PV Electronics Maestro Nixie clock kit Assembly Instructions and User Guide
Below you will find brief information for Nixie clock kit Maestro Maestro. This kit allows for the construction of a Nixie clock with various features. The user is guided through assembling the circuit board, connecting the power supply, and setting the time. The kit also supports automatic time synchronization via DCF or MSF radio signals or GPS reception.
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Assembly Instructions and User Guide
Nixie Clock Type
‘Nixie Maestro’
Nixie Clock Kit ' Maestro’
ISSUE 3 (10 December 2014) www.pvelectronics.co.uk
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REVISION HISTORY
Issue
Number
3
2
1
Date Reason for Issue
10 December 2014 Typing errors corrected. Updated photos.
Added MSF and DCF support
27 December 2012 GPS Indicator LED function clarified
06 December 2012 New document
Nixie Clock Kit ' Maestro’
ISSUE 3 (10 December 2014) www.pvelectronics.co.uk
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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Nixie Maestro - Features
Nixie clock type ‘Nixie Maestro’ has the following features:
- Hours, Minutes and Seconds display
- 12 or 24 hour modes
- Uses a Quartz Crystal Oscillator as the timebase
- Programmable leading zero blanking
- Date display in either DD.MM.YY or MM.DD.YY or YY.MM.DD format
- Programmable date display each minute
- Scrolling display of date or standard display
- Alarm, with programmable snooze period
- Optional GPS synchronisation with status indicator LED
- Dedicated DST button to switch between DST and standard time
- Supercapacitor backup. Keeps time during short power outages
- Simple time setting using two buttons
- Programmable leading zero blanking
- Five programmable neon colon settings (Flashing AM/PM indication, illuminated AM/PM indication, both flashing, both on, both off)
- Seconds can be reset to zero to precisely the set time
- Programmable night mode - blanked or dimmed display to save tubes or prevent sleep disturbance
- Rear Indicator LEDs dim at night to prevent sleep disturbance
- Weekday aware ‘Master Blank’ function to turn off HV/ tubes on weekends or during working hours
- Separate modes for colon neons during night mode
- Standard or fading change of digits
- Standard, fading, or fading with scrollback display modes
- ‘Slot Machine’ Cathode poisoning prevention routine
- Programmable RGB tube lighting – select YOUR favourite colour palette
- 729 colours possible. Have a different colour or your choosing every hour, or autochanging colours. Your choice
- Not AC frequency dependent – works in all countries
- All user preferences stored to non-volatile memory
Nixie Clock Kit ' Maestro’
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1.2 SAFETY
DANGER: The clock pcb includes a switched-mode voltage booster circuit. This generates nominally 170 Volts DC. Assembly may only be undertaken by individuals who are suitably qualified and experienced in electronics assembly, and are familiar with safe procedures for working with high voltages. If in doubt, refer to a suitably qualified engineer before proceeding.
The voltages generated by this circuit can give a potentially
LETHAL ELECTRIC SHOCK.
DISCLAIMER: This product is supplied as a kit of parts, intended only for suitably qualified electronic engineers, who are suitably qualified and experienced in electronics assembly, and are familiar with safe procedures for working with high voltages. The supplier, his agents or associates accept no liability for any damage, injury or death arising from the use of this kit of parts.
This is not a finished product, and the person assembling the kit is responsible for ensuring that the finished product complies with any applicable local regulations governing electrical equipment, eg. UL, CE,
VDE.
Nixie Clock Kit ' Maestro’
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2. TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT REQUIRED
2.1 Tools required to assemble the PCB.
The following tools will be required to assemble the PCB:
- Soldering iron with a small tip (1-2 mm).
- Wire cutters to trim the excess component leads after soldering.
(TIP: A small pair of nail clippers works very well for this function).
- Wire strippers (TIP: A small pair of scissors is quite suitable).
- Multimeter for voltage tests and for identifying the resistors.
2.2 Materials you will need.
Solder – lead / tin solder is highly recommended. USE LEAD/ TIN
SOLDER!
.
Lead free solder, as now required to be used in commercial products in
Europe, has a much higher melting point and can be very hard to work with.
