Another Ice Tube Clock Design for the Holidays

[jarchie]

From your description, I'm assuming that the new clock will be identical to the old one except for the photocell mod. In that case, you should be able to simply transfer the microcontroller from the old/broken clock to the new clock. When the new clock first starts with the old microcontroller, the display will probably be very dim, so you might need to go to a dark room to see that everything is working. Brightness can be manually increased through the configure display / display brightness menu ("cfg disp"/"disp bri"). See the firmware/USAGE documentation for more information on configuring the clock.

EDIT: If you have more questions specific to my firmware--or my firmware running on the original Adafruit hardware design--it's probably better to post in the thread for my firmware instead of this one.

Good luck with your new clock!

[rjhike]

Yes, the new clock will be identical to the old clock because I like the way it looks and works. My question was more about the hardware than firmware. The firmware is perfect.
I was wondering if I didn't install the photocell do I have to place a jumper where the photocell goes?

[jarchie]

Yes, the new clock will be identical to the old clock because I like the way it looks and works. My question was more about the hardware than firmware.

Given your past thread, it looked like you were using the original Adafruit design rather than the xmas hardware revision, which is what people in this thread are working on. But it doesn't matter which hardware you are using--as long as the only difference is the photocell parts--you just need to transfer the microcontroller with my firmware from your old clock to the new clock.

I was wondering if I didn't install the photocell do I have to place a jumper where the photocell goes?

No jumper or additional hardware is needed. The only caveat is the display might be quite dim until you manually set the brightness through the clock menus. The menus will still contain an option for "auto" brightness, and that won't work properly without the photocell (CT1, not marked on board) and resistor (R4) installed. But the manual brightness settings (1 - 10) should work just fine in your new clock.

[nix_clk_dd]

The feature that you're trying to add sounds similar to an existing feature. Here's an excerpt from the firmware/USAGE file for the "cfg regn" / "date fmt" menu option.

Configure the date format. First, specify if the weekday should be shown with "wday on" or "wday off". Second, select the format of the month-day display. Third, specify if the year should be shown with "year on" or "year off". Fourth and finally, specify if the date should be automatically shown at regular intervals of 10, 30, or 60 seconds ("auto off", "auto 10", "auto 30", "auto 60").

For your particular example, I'd probably have to look at the full code. I'm guessing that the code you gave contains excerpts from different parts of mode.c, but I'm having trouble seeing the full picture. Perhaps you could do a "make clean" to remove unnecessary files, compress the firmware directory, and attach it to your next post? This forum allows zip file attachments. And as you probably already know, on a Mac, right-clicking on a directory in Finder gives a "Compress" option for making zip files.

Sorry for the delay! Lots of projects going at the same time :)
Unfortunately I deleted the entire folder with the problematic code that I wrote...I will try again this weekend.

Any quick modifications I can make to the original code to show the date every 60 seconds, but trigger at XX:XX:50s rather than XX:XX:00s?

Code: Select all

switch(time.scroll_delay) {
			case 0:
			    time.scroll_delay = 10;
			    break;
			case 10:
			    time.scroll_delay = 30;
			    break;
			case 30:
			    time.scroll_delay = 60;
			    break;
			default:
			    time.scroll_delay = 0;
			    break;
		    }

Setting time.scroll_delay = 60; to time.scroll_delay = 50; shows the date at XX:XX:50 and XX:XX:00

[jarchie]

The code you quoted above sets the frequency of the delay. The code below is what uses the set value to actually trigger the automatic date display (also in mode.c).

