30 November 2015

Simply dangerous sample - NOT

The self-luminescent keychain mentioned in a previous post has arrived today. It is weaker than advertised, but still visible in semi-darkness. With a bit of disappointment I found out that it does not emit radiation types and levels that can be detected on my Samsung smartphone with the Radioactivity Counter app.

22 November 2015

CCFL laptop inverter board for Nixie/valve testing - 2 - video

Want to see how a Nixie tube lights up when it is close to an HVAC source? Here you go:



The board is from an Acer laptop. Power supply is about 11 Vdc plus 3 Vdc for the control circuitry. Since there is no CCF Lamp connected the circuit shuts down after a couple of seconds, but that is enough to see the gas inside the Nixie so show its presence. Re-apply the 3 V control and HVAC appears again.

Remember: no light means broken Nixie.


21 November 2015

CCFL laptop inverter board for Nixie/valve testing - 1

A WORD OF CAUTION. This experiment involves dangerous high voltage AC. I take no responsibility for whatsoever damage may result in reproducing what is described below: if you don't know how to deal with HV, just read and learn.

Surfing around and reading about Nixie testing I came across a text that describes a way to check these tubes in a wireless fashion. With such a device, that is battery operated, it is possible to test Nixies found at flea markets so that you don't buy broken items.

The device produces high voltage AC through an antenna and when put close to the Nixie glass the gas inside lights up. There are commercial products starting from 12€, but a DIY solution is possible too.

The laptop CCFL (screen backlight) driver circuit fits this purpose. You need an older laptop with CCFL and not LED backlight. So all those laptops pre-2008 should do (do your homework first and check its specs before taking it apart).

The circuit usually sits in the lower part of the screen. How to get there probably will be covered in a future post. Hint: you don't need to take apart the whole laptop, just the screen. Otherwise you unscrew a lot for nothing.

Possibly do this job on a laptop you can power up, so that you can reverse engineer the connections. The driver has a least 4 inputs: broad range Vcc (like 8 to 20V), GND, enable and luminosity. The latter two signals usually take up to 3V, some are analog other digital, but in general if you pull both "high" you'll turn on the booster at max strength, that is what we need.

Here is the circuit powered with my own bench PSU and an extra battery for 3V lighting up the original CCFL:


The frequency counter can pick up the 56.1 kHz without any physical connection to the booster: radiated energy is enough! The yellow crocodile brings 3V DC to both Enable and Luminosity pins.

What happens if the CCFL is disconnected? This booster controller chip has a cut-off feature that stops HV if there is no current flow after few seconds. Anyway even without a wire going to the CCFL the frequency counter picks up the signal (at 80 kHz) and a good Nixie lights up too!

Next ... a video showing the effect on a B5092 Nixie.


17 November 2015

Simply dangerous sample?

I have not yet closed the Android radiation monitor case. Besides building a stand-alone circuit with parts that I have at home - sooner or later - I need to locate a source that does not require walking through security checks. One of the Chinese big online sellers has something that might come handy in the form of a self-luminescent keychain. Today I ordered one for about 12€.

Results in a couple of weeks, when the sample will arrive. Testing will be straightforward.

06 November 2015

biNixie clock - firmware complete

I have just tested the latest (and probably the last) firmware for my biNixie clock. It lacked a way to set hours/minutes, that has been implemented with two push buttons and the useful INPUT_PULLUP feature of AVR microcontrollers (the pin is set as input and an internal pull-up resistor is toggled in, so you save external components).

I am now able to understand how precise the RTC module is, so I will decide whether those buttons can be hidden into the case or they need an easier access.

Going happie (or nixpy?) to sleep.