Desoldering wick (braid) can be useful if you accidentally create solder bridges between adjacent solder joints.
Nixie Clock Kit ' Maestro’
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3. LIST OF COMPONENTS
Part Description
Piezo Sounder
220uF capacitor
Vertical 3.5mm jack socket
Vertical 2.1mm power socket
0.1F Capacitor
Vertical push switch
5mm Yellow LED
3mm Orange LED
500mA Fuse
Circuit Designation
LS1
CAP3, CAP5
GPS / RFT
J1
CAP2
SET, ADJ, ALARM, DST
P1, P2, P3
P4, P5, P6, P7
F
QTY
1
2
1
1
1
4
3
4
1
It is recommended that the kit is checked against the list above, to ensure all parts are present before commencing assembly. Don’t be alarmed if there are some extra components, as some component bags are shared between different kit types.
Please note the fuse will look like the picture below. It can easily be confused for a capacitor. It is a self-resetting fuse.
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4. ASSEMBLY OF THE PCB
Assemble the components onto the front and rear of the PCB as shown in the images below. Please note:
1. The longer lead of the LEDs is the '+' lead. this goes into the hole marked '+' or the hole with the white circle around it.
2. The electrolytic capacitors are polarised. The side of the capacitor with the lighter band marked '-' goes next to the cross-hatched marking on the PCB.
3. CAP2, the time backup capacitor, needs to be placed flat against the
PCB. Use a small length of trimmed lead from another component to extend one lead so that it can be place flat. Also note the arrows on the
PCB match the arrows on the part.
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5. POWER SUPPLY
You will need to provide a suitable regulated power supply:
- 500mA or more current capability
- 12V DC
- 5.5mm plug, with 2.1mm inner, centre positive.
A suitable power supply for USA, Canada, Japan and Australia is available in our web store:
Nixie Clock Kit ' Maestro’
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6. HOW TO OPERATE THE CLOCK
The four buttons have the following functions:
SET: Exit tube test routine on cold power-up;
Show date;
Set time and date;
Enter configuration menu;
ADJ: Adjust: time, date, alarm time, configuration parameters;
ALARM: Set alarm time; snooze; cancel snooze/alarm;
DST: Toggle between DST and Standard Time (+/- 1 Hour)
Enter colour setup menu; scroll through colour / time options
Entering configuration mode:
The principal settings of the clock are stored in flash memory – your preferred configuration is stored even after powering off the clock for extended periods. To access the configuration mode press and hold the
‘SET’ button. After 2 seconds the seconds will become highlighted.
Continue holding the button a further 2 seconds until the clock displays in this format:
00-XX-99 . The ‘99’ in the seconds digits tells you that you are in the configuration menu.
In configuration mode the hours digits diplay the current parameter being adjusted, and the minutes digits display the current value stored against the parameter.
For each parameter, and referring to the table below, scroll through the range of possible values by pressing the ‘ADJ’ button. When the desired value has been reached, move on to the next parameter by pressing the
‘SET’ button. When the last parameter has been set, pressing ‘SET’ one more time will revert the clock back to time display mode. The first parameter (0) cannot be changed as it is the software revision number.
It will show for several seconds and then move to parameter 1.
In all correspondence on support issues, please quote the board type, revision date and software version.
