‘nixie’ truly contains nixie tubes. Some are other  tube technologies like numitrons or VFD devices – quite beautiful in their own right, and mis-labelling them as ‘nixie’ doesn’t seem too heinous a crime. At least they’re mostly from the same era. But then there are the sellers who use the tag to get you to look at their LED clocks… Hmmm. Happily, there’s none of that underhand stuff here. Nixie7 contains seven genuine nixie bargraph tubes and one nixie-era neon tube (it’s the dot you can see in the bottom right corner of the display). All the tubes are of Soviet origin, mostly made during the 70s or 80s. I bought them as ‘new old stock’, specially treated them to remove the effects of 20-30 years storage, and then selected matched sets out of the best ones for this kit. Unlike most regular nixies (check out the wikipedia for more background on them), the bargraphs don’t have digits that illuminate with a neon glow when activated. Instead they have a thin bar of neon glow which extends up the axis of a long thin glass tube. By varying the drive signal, the length of the bar can be varied from nothing up to the full length of the tube. There are two types of bargraph tube around: the IN-13 and the IN-9. IN-13s are longer and capable of more precise control. IN-9s are shorter, brighter, and best of all, come in two colours. There are standard orange neon IN-9s and purple argon-containing IN-9s! Check out the photo of all three side by side. Naturally, Nixie7 can be configured to use all of them, creating three different takes on the core design. I particularly like the purple IN-9s. Judging by the kits I've sold so far, so do many of my customers too. How do you make a clock from these? Arrange the bargraphs in the standard seven segment configuration, hook them up to some clever electronics and some even smarter software, and now you have a unit which can display any number. Beautifully. And because we can control the appearance of each of the segments individually, we can make some lovely visual effects – you’ve already seen some of these in the video. Now all you need are some real-time clock bits, a high voltage power supply, and a few other bits and bobs. Easy, huh? Well no, not easy at all. It’s about 10 months worth of evenings to get from the concept to what you’re reading about today. Sitting at the heart of the whole operation is a powerful PIC microcontroller from the 18Fx550 family. It’s packed with about 20K of firmware that handles everything from USB communications to generating the high voltage required to light up the nixies. Oh yes, and it displays the time too. So although you spend most of your time looking at the lovely tubes and hardware, I spent most of mine writing software!   Features Telling the time is of course just the start of it. You’re going to be looking for your clock to cope with switching in and out of daylight saving (summer) time as the months go by. Maybe you get the odd power cut? Wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have to go and reset the time on the clock yet again when the power comes back on? Nixie7 can help you out with these, and more. Here’s a very brief overview of the main features, some of which are discussed more further down the listing: •     Seven genuine Russian IN-9 or IN-13 nixie bargraph tubes + IN-3 mininixie ‘dot’ •     Typical digit height is 320mm (12 ½”) for IN-9, 360mm (14”) for IN-13. •     Nearly 3500 overall display configurations, each individually selectable. •     Automatic daylight saving (summer) time correction worldwide. •     Software fine-tuning to optimise clock accuracy. •     Option of temperature controlled clock module for ultimate accuracy (additional cost). •     High efficiency switch-mode design powers the nixies and the clock from a simple 12V DC power adaptor. •     Micropower real-time clock chip with battery back-up to keep time for months without external power. •     All tubes directly driven – no flickering due to multiplexing. •     Twelve different animations for the appearance or disappearance of digits •     Nine different ways of utilising the dot display to convey information. •     Three speeds for the digit display sequence. •     Twelve or twenty-four hour display formats. •     Two display styles for digits 6 and 9: modern or retro. •     Option to suppress leading zeros on the hours display. •     Optional user-defined daily blanking period to maximise tube life. •     Two different blanking modes selectable •     Control the clock from the USB port of your Windows PC using a dedicated host application •     No tricky installation: the host application is a single standalone .EXE file. •     No drivers to install: Nixie7 uses the built-in Windows HID driver. •     Official unique USB ID codes prevent clashes with other USB devices on your system •     PC based automatic calibration mode to fine tune accuracy •     Complete programming interface documentation and example source code provided •     Separate mini keyboard for clock configuration without a PC. •     Advanced user option to tweak the high voltage power supply settings. •     Advanced user option to vary the current drive of each tube separately for ultimate display control •     Unique serial number and owner’s name burnt into the firmware and readable using the host application. •     Easy maintenance and tube replacement, with spare tube provided. •     Complete documentation and assembly instructions - step by step guides, about 34,000 words! •     Complete roll-your-own kit - electronics, nixie tubes, preprogrammed PIC, software •     Design your own enclosure, then add kit, PSU and USB cable, and that's it!   