Nixie Tube Driver
The Nixie Tube Driver from Doayee is a convenient and easy way to implement a 6-digit Nixie Tube display into any project of yours. It supports IN12A/B and IN15A/B tubes, allowing for use with decimal points and symbols, allowing for a huge breadth of applications.
The driver uses the HV5122 from Microchip and is intended for use with a library and a microcontroller, and we have written a library which you can download from our website. See below to find out more about the possibilities for development.
The board also features a high power RGB LED backlight behind each tube, for added visual aesthetic. These can be programmed in any way you wish, should that be a rainbow colour fade loop or as one block colour.
Arduino Library
We have written an Arduino library to accompany the Nixie tube driver which is designed to simplify displaying of numbers, decimals, and symbols on the display. For example in the image to the left, we have written a sketch to use the display as a voltmeter for a simple potential divider... the possibilities are endless!
The Nixie library also includes a comprehensive backlight controller, which allows smooth blending of colours between fades, custom colour loops, and user controllable durations, all in the background of the sketch.
If you wish to use the Nixie Driver without the library, you can find a brief guide on how to do this here.
Types of Nixie Tubes
Our Nixie Tube Driver will be shipped with IN12B Nixie Tubes which have the advantage of allowing you to display a decimal point, for added functionality if using as a display for measurements, etc. This point appears before the digit, on the latter five digits, such that it is possible to display “x.x.x.x.x.x”
You can also choose to have a number of IN15A/B tubes shipped with your reward. These are sets of scientific symbols also useful for measurement applications. IN15A includes % n µ P - + M m k Π and IN15B includes A W F Hz H V S Ω
Dimensions
Displayed here are the dimensions of our driver (click to enlarge) should you wish to mount it in a case. Also, if you come up with a cool case, be sure to send us a photo, we might feature your design!
Open Source
This project is open source, and the relevant files can be downloaded here:
- Schematic (PDF)
- KiCad Project
Kickstarter
This product is listed on Kickstarter and you can see it by clicking the green button below, and we hope you love it enough to back it!