Z573M Nixie Tube and Arduino Counter
Nixie tubes are awesome. Nixie tubes are the LEDs of the past. They were used in devices such as calculators. The inside of the tube is filled with gas, usually neon. To ignite the neon you need a high voltage, usually 150VDC or more. I plan on making a nixie clock. I've had these tubes for a while but have not had the time to play around with them. I really wanted to see the nixie in action, so I made a counter with the supplies I had on hand.
I will run through the devices and what they do, starting from the power source.
Power Source: The AC outlet is hooked to a transformer that outputs 12VDC. I chose 12VDC supply because it's perfect for driving the high voltage power supply (HVPSU) as well as the Arduino. There is a potentiometer in the schematic which I used to drop the voltage down to 5V. This is because the 74141 and its inputs are powered by 5V. Each common ground in the picture is connected to the 12VDC ground.
High Voltage Power Supply: This was purchased from All Spectrum Electronics. The input comes from the 12VDC and the output connects to the anode of the Z573M. WARNING: HIGH VOLTAGES ARE DANGEROUS AND CAN HURT/KILL YOU. If you don't know what you're doing, find someone who does before playing with high voltages.
Schematic for Z573M Nixie Tube Arduino Counter
Arduino Nano: This is where the binary count comes from. In the program I made a simple function called output which would output the number given to specific ports on the Arduino. You can view the code here.
2N2222A: The Arduino Nano outputs do not have sufficient power to drive the 74141 inputs. To make the outputs of the Arduino actually do something I had to hook them up to transistors. Each transistor is set up as a switch. There is 5V going into the collector of each transistor. When there is current going through the base it will turn on the transistor. Each base is hooked up to the outputs of the Arduino. The emitter is connected both to a 1kΩ resistor and the input on the 74141. The 1kΩ resistor is called a pulldown resistor. The pulldown resistor is used because the 74141 can not have a floating voltage. This way, when the transistor is off, the input on the 74141 will be coming from ground, which is 0V. When the transistor is turned on, the 5V will go from the collector to the emitter. The remaining voltage of 4.3 (~0.7V drop over the base of the transistor) at the emitter will be dropped over both the pulldown resistor and the input of the 74141.
74141: This IC allows you to input a number in binary format. You input the number in Binary Coded Decimal (BCD) format and it outputs in decimal format. The IC is designed to drive HV nixie tubes which have decimal cathodes. I will explain how this works a little bit more. We have 147V going into the nixie tube anode. Current flows from the anode to the cathode. Each cathode of the nixie tube connects to a pin on the 74141. Remember, you need a difference in voltage potential through a device for current to flow. So for example, when we want the number zero to display on the nixie tube, the only pin we want to have a voltage difference at is pin zero. That is why, as you can see in the datasheet, when an output is ON, it's at ~3V, all other outputs are at ~70V. Therefore the only pin with a large enough voltage drop to ignite the neon is the number zero.
Z573M: The cathodes are k0 through k9. These are all hooked to the 74141. The anode is hooked to the HVPSU through a current limiting resistor of 10KΩ. In the datasheet you can see there is a pin for IC and dp. The dp pin turns on the decimal point which is to the bottom right of the number. The IC visually does the same as dp. I'm not sure if there is any other purpose for it.
Datasheets: 74141
How to get your website listed under major search engines: Part I
Do you want your website to be on the first page of Google? Me too. The first step is to get your website submitted to the search engine(s) you want your website to appear on. Some of these "submission URLs" can be found easily while others are difficult. Here are the submission URLs for a few major search engines: Google - Bing!
There is no guarantee that after one submission your page will show up. I check the search engine every few days. If my website does not appear when using the domain name in the search (i.e www.msilverman.me) then I will resubmit the URL.
Now that you have your website indexed you want to increase your ranking. Of course you will attract more visitors being on the first page of Google rather than the tenth. There are many factors that contribute to your ranking.
