Ice Tube Clock - Missing Segments After 30 Seconds

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RichardD012
 
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Ice Tube Clock - Missing Segments After 30 Seconds

Post by RichardD012 »

So this seems a little strange. When I first plug the clock in, all digits and segments light up normally. Slowly they start flickering and then one of the hours and one of the minutes will either flicker or completely disappear. This is constant and I re-checked the tube, the headers and the VFD (re-soldering all of them) but nothing changed. It constantly decays (for lack of a better word) until it just doesn't work.

I don't know enough about electronics to test which connections or what I'd even look for. I will say this was a whole lot easier than the Nixie kit I put together and I'm looking forward to getting it working!

Here's a video of it as soon as I plug it in: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqTDbBmmhlQ

I've tried messing with twisting the header or tube but that never helps. The timing in the video seems pretty consistent and that's without me touching it.

Here's an imgur gallery with some pictures. Sorry for the quality but at least they're huge. If you click the settings icon in the corner you can see the full resolution which may or may not be helpful. http://imgur.com/a/vYUbK#0

One last note, I checked the voltages while building and they were all within range and constant as the guide said.

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Ice Tube Clock - Missing Segments After 30 Seconds

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

If it were an entire digit, or the same segment across all digits, then I would suspect a soldering problem. But that to me looks like a defective tube. Probably some internal connection that fails as the tube heats up. If you contact [email protected] with a link to this thread we can arrange for a replacement tube.

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jarchie
 
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Re: Ice Tube Clock - Missing Segments After 30 Seconds

Post by jarchie »

Hi RichardD012. The problem you describe seems very similar to the ones described in a recent thread. Were you able to solve this problem?

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