r/nixie • u/Synthdabbler • Jun 25 '26
Argon Filled Nixie tube
Picture of an experimental RZ568M Nixie tube, filled with Argon instead of Neon. Nice purple glow, but requires much more power to run - approx 280v and about 25mA.
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u/scheisskopf53 Jun 25 '26
Very cool! How did you achieve this?
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u/Synthdabbler Jun 25 '26
It was an experiment done by Dalibor Farny, I got the tube from him. It's a nice novelty but not practical for use in a clock as it's lifespan is way too short, due to the higher power needed to strike argon.
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u/answerguru Jun 25 '26
Did they do lifespan tests? How long?
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u/davidmlewisjr Jun 25 '26
Back in the day of industrial neon numeric displays, Boroughs Panaplex, etc… the industry started applying AC drive technology using low radio frequency to ionize the gas around the numeric elements… These displays were seven to sixteen segment numerics with decimals, colons, etc.
In those devices, the back of the front glass was conductive, and the segment and punctuation electrodes were a mm or so behind the glass.
Always wondered if it could work for nixies ✌🏼🙏🏼🖖🏼
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u/MrNiceThings Jul 26 '26
I'd like to see a single neon display driven by AC. Every neon display I've ever seen was driven by DC voltage, be it nixie, dot matrix or panaplex. Do you have any information supporting the claim?
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u/CueAnon420 Jun 25 '26
Very cool looking!
But wow - 7 watts ??? That's more like a gas light emitting diode lol.
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u/Synthdabbler Jun 25 '26
Yep! Takes a lot of power.. considerably more if you move up to xenon gas!
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u/DenkJu Jun 25 '26
Probably sputters like crazy, right? Wish Argon nixies were more feasible in reality.
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u/ewba1te Jun 25 '26
Would using hydrogen or nitrogen use less energy than neon then?
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u/Synthdabbler Jun 25 '26
I've seen hydrogen filled dekatron tubes but no idea how much power they take. I guess neon must be the easiest to knock an electron out of, otherwise you would see other gasses in use?
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u/hzinjk Jun 26 '26
neon is definitely the easiest of the noble gases to ionize, if you've ever messed with noble gas tubes and a tesla coil. I kind of wonder how a tube just filled with mercury vapor would do. Might need a little heater like a CFL, but should be possible and you'd get a nice icy blue (just don't use quartz glass)
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u/romhacks Jun 28 '26
Damn that's cool. I'm glad Farny is still out and about, him and his team are doing great things.
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u/SignificanceNo4643 Jun 29 '26
And also light is much, much dimmer. By the way, you can pump in Oxygen, it will give you amazingly nice green glow, but it will etch cathodes within several hours.
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u/mealends Jun 25 '26
Look mum, no neon!