Code: Select all

    if(time.scroll_delay && time.second % time.scroll_delay == 1) {
        ATOMIC_BLOCK(ATOMIC_FORCEON) {
            time.status |= TIME_SCROLLING_DATE;
        }
        if(time.dateformat & TIME_DATEFORMAT_SHOWWDAY) {
            mode_update(MODE_DAYOFWEEK_DISPLAY, DISPLAY_TRANS_LEFT);
        } else {
            mode_update(MODE_MONTHDAY_DISPLAY, DISPLAY_TRANS_LEFT);
        }
    } else {
        mode_update(MODE_TIME_DISPLAY, DISPLAY_TRANS_INSTANT);
    }

One easy way to get the behavior you want is to BANNED 51 seconds as the triggered time. So you could try replacing the line that reads

Code: Select all

    if(time.scroll_delay && time.second % time.scroll_delay == 1) {

with something like

Code: Select all

    if(time.second == 51) {

[nix_clk_dd]

One easy way to get the behavior you want is to BANNED 51 seconds as the triggered time. So you could try replacing the line that reads

Code: Select all

    if(time.scroll_delay && time.second % time.scroll_delay == 1) {

with something like

Code: Select all

    if(time.second == 51) {

That worked perfectly, thanks!
I was searching for values like 60, and 0 :) I didn't think to offset it by one second because technically it's triggering AFTER the number you have set.

[rjhike]

I replaced a broken tube for the clock. (The clock fell on the floor and broke the case and tube.)
No other changes. I thought all the settings would be the same and the clock would work as before. I was wrong. The top of each digit is missing. I can't get to the menu for display changes. There is only a couple of menu items when I try to scroll through them, and I can't tell what they are because the letters and digits are all messed up. I didn't know what to do so I pulled the battery and plugged it in, that didn't help.
Any ideas? Is there a way to reset it?

[jarchie]

My Ice Tube Clock, that I have had since 2015, fell off my desk and broke. I was able to find a replacement. [from several posts back]

Where did you find the replacement? Would you post a link?

[jarchie]

That worked perfectly, thanks! I was searching for values like 60, and 0 :) I didn't think to offset it by one second because technically it's triggering AFTER the number you have set.

Glad to hear that you got it working. Good luck with your other projects. Happy hacking!

[nix_clk_dd]

Glad to hear that you got it working. Good luck with your other projects. Happy hacking!

Well I'm not quite done yet. All of the functional hardware/software parts are done with a HUGE thanks to you!
I still need to build the wood enclosure that I was discussing (and for my nixie tube clock).

Was going to do it all by hand but I might end up cutting the parts (wood and aluminum) out with the CNC machine that I'm currently building.
I need to finish 3D printing all of the plastic parts first :)

[rjhike]

Omnixie Smart WiFi Nixie Tube Clocks, Educational Kits, by Aiden Art Studio, CA, USA


https://www.nixie.ai/product/itc-kit/

[jarchie]

Omnixie Smart WiFi Nixie Tube Clocks, Educational Kits, by Aiden Art Studio, CA, USA
https://www.nixie.ai/product/itc-kit/

Thank you. That looks like a clone of the original Adafruit clock kit, but it comes with my firmware instead of the standard Adafruit firmware. Interesting.

The problem you describe where one digit consistently fails to illuminate is most commonly caused by a bad solder joint (either on the tube / side board; or the Maxim VFD chip / main board). There are other possible causes but the soldering is the first thing to check.

Please create a new thread here, and post pictures of the solder side of the main and side boards, so I can take a look.

[jarchie]

Well I'm not quite done yet. All of the functional hardware/software parts are done with a HUGE thanks to you!
I still need to build the wood enclosure that I was discussing (and for my nixie tube clock).

I was delighted to be able to help. Have fun with the remainder of the build. It sounds like a blast! :-)

[rjhike]

The clock is original one that I have had for years and it worked great.
I bought a new kit and two new tubes. So I unsoldered the broken tube and soldered in a new tube. I just wanted to see if I could fix it. And it is not working. I will recheck the solder on the tube.
Something else could have broke when it fell off the desk. I will assemble the new kit in the next week or so.

Thanks for your help

[rjhike]

I completed the new clock and it is working. As an experiment, after I soldered the tube from the new kit, to the board, I tried it in the old clock and it worked. That means that after I unsoldered and resoldered a new tube to the old board, I must have missed some solder joints or damaged the board. I did this two times with two different tubes so that board took a lot of abuse.

I used the IC chip from the new kit, I am not sure that the GPS has been defined on this chip. I can't remember how to tell on the display if it is. I might just swap out the new chip for the old chip. I will have to find my USBtinyISP and relearn how to program the new chip.