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Parameter
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Description
Software revision
12 / 24 Hr mode
Date format
Leading zero blanking eg. 01:54:32
Night Mode start hour
Night Mode end hour
Values
10 = version 1.0, 11 = version 1.1 etc
0 – 12 Hr (default)
1 – 24 Hr
0 = MM.DD.YY (default)
1 = DD.MM.YY
2 = YY.MM.DD (from V1.1 onwards)
0 – leading zero blanked (default)
1 – leading zero displayed
0 - 23
0 - 23
Night Mode 0 – Tubes off
1 – Dimmed display (default)
Master Blank start hour
1
0 - 23
8 Master Blank end hour
1
0 - 23
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
Master Blank days
1
Colon neons mode
0 – Off (default)
1 – Weekdays
2 - Weekends
3 – All days
0 – AM/PM Indication, flashing
1 – AM/PM Indication, illuminated
2 – Both flash (default)
3 – Both illuminated
4 – Both off
Colon neons during night dimmed mode
2
0 – AM/PM Indication, flashing
1 – AM/PM Indication, illuminated
2 – Both flash
3 – Both illuminated (default)
4 – Both off
Radio time signal source 0 – No Radio Time source (default)
3
1 – DCF
2 – not used
GPS Baud rate
3 – MSF
4 - GPS
0 – 4.8 Kbps (default)
1 – 9.6 Kbps
2 – 19.2 Kbps
3 – 38.4 Kbps
Radio time offset hours 0-13 (default 0)
4
Radio time offset mins 0-45 (default 0)
4
Radio time offset polarity
Reserved – leave as 0
Snooze period
0 - Minus time (default)
1 – Plus time
0
0 – 6 minutes (default)
1 – 9 minutes
2 – 12 minutes
Reserved – leave as 0
3 – 15 minutes
0
Time Calibration Factor 0 - 99 (each unit adjusts by 0.2s per day)
Time Calibration Polarity 0 - Make clock slower
1 - Make clock faster
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22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
Slots Mode
5
RFT Sync Mode
6
RFT Daily Sync Hour
RFT Seek Blanking
0 – Slots disabled
1 – Slots every minute
2 - Slots every 10 minutes (default)
3 - Slots every hour
4 – Slots at midnight
0 – DCF / MSF Sync once per day only as per parameter 24 (default)
1 – DCF / MSF Sync every hour
0 – 23 (default 2)
0 – Keep tubes lit for DCF / MSF seek
1 – Blank tubes for DCF / MSF seek
Display Mode
(default)
0 – standard change of digits
1 – fading digits
2 – fading digits with scrollback effect
(default)
Auto date display each minute
Night Mode Override minutes
0 – Off
1 - Static display of date
2– Scrolling display of date (default)
7
0 – 50 (default 0 gives 15 seconds override)
8
Restore default settings 0 – Keep user settings
1 – Restore original default settings
9
Notes:
1. Master Blanking Mode has priority over Night Mode. Use to disable the clock on weekends (eg clock is in office), or during office hours (eg clock is at home). Complete
HV shutdown to save power and tube life.
2. Night time neons mode is active when night mode is set to dim. During night time blanking the tubes AND neons are disabled.
3. Clock is fully functional without DCF / MSF / GPS synchronisation. Set time manually.
4. Enter your time zone offset from the synchronisation source. Note that GPS transmits
UTC.
5. Visual effect / cathode poisoning prevention – all digits on all tubes are cycled for 10 seconds. This setting overrides night blanking or dimming for the duration of the effect
(10 seconds).
6. DCF / MSF synchronisation takes place on the hour. If no valid frame is received in 6 minutes, the clock reverts to normal operation.
7. Date will be displayed each minute between 50 and 55 seconds past the minute.
8. Press ‘SET’ briefly during Night Mode to show time for prescribed period.
9. Set this parameter to ‘1’ to restore original default settings. Internal operations will then load all the original settings and restore the value to ‘0’
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Setting the Time and Date:
Before setting the time, press 'DST' briefly to toggle between DST and standard time modes. Set according to whether you are currently in DST time or not.
From time display mode, press and hold ‘SET’ button for 2 seconds until the seconds digits are highlighted.
Press the ‘ADJ’ button to reset seconds to zero.
Briefly Press ‘SET’ again and the hours will be highlighted
Press the ‘ADJ’ button to set the minutes.
Briefly Press ‘SET’ again and the hours will be highlighted.
Press the ‘ADJ’ button to set the hours.
Proceed in this fashion to set the calendar: Year, Month and Day.
Finally, briefly Press ‘SET’ again to revert to normal clock operation.
Showing Date:
From time display mode, briefly press ‘SET’ button. Date will be shown for 5 seconds, then revert to time display.
Auto Date Display:
Setting parameter (27) to 1 or 2 will enable auto display of date between
50 and 55 seconds past each minute.
Night Blanking Override:
During programmed night blanking, the blanking may be overridden to see the time by briefly pressing the ‘SET’ button. Tubes will remain lit for the period defined in parameter (28).
