Ice tube clock - last digit faint

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stefanpr
 
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Ice tube clock - last digit faint

Post by stefanpr »

Hello,
I just finished my clock - it's all working ok, however the last digit is very faint. All segments light up correctly, but it's very hard to see, even when set to max brightness. All the other digits are fine. Any ideas? Is it a dodgy tube?
Thanks in advance,
Stefan
ice clock 1.jpeg
ice clock 1.jpeg (129.66 KiB) Viewed 613 times

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Ice tube clock - last digit faint

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

This is a common phenomenon and is mentioned in the FAQ. It is related to how the tube is driven. Some IceTube users have developed firmware and/or hardware hacks to address the issue. You should be able to find these posted in this forum.

stefanpr
 
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Re: Ice tube clock - last digit faint

Post by stefanpr »

Thank you very much for your reply!
I applied Russel27's fix (see http://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=43908) and now it's working fine.

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russell 27
 
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Re: Ice tube clock - last digit faint

Post by russell 27 »

Hey I'm glad that worked for you. The kit MOSFET just doesn't seem to turn on fully or reliably at that gate voltage; starving some tube segments. It's hard to find a P channel that size that does.

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