Warm Tube Clock sat v2

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trax
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Re: Warm Tube Clock sat v2

Post by trax »

Hi,
That is strange. It looks like you didn't solder something properly, or you have damaged your PCB :?
Maybe you did not properly solder the TLC chip? Did you heat it up properly (enough) so that it solders itself to the PCB (the bottom GND pad that is invisible from top)?
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Re: Warm Tube Clock sat v2

Post by hetoosten »

@trax the soldering of the tlc chip, using the iron method, did go very well. And I am confident that the chip is mounted well.

I did however made some bad decisions on the Mainboard. I mixed v1 and v2 up and had to desolder some parts. My guess is that I damaged the pcb.

Fortunately I haven't installed the nixies.
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Re: Warm Tube Clock sat v2

Post by trax »

I am very sorry that I don't have the time or opportunity to create assembly manual for v2. :oops:
I thought that people would open up the project files and assemble by looking at the PCB drawing in Eagle. If you want, you could help with this. Maybe you could take pictures of your own assembly process if you are going to startover with the Main Board?
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Re: Warm Tube Clock sat v2

Post by hetoosten »

No problem. The biggest issue was my own impatience. I think a big help will be to add some files to the download:
http://www.elektronika.ba/misc/warmtube ... n_assy.pdf
http://www.elektronika.ba/forum/downloa ... hp?id=4672
Also a brief instruction how to program the Atmel with avrdude, with a cheap usbasp adapter or Arduino (I think the usbasp option is the easiest).

The good part is that I can take pictures of the building process this time. Something I forgot completely the first time. :lol:

If I find the time I will make some short instructions too.

Due to delivery times and vacation, it will take some weeks before I can start the second round
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Re: Warm Tube Clock sat v2

Post by trax »

Hey, that is great news - you can take pictures of your assembly and I can assemble the document with final instructions. I will use the same document structure as in v1 assembly.

Regarding the avrdude - you have more experience with it than me. I never used it :?

Best regards!
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Re: Warm Tube Clock sat v2

Post by hetoosten »

I will be happy to provide you with pictures. And an instruction for Avrdude.

Could you provide me (somewhere in the next few weeks) the following information?

* what is the purpose of the angled 6 pins header on the front side?
* On the mainpage there are 3 ways explained how the RTC chip could be used. For which way is the provided firmware for the Atmel compiled? It explaines that the second method is the easiest/best, but I think the first method is used?
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Re: Warm Tube Clock sat v2

Post by trax »

Great, thanks!

* 6 pin angled header is used for programming the AVR after it has been inserted in the DIP socket in the main-board. I used this for debugging and development of firmware. You don't need it...

* DS3231/2 RTC is used as described in the first method. You need to solder the SMD jumper on the other side of the PCB. It is marked as SQW/INT. Just put some solder on it and that's it :D
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Re: Warm Tube Clock sat v2

Post by Niall »

Hello Trax,

Sorry for not replying earlier, my work is project based and sometime I am away from home for weeks at a time. Good news is that I have a fr*e day tomorrow, and everything arrived from china while I was away so I will have a go at putting the hex file on the Atmel, soldering in the peizo buzzers and do the high voltage tests.

I have also got the pinout for the IN 18 and can see how to wire it to work with the PCB. Only issue is that the IN18 are much bigger than the IN14's so I have to create a construction (probably a 3rd layer) to accommodate them.

I will be in touch soon with progress. I am delighted to see I am not the only one filling up these pages with questions and Hetoosten's questions and your subsequent replies have been incredibly helpful.
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Re: Warm Tube Clock sat v2

Post by trax »

Hi,

No problem. Let me know when you continue and if anything pops up. You can always document your assembly by taking photos!

It is bad that you are having assembly problems in the first place :?

Best regards!
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Re: Warm Tube Clock sat v2

Post by Niall »

Mixed day, got the 3 Atmega ic's loaded with the wt2.hex file with relative ease. I used the USBasp and burn o mat, which if I understand correctly runs on avrdude. After a bit of messing around, changing the driver, and the usb port I got it successfully loaded.

Then I did the high voltage tests and got 51 volts, 45 volts and 49 volts on the 3 mainboards. So what ever mistake I have made, I have made it on all 3. :?:

I then went ahead and tried the shields. one of them gets 2 or 3 leds to light up. If it's 2, then its the middle 2 and they are white and green, if its 3 then they are all shades of blue, but different, one blue, one a bit purple and one turquoise. It did matter which of the 3 mainboards I attached it to, it worked like this. Not blinking, but solid for about 30 seconds, then a high pitched noise would start and after getting louder over 10 seconds, the leds would go out, the sound would stop and then they would