| Neelandan's Nixie facts and fables | |
| You might not get to know everything that there is to know about Nixies by reading this FAQ. But then, you might get stuffed full of BS. | |
| What is a Nixie? |
| Nixie. Pixie. Dixie. Trixie. Elf. Dwarf. All these belong together, very much like the oft-quoted saying "Birds of a feather moult together". |
| What is inside a Nixie? |
| Nixies have been known to be filled with nerve gas, e.g. inside a busted equipment near where a nerve gas shell just broke. |
| What is outside a Nixie? |
| If you've gotten this far, it is a clueless guy wondering just what the hell is inside this thingy. |
| I found a test circuit in a newsgroup's faq, and built it. When I tried it, there was a bright white flash and it looks like some of the wires inside are melted. What did I do wrong? |
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You built THAT? And you're still alive? Tsk. Tsk. You obviously didn't follow the instructions properly. [That circuit was designed to raise the average intelligence of the human race. By a terrorist.] |
| I want this neon lamp in the clock I am building to flash once a second. Do you have a circuit for it? |
| No circuit for you, buster. Just close your eyes for half a sec and then open them. |
| This clock is OK during the day but during the night it hurts my eyes to look at it. Any ideas? |
| Yes. Sleep during the night, like all sane people do. |
| Help me. I want to replace the red electron gun in my monitor, because while I am browsing the web for nixie circuits, the whole thing keeps going first red washed, then pink, then solid red, just like a nixie. |
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How to work on a monitor: First thing, don't. Second, if you feel your life will not be complete without doing so, get yourself some 18" fiberglass tools, and wrap a list of your next of kin in plastic and keep it in your pocket for when they find you. That big glass bottle can store an ungodly amount of charge, and it will break and send pieces through you at the slightest provocation. |
| I've gotten these rare nixie tubes from an equipment from the junkyard. How do I use them? |
| The've already been used, dearie. That box got junked when the nixies stopped working. |