Configuring the clock OK, so we have a clock which can tell the time, and has loads of cool features and display options. How do you get to play with them? Well, Nixie7 has a dinky little keyboard which you simply plug into the PCB. Press a few buttons to set it up how you like, then remove the keyboard and just let the clock run. Or you can leave it attached, just hidden in whatever enclosure you like. Using the keyboard is straightforward – you don’t have to count cryptic flashes of various LEDs and somehow figure out how that relates to what you want. In configuration mode the keyboard takes over the main Nixie7 display. First you tell the clock which setting you want to change – they’re all numbered and clearly described in the Owner’s Manual (see below). Then Nixie7 tells you what the current value is, and you modify it and then save the result. That’s it – job done.   USB connection If you run Windows on your PC, there’s another exciting option open to you. You can use your USB port to control and configure your Nixie7. Simply hook it up to a spare USB port on your system (standard USB cable: not provided). The package comes complete with a custom-written Windows application that allows you to control all of Nixie7’s totally cool features. What’s more, there are no fiddly drivers to install because Nixie7 is a HID class device, which is something that all recent versions of Windows know how to talk to – support is built in. The application is just a simple .EXE file that you can run from the CD, the hard disk or a USB stick, yet it provides a fully-featured graphic interface to Nixie7. No command line hackery to be bothered with on my clocks – just fire it up the PC program, pick the options you want and hit OK. Check out the screen shot. At this point, Mac and Linux users are probably feeling left out, and I apologise to you. I only have access to Windows, so can’t offer a version of the Nixie7 host application for your computer. However… the CD that comes with Nixie7 has example source code and documentation of the programming interface for the clock. It’s a complete interface specification, with over 40 commands controlling every aspect of the clock’s operation. If you have the requisite programming skills, it will not take you more than an evening to get something up and running. In fact, if you want to write a full host application and would be prepared to let me distribute it freely as part of the Nixie7 package, I will actively collaborate with you on the project.   Documentation The documentation has turned out to be a major part of the whole project. The complete Nixie7 Owner’s Manual and Assembly Guide runs to over 80 A4 pages, around 34,000 words. Compare that with the single sheet of paper you get with some competing nixie clocks! It’s full of background information, discussions of the design, simple step by step guides for how to build the kit, and all the detail you need for tweaking Nixie7 to get it just the way you want it. It’s also lavishly illustrated to make component identification and assembly easy. The document is written in an easy to follow style, and broken up into sections so you can find your away around easily. The main chapters are: 1          Introduction 2          Nixie tubes and nixie clocks 3          Circuit description 4          Inventory 5          Assembling the circuit boards 6          Assembling the clock 7          Clock operation 8          Maintenance and questions 9          Reference information     Is Nixie7 right for you? This kit is not suitable for everyone. If you aren’t a lover of good design and cool items, then you probably should just go down to the shops and buy some mass-produced ten-a-penny clock. It’ll certainly be much cheaper, and you won’t have to think too much. However, if you want something different, something special, then you’ve come to the right place. The word ‘unique’ is much overused these days, and especially so on eBay. But with Nixie7 you can be confident that you really are buying a unique, high quality design. Why? Because nobody else makes Nixie7. I designed it from scratch – the overall product concept, the hardware, the firmware, the Windows software and the documentation. The whole lot. The full monty. In keeping with the unique nature of Nixie7, every unit is individually serial numbered: on the board and burned into the firmware. To personalise the kit further, the name of the purchaser can be written into the PIC, from where it can be retrieved by the host application. Your clock will be permanently marked as belonging to you. Anyway, one consequence of dealing direct with the clock designer is that you’re going to get great, knowledgeable support from someone who understands everything there is to know about the kit and is passionate about making it work for you. There are a few other Nixie clock suppliers on eBay who can make similar claims, and some of them are excellent. However, there are also  other suppliers who are simply selling a kit organised around somebody else’s chip. That’s fine, but if you hit a firmware problem, they’re not going to be able to help very much. In contrast, I can rapidly figure out if whatever issue you’re having is firmware related, and if so sort it out with a code fix and an upgrade Even if you love the design, Nixie7 is still not going to be right for you if you don’t have reasonable electronics skills and knowledge (or know someone who does). It’s not because the soldering is difficult. Far from it, there are no fiddly surface mount devices, and the professionally made PCB has been designed for easy construction. However, Nixie7 does generate high voltages so there is a potential electric shock risk if things go wrong. This means it’s not for beginners. Do not buy this kit unless you are confident you can assemble it and operate it in a safe way.   Still reading? Excellent ! Seems like you and Nixie7 could be made for each other…   Don't fancy the soldering? Contact me to discuss a listing for a fully assembled and tested Nixie7 PCB and tubes to your specification!    What’s on offer… This auction is for a full 'no-enclosure' kit to allow you to build your very own Nixie7 unit using IN-13 nixie bargraph tubes. What do I mean by a full kit? Well, you get: all the nixie tubes (and a spare one just in case! Why? Go read the ‘Quality’ section.) a pre-programmed PIC microcontroller containing the firmware to run the system a professionally produced double sided PCB, black solder resist, gold plated  all required electronic components, full spec, top quality a CD containing Windows software to configure the clock over USB, together with programming information for other systems complete documentation, running to nearly 80 A4 pages (provided as a PDF rather than hard copy to save shipping costs) What’s not included: enclosure and fixings - that's for you to design tools needed to undertake the assembly a power supply for the finished clock a USB cable to connect it to your computer. the smile on your face when you finish building it, and realise just how cool Nixie7 is in the flesh! Why don’t I provide the power supply? Well there are two reasons. First is shipping – it’d up the costs appreciably. The second reason is also pragmatic – I’d need to stock lots of different flavours of PSU to cover the global customer base for Nixie7. That’s not very easy for me to do, and would not be cheap either. These things are much better sourced locally, particularly since the specification is so straightforward: well-regulated 12V DC at 0.8A or more. The power connector is a standard 2.1mm power plug, wired with the centre electrode positive. It’s a standard configuration. If  for some reason you have trouble with this, contact me, as I do have something which may help. Important note: The photos and video in this listing show a cased Nixie7 using orange IN-9 bargraph tubes. This auction is for an uncased Nixie7 which uses orange IN-13 tubes which are slightly larger, so the displayed digit on your clock will be larger. Around 360mm as against 320mm to be precise (depending on your enclosure design of course). Fabulous! Of course, if you'd rather have orange or even purple IN-9s, that's very easy to sort out. Contact me.   Quality and support One of the my aims in making Nixie7 has been to produce one of the best quality nixie clock kits you can buy. Quality in the design, quality in the components and software, quality in the documentation and quality in the operation. You know, if I worked really hard at it – cut corners, bought dirt-cheap no-name components, I could knock these things out cheaper. But I don’t want to. I want people who buy Nixie7 to enjoy the experience. Not just owning it, but the whole thing – receiving the parcel, sorting through the contents, reading the instructions, building it and then using it. And part of that enjoyment comes from you appreciating the time and thought that have gone into the kit – the quality of the parts, the detail of the assembly instructions and the way everything fits together just right. Maybe a small example will help illustrate this design philosophy. Obviously the kit includes all the nixie tubes you need to make the clock. But then I got thinking - what happens if you have an, uh, accident while making the clock? Or what about the situation where you've been happily running Nixie7 for a few years and a tube fails? You've then got to come back for a replacement tube, I have to post it out to you etc. Inconvenience all round. So I include a spare bargraph tube in every kit. Sure it costs me a couple of quid in profit, but it means a tube problem is only a minor hiccup and hopefully you keep enjoying your Nixie7 without any interruption. Hopefully you see what I mean about quality. Of course, nothing made by humans is perfect, and one day a Nixie7 purchaser is going to find a problem. That’s fine – my job then is to make it go away. All Nixie7 purchasers get my main email address, the one which I check and use daily. Mail me about whatever’s worrying you with your clock, and we’ll sort it out together. And then I’ll be looking at the next batch of kits or the documentation to try to stop it happening again. If you want some reassurance that I follow through on commitments, take a look at my feedback record. 