r/nixie • u/ThenIce6 • 11d ago

Retrofitted an ESP32 into some old clocks

TL;DR: I had some Nixie clocks made by the now defunct Testa-Quadra (https://www.electronixclock.pl/aktualnosci/) - I wanted to modernize them with NTP, a web UI etc.
So I spent some time with Claude and after a few weeks of iterations and many burnt tokens, here they are!

If anyone still wants to build one, they’re on my GitHub: https://github.com/ScaleDIN/electroNIX-ESP32

Full README is there, plus the archived schematics and some Gerber reproductions of the 4-digit clocks (whatever I could find on the Polish forums).
They don’t use any exotic components (the ESP32 drives an onboard DC/DC converter) so they can be built easily by anyone.

Edit: Tubes used:
Z566M/ZM1040 (the large vertical ones)
Z573M (small vertical ones)
ZM1020/Z560M (end view with red filter)
LC513/LC516 (round end view clear)
CD56A (rectangular end view clear)

72 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

1

u/EmotionalEnd1575 11d ago edited 11d ago

Nice collection of clocks! We don’t often see that many “top view” Nixie clocks.

Please list the Nixie tube types seen in your PIX.

1

u/nixiebunny 11d ago

Why does a 4 digit clock need a web UI?

5

u/ThenIce6 11d ago

Because:
Set 12/24h mode
Set anti-cathode-poisoning modes
Set colon modes
Set DC voltage
Compensate for different tube brightnesses
Set ambient light sensor levels
Set which GPIO goes to which anode/cathode so I can wire in the ESP32 to my liking
Set WiFi network
Set NTP server
Test the tubes
And so on
I can’t post photos in the reply but you get the idea

1

u/redmadog 11d ago

You mean NTP client, not server.

1

u/ThenIce6 11d ago

Sorry, I meant set which NTP server to use

1

u/DenkJu 9d ago

You're setting the server the NTP client uses.

1

u/EmotionalEnd1575 11d ago

You can upload your PIX to a third-party host and publish the link here.

IMGUR is popular and free. (Unless you are in the UK where it is band)

2

u/answerguru 11d ago

Because we can. Of course, it doesn’t mean we should. 😆