![]() on() sleep( 1)except KeyboardInterrupt: # here you put any code you want to run before the program # exits when you press CTRL+C #anode1.off() print "\nExiting" # print value of counter except: # this catches ALL other exceptions including errors.What board is the best for your next project? Whether you're a hobbyist or an engineering student, there are a lot of options to choose from. off() sleep( 1) #Turn off the nixie anode4. off() try: while True: # Displays a "0" anode4. I then created the following Python program to display a number zero on a single nixie tube: from gpiozero import LEDfrom time import sleep # Assign anode and cathode pinsanode1 = LED( 22)anode2 = LED( 27)anode3 = LED( 18)anode4 = LED( 17)cathode1_a = LED( 26)cathode1_b = LED( 16)cathode1_c = LED( 20)cathode1_d = LED( 19)cathode2_a = LED( 13)cathode2_b = LED( 12)cathode2_c = LED( 6)cathode2_d = LED( 5) # Reset all anodes to 0anode1. ![]() I followed schematics below to connect a single Nixie tube to the Arduinix: I used an adjustable DC converter (link in the part list) that takes in 12V and converts it to 5V that is then distributed to the Pi and Arduinix's 5V input. I also connected Pi Zero's +5V and ground to Arduinix's 5V and ground pins necessary for the ICs.Īrduinix requires separate 9-12V input that gets converted to high voltage necessary for the Nixie tubes. Without further ado, I connected pins 2-13 on Arduinix to the following pins on Pi Zero: Pin on Arduinix When this is done very quickly, it will appear that the digits are always lit. Since I am using only 4 tubes I should be able to turn on 2 tubes at a time for a brief period of time, then switch to another 2 tubes. Nixies' anode pins connect to high power transistors on the Arduinix and those transistors are turned on via yet other transistors.īy using only 12 pins (2 banks of 4 pins and 4 pins for anodes) you can control 8 nixie tubes in total by means of multiplexing. ![]() These ICs take in binary 5V input on 4 pins and turn on up to 10 cathodes on the output. I first explored using ESP8266-based solution as a controller but there were not enough pins on ESP chip to drive the 12 necessary pins on Arduinix.Īrduinix uses 2x SN74141 or Soviet equivalent Nixie Driver ICs to route power to appropriate cathodes of the nixie tubes. Since Arduinix requires 12 inputs in total and Pi Zero has many more outputs than that, It should be very easy to connect Pi Zero GPIO to Arduinix input pins. ![]() Arduinix is an board that was originally designed to drive Nixie Tubes via Arduino Uno or alike. I am going to try to use Arduinix as the driver for the 4 IN-12 nixie tubes I got from EBay. The minimum Vcc voltage is 2.7V at that speed. That will set the clock speed to 8 MHz from the internal oscillator. I'm going to upload preliminary (untested) code for the chip to the files. What's left on the DIP variant of the ATMega328P are the !RESET, two Vcc and two GND and AREF (which can be left NC). PC0-PC5 are the element select lines 2-7. PB2 is the digit line for the decimal point. In principle, this means that the same 3 wire connections (plus holding !RESET low) could be used to update the flash from the Pi.įor vocabulary, I use "element" as the name for an individual tube and "digit" as the 0-9 (plus decimal point) digit line. PB3-PB5 are used as both the ISP interface to program the chip and the SPI slave interface. I haven't actually tried any of this yet, but I've got a rough cut of the code for an ATMega328P acting as a dedicated SPI slave display controller.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |