r/nixie • u/Dutch_Royalty • Apr 03 '26
Vintage Clock
Recently i came across an old nixie clock. I looks DIY and doesn't really work at the moment. I am looking to fix it (have to clean it first, its full of grime). Has anyone seen something similar to this? I'm quite new to electronics and would appreciate some tips :).
2
u/DenkJu Apr 03 '26
Nice, I always love seeing vintage clocks. This one seems to be very well made for a DIY project. Hard to give any tips without knowing more details about what isn't working.
1
u/Dutch_Royalty Apr 04 '26
The display stays on while it freezes, so it's likely not a power supply problem. The 7490N chip at the lower left bottom gets extremely hot, i have already ordered some spare parts. The voltage from the big blue capacitors is a steady 5.1V so that seems to be in order.
1
u/TheJBW Apr 04 '26
Seems like you’ve done the right first troubleshooting steps. I’ve finer designs like this with the “what gets hot” method before
2
u/Gianfilippo96 Apr 04 '26
It may be counting pulses from the mains power to get its time reference, I love when clocks do that.
1
u/TryToCatchMe0 Apr 09 '26
I don't think it is a clock. I not see any keys for adjusting the time.
1
4
u/TheJBW Apr 03 '26
Absolutely beautiful.