Is it helpful to have your website linked to from other websites. For example, I'm currently working on Mark's Boxes Now. Now when Google searches my website it will see a link to Mark's Boxes Now. This will give Mark's Boxes Now a few points.
Another contributing factor are meta-tags. Meta-Tags are keywords. When a search engine crawls your website it will look for Meta-Tags. For Mark's Boxes Now I used the meta keywords: moving boxes, massachusetts, westborough, move, mover, moving supplies, book box, apartment move, packing supplies. You also want to include a Meta Description: moving boxes delivered within 24 hours! everything you need for moving! You can view your website's tags and others using this free Meta Tag Analyzer.
Google Webmaster Tools Dashboard shows a summary of your website.
Google Webmaster Tools is a great free service worth checking out. With Google Webmaster Tools you are able to view your website through the eyes of a search engine. You can see what users are searching for when they click your website via the "search queries" tool. It will also show you the most commonly used keywords on your website. As you can see, "boxes" is currently the most commonly used word on my website. That is a result of this post and all of the tags along with it. This is something which I will change because "boxes" aren't really what my site is about. It is important that you ensure that your sitemap is listed in the "site configuration." If not, you can submit it. The sitemap helps Google to index your website. I have my RSS Feed acting as my sitemap.
Another interesting statistic that you can see is what Google calls an impression. To view this, click on "Your site on the web" and then "search queries."
"Search Queries" page shows extended information on how users are accessing your website.
At this page you can see useful information such as what queries have led to people clicking your website. Impressions are the number of times someone accesses a search page with your website listed. For example, someone typed in mobileme alternative and my website showed up. The avg position is 40 so it probably wasn't listed until a few pages in, lets say page 3. Now if you scroll through onto page 3, my link will show up. Whether or not you click on my link it will count as an impression.
Stream PC Music to iPhone Over Any Network With Simplify Music
Simplify Media was recently featured in Gizmodo's Essential iPhone Apps: Fall Edition 2009.
This wonderful application allows you to stream your entire music library over the EDGE, 3G or WIFI network.
No need to upload your tracks anywhere! Download the desktop client (Mac & PC compatible) and you will be set up within minutes. You can share your iTunes library, a music folder, Winamp library and even specific playlists. You can also invite up to 30 other Simplify Media users to access your shared library for free.
The iPhone client, Simplify Music 2, cost $5.99 and can be purchased through the app store.
I tested the software in my backyard today as well as traveling on the highway in my car. It's awesome being able to access my 50GB+ library on my iPhone. Never again will I sit in dissapointment thinking "I wish I could hear that song right now, I have it on my PC at home." The sound quality is great and the few second buffer keeps it playing without any interrupts. Definitely worth the money!
Free Alternative to MobileMe: Sync Calendar, Contacts and Files
Google and SugarSync. They will be be our "cloud in the sky."
If you don't already have a Gmail account, Sign Up for one. You will not have to use the account for e-mail. We need it for it's calendar and contact features.
You can use all or parts if this article. Just want calendar synced? Just follow the Calendar part.
On the computer:
Email: .Keeping e-mail in sync between all of your devices is easy with the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP). The other commonly used protocol is POP3. POP3 downloads each message locally which is an advantage in case of outages and archival purposes. However we want synchronization. IMAP is great because all the messages are stored and retrieved from the server when requested. If you use a web based email provider then IMAP is already set up although it may need to be enabled in the settings. If you don't, check with your e-mail provider for IMAP settings. When you create an account in Outlook you have the option to select POP3 or IMAP as the protocol, choose IMAP.
Contacts: GO Contact Sync is a free open source program that will automatically sync all of your Outlook contacts with Gmail. Download and install the program. It's use is self explanatory. Enter your account information and which Sync option you would like. I have Sync Deletion on. My sync option is set to "Merge Prompt" to prompt me before syncing the modifications.
Note: Although the Contact Sync works functionally the Merge options are a bit confusing. I personally don't use it anymore because Google automatically formats contact names (Last, First) which annoys the formatting on the iPhone.