100% positive. Over 100 transactions total, each one completed to the satisfaction of my trading partner. No messing around. You can buy with confidence – you’re going to enjoy the whole experience. Maybe you'd like some independent thoughts on this? No problem, there are happy Nixie7 owners across UK, Europe and US who've dealt with me either directly or through eBay. Here's what some of them tell me: Excellent item thanks, Very Friendly ebayer, Highly recommended (UK owner) Thanks for the very good manual, there were no problems at all with the PCB or case. PCB was easy to solder and the clock worked fine in the first run! (EU owner) Fantastic item !! Quick communication A++ (EU owner) Fantastic manual, great design, nice board. (US owner) You're right - I LOVE IT (EU owner) Fast shipping, great assembly manual, quality kit!!! Thanks!!!!! (US owner)   Practicalities OK, we’ve talked enough about what Nixie7 can do and why you should be interested in having one. Let’s look at the nitty-gritty of how that might happen. Auction rules Please read the whole description including the shipping information thoroughly before bidding. That way you’re confident in what you will receive for your money, and nobody gets any unpleasant surprises. Only bid if you intend to buy. Non-paying bidders will be reported to eBay and negative feedback left. If you have zero feedback or have recent negatives, please contact me before bidding. I reserve the right to cancel bids where I don’t like the bidder’s feedback profile. If you have great feedback – a warm welcome, and happy bidding! By bidding, you are affirming that you have the necessary skills to assess the safety risks of the kit, and to build and operate it safely. If you don’t feel happy about this, don’t bid. I will not accept any responsibility for any harm to you, anyone else or anyone’s property or pets caused by your construction or use of Nixie7. I do not guarantee that the Nixie7’s USB features will operate successfully on your precise combination of hardware and system software. It works on every Windows system and hub that I have tried, but it is not possible to test all the various combinations and possibilities that might be out there. Having said that, none of my customers have ever reported a problem, so I'll be very surprised indeed if you have any difficulty. Remember - although the photos show a Nixie7 in my custom enclosure, this listing is for a kit without enclosure or other mounting hardware. Paying for it Let’s keep things simple. Use Paypal. It works, it’s quick, safe and easy, and I will dispatch your clock as soon as possible after I’ve received the payment. For UK-based buyers, I will consider taking a personal cheque, depending on your feedback profile (ask me first). However, it’s going to be pretty slow and hassle-laden – you mail the cheque to me, I bank it, wait for it to clear fully, and then ship your kit. Urgh. Use Paypal. I guess the final option is for UK buyers who would be prepared to travel to Hertfordshire. Contact me about the possibility of picking the clock up in person. That way you can see what you're getting immediately and you can make the payment in cash. Good, old-fashioned paper money, with the Queen’s head on it. No shipping fees that way of course.   Shipping information I only use fully insured airmail shipping, and pack carefully with plenty of protective materials to ensure your kit will arrive safely and swiftly. Please note that any customs or import charges that your country may impose remain your responsibility. Shipping charges are: UK £10 for Royal Mail Special Delivery (a next day service) Europe excluding Italy £12 for Royal Mail International Signed-For (Italian bidders please contact me before bidding) US, Canada and everywhere else in the world £15 for Royal Mail International Signed-For   Returns You know, I can’t imagine why you might want to return Nixie7 – you’re going to love it. Nobody's ever returned a kit yet. However, weird stuff happens, so just in case here’s my policy so everyone is clear. All returns must be made within 7 days of receipt of the clock. Contact me first to let me know it’s coming. The kit must be returned totally unused, in pristine, resalable condition in its original packaging. To protect both of us, you must use a delivery service which obtains a signature on delivery. When I receive the kit, you will get a refund via Paypal as follows: If I have materially misdescribed the item – naturally I will refund the full winning bid, and you will have my sincere apologies for wasting your time If I am not at fault – perhaps you simply changed your mind – the refund will be the winning bid price less my Ebay and Paypal transaction fees No shipping costs will be refunded, whatever the return reason.   The bottom line… If you’ve read this far, you must be seriously interested. That’s great - thank you for the time you’ve taken to find out about Nixie7. If you still have any questions, do send me a message and I’ll reply as quickly as I can. Otherwise, perhaps I can invite you to slide your mouse over to the ‘Place Bid' button, and let’s get going!   Place a Bid!