Manual RFT Call:
In DCF / MSF modes, pressing ‘ADJ’ briefly during time display will initiate a manual time seek for maximum 6 minutes, or until a valid time frame is received.
Setting Alarm:
Press the ‘ALARM’ Button. The seconds digits show the on / off status of the alarm: 00 (off) or 01 (on).
Set on / off status, then minutes followed by hours by using the ‘ALARM’ and ‘ADJ’ buttons. When set, the alarm LED will also light.
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Cancelling Alarm:
Press ‘ALARM’ briefly to cancel alarm and enter snooze mode, or a longer press until the clock bleeps, to cancel snooze. Alarm remains set for the next day.
Rapid DST Adjustment
Press ‘DST’ briefly to toggle between DST and standard time. The indicator shows whether DST mode is active or not. If time has been synchronised from DCF or MSF sources, this light will be set or cleared automatically. It can still be manually overridden, however the system will re-set the DST status again at the next valid time sync.
Note, that GPS time data does not contain DST information, so the DST status will need to be set manually in GPS sync mode as well as manual time-set mode.
Calibration of Timekeeping Accuracy
Over time you may observe the clock runs faster or slower than an accurate time standard. You can finely adjust the timekeeping by setting configuration parameters 20 and 21. We recommend to precisely set the clock against a known accurate clock, and then record the time drift in seconds after 5 full days (120 hours). Program this value into parameter
20.
Set parameter 21 to 0 to slow down the clock and to 1 to speed up the clock.
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7. CONFIGURING THE RGB LED TUBE LIGHTS
The clock features a separate and dedicated setup menu for the
RGB LED lights, accessed from the ‘DST’ button. All settings are stored to non-volatile memory, so your favourite colours will still be there after even a long power off.
You can set fixed colours and intensities, or program an auto colour cycling effect at your choice of speed.
7.1 Entering RGB LED menu
Press and hold the ‘DST’ button until the display shows: 00: 0:00.
The first minutes tube will not be lit.
• For each hour (0-23), you can set a custom colour.
• Each custom colour can have your choice of RED , GREEN and BLUE values from 0 (colour off) to 8 (maximum brightness).
• Mix the colours using the SET , ADJ , ALARM buttons.
• Use low values (1,2 and 3) for low brightness, eg. For night time
• Set the value to ‘0’ for that colour to be off.
• Once you are happy with the colour for that hour, press ‘DST’ to move to the next hour.
• Have fun playing with your favourite colours and intensities!
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• Colours are displayed live during RGB menu:
• In the example above, between 8 and 9 hours, the LEDs will be purple (8 red, 0 green and 8 blue).
• In the example below, between 19 and 20 hours, the LEDs will be blue with a hint of green ( 0 red, 2 green and 8 blue).
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7.2 Setting auto colour cycling
Setting colour RED to value 9 has a special meaning:
This will enable auto colour cycling for the specified hour. The speed of the cycling will then be governed by the GREEN value:
0 = very slow change
9 = very fast change
This auto colour cycling mode is explained in the picture below:
Red = 9, therefore Auto Colour Cycling is enabled for 12-13 hours.
Green = 3, so speed is 3.
Blue value has no effect.
Note: The colours do not cycle live during Auto Colour Cycling setup. The cycling starts only during normal time and date display.
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8. USING A RADIO FREQUENCY TIME RECEIVER OR GPS
RECEIVER
The clock can automatically synchronise time from DCF (Europe), and MSF (UK) long wave time transmitters.
The clock can also receive time from a GPS receiver that transmits information using NMEA-0183 protocol, using the $GPRMC sentence.
8.1 Configuring for RFT or GPS Synchronisation.
• Set parameter 12:
1: DCF
2: unused
3: MSF
4: GPS
• If using GPS, set the baud rate in parameter (13)
• Set parameters 14 and 15 for the hours and minutes your time zone is offset from the synchronisation source. This is usually only whole hours. Examples: o UK is 1 hour offset from the time transmitted by the DCF transmitter o France has no offset from the time transmitted by the DCF transmitter
• Set parameter (16) to identify whether the offset is minus (0) or positive (1) of the time source.
• Set parameter (23) to select between hourly seek and daily seek in DCF / MSF modes.
• If you have selected daily seek, use parameter (24) to set the time of the daily seek in DCF / MSF modes.
• If you intend to place the RFT receiver module closer to the clock PCB than 6 ft / 2 metres, the clock will need to disable HV and switch off the tubes for time seek, otherwise the switchmode power supply will prevent reception. Select blanking during time seek by setting parameter (25) to 1.
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8.2 Connecting a Radio Time receiver
The clock has been designed for, and tested with our Radio
Frequency Time (RFT) Receiver Modules. (available separately from
PV Electronics).
DCF Module: For receiving time signals from transmitter at
Frankfurt, Germany. Reception is possible within a 2000Km radius of Frankfurt.
MSF Module: For receiving time signals from the transmitter at
Anthorn, UK. Reception is possible within the UK, Eire, Northern
France, and Norway.
Please note:
1. The long wave signals propagate further at night, so the clock is configured by default to synchronize at 2am.
2. Suitable Power Supplies: If using a switching power supply, it must have an earth connection. Cheap Chinese switching adapters cause too much interference and will not work. Alternatively use an old-fashioned transformer type AC to DC adapter.
3. The time signals are intended that a receiving clock may collect time data intermittently. The signal strength and fidelity is not like a 'TV Signal', where one can get a perfect signal any time at will.
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8.3 Setting Up for First Reception.
1. Ensure the correct setting has been applied to Config 12:
1 = DCF
3 = MSF
2. For the first tests, ensure Config 25 is set to value 1, to make the HV converter switch off for synchronisation. This stops any noise created by the HV converter.
3. Set Config 14 - 17 for your location's time zone offset from the transmitter.
4. Connect the receiver, and place horizontally by a window, broadside on to the transmitter as far as is possible.
5. Wait until after dark, and preferable the early hours.
6. Command a manual seek, by pressing the middle 'Adj' button.
The tubes should switch off. The LED on the receiver module will now not be affected by the HV converter, and after 15-30 seconds start to flash regularly, showing the one pulse per second data from the transmitter.
If your Module's red LED does not start to flash regularly, go back and check 1-6. of this section. If the red LED does not flash regularly, you will not get synchronisation!
7. At the start of the minute, the clock should start collecting data, and if so it will start flashing the RFT LED rapidly. Look for any LED activity at the start of the minute, using a known time source as the reference.
8. After 60 seconds of gathering data, the clock will illuminate the
RFT LED, set the time and switch the tubes back on.
9. Once the system has been seen to work correctly, you can experiment with the antenna in different locations, and it may be possible to have the tubes stay on for time synchonisation.
10. Many other electrical applicances such as TVs and mobile phones reception when in close proximity. Metal objects cause reception problems too Place and design your case so the antenna is as far away from the PCB as possible.
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8.4 Connecting a GPS receiver
The clock has been designed for, and tested with our Micro GPS
Receiver (available separately from PV Electronics)
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8.5 Function of the GPS / RFT indicator LED (P2):
• No Radio Synchronisation source installed (parameter (12) = 0)
LED is permanently off
• RFT or GPS Synchronisation enabled (parameter (12) = 1-4)
The LED will be ON if the clock has synchronised in the last two hours; slowly flashing if the last synchronisation was between 2 hours and 24 hours ago; and off if the last synchronisation is older than 24 hours.
• If DCF or MSF mode is selected, the indicator will flash rapidly whilst the clock is actually receiving and processing a valid time frame.
• Additionally, the indicator will flash very briefly each second whilst seeking a RFT frame.
The function of the RFT indicator LED may be summarised in the table below:
Radio Time
Source
None
DCF / MSF
GPS
Sync <
2 Hrs
Off
On
On
Sync >2 Hrs
Sync < 24
Hrs
Off
Slow Flash
Slow Flash
Sync > 24
Hrs
Off
Off
Off
Seeking
RFT Frame
-
Intermittent
Flash
-
Aquiring
RFT
Frame
-
Fast Flash
-
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Key features
- Hours, minutes, and seconds display
- Customizable date display
- Alarm functionality
- Programmable RGB tube lighting
- Time synchronization via DCF/MSF radio signals or GPS
- Supercapacitor backup for power outages
- Five programmable neon colon settings