Calendar: Google Calendar Sync. This program automatically syncs your Outlook calendar with Google.
Hard Drive: SugarSync is a website which provides a free 2GB of online space. Their have a utility for Mac, PC and the iPhone. This allows you to share between computers and the iPhone.
the iPhone:
Email: The account will already be using IMAP if it's web based. If not, set up the account as you normally would and select the IMAP protocol. Or if you already configured Outlook to use IMAP, sync the iPhone e-mail accounts with your computer.
Calendar and Contacts: Google has a great guide on setting up the iPhone for Calendar and Contacts Sync.
Note: The phone defaults to show you all of your contacts. That includes ones already on your iPhone, so you may be seeing double. You want to make sure you are using and modifying the Exchange contacts.
When viewing contacts, click the Groups button in the top left corner. You will see your Exchange account listed and select Contacts. Now any adding you do will be synced with your computer.
Hard Drive: Download SugarSync from the appstore.
DIY 500 bottle wine cellar for $1000
My dad is a fan of wine. For his 51st birthday (20 at heart) I built him a wine cellar in our basement.
There are a few things you want to consider when building a wine cellar.
- How many wine bottles do you plan to store?
- Optimally the room should be <65°F. Do you need a unit to heat or cool the room? For this to be possible you must have an unfinished room with no drywall installed. In order to install a cooling unit you need to have a vapor wall. Vapor walls must be installed behind the studs. Alternatively, you could monitor the temperature of a room in your basement to determine if it remains cool enough.
- What type of racks do you want to purchase? There are many ways to showcase and store your wine. You could get the simple grid. You could get a diamond rack. Do you have full boxes you want to store? Do you want a glass rack?
- How will you light the room?
My basement stays at a steady 68-70°F. Some might say this is on the warm side. There are plenty of contradicting opinions on what the ideal temperature is. I'm comfortable saying that as long as the temperature is 70 or below with no major fluctuations the wine should be fine. Humidity was not considered because we can't have a cooling unit anyways.
The racks were purchased from Rosehill Wine Cellars. They sell all kinds of wine racks at an affordable price. All of the racks pictured below came to a total of around $500. The best part was putting them together, with a nail gun. The assembly for all the racks took about 6 hours. We did a couple of unplanned adjustments with the setup which added some time to this. Nail guns are fun. I spoke with a representative from Rosehill over the phone, she was very friendly. They are based in Canada so I was surprised to see the items arrive a few days later. I highly recommend them.
The track light was purchased from a local lighting store. We have three lights which are used for ambient light and two that are more directionally focused. The track light is great because it allows for easy addition, removal or adjustment of the fixtures. The light and motion detector switch was easy to install because there was already a fluorescent light wired to the room.
The pictures are from a local Bed Bath & Beyond. The four on top were sold together the other two were sold singularly.
The glasses and decanter were purchased at Crate & Barrel.
The walls and ceiling were painted with Olympic latex paint.
The leftmost rack actually blocks off about three feet of the room. This is because there are pipes immediately behind the rack. I cut a piece of plywood, painted it black and attached it to the back of the leftmost rack. I really like the way the angle turned out.
The whole project took roughly 30 hours of construction time. The painting was the real chunk of the time. To paint the walls and floor took about 15 hours. Now onto the wine!
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- Hm what could be in this closet?
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- omg wine!
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- Automatic light sensor
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- picture decor
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- pour a glass
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- the versatile tracklight
msilverman.me is up and running!
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Lately I've experimented with designing iPhone applications. I'm currently working on building a Nixie clock. Last month I built my dad a wine cellar for his birthday. Our central vac is broken and I've determined a relay is at fault so I ordered a new one from Digi-Key.
I want to share my experience and insight with you. If I help one person better their understanding of a transistor, or inspire someone to build a wine cellar on a budget, then mission accomplished!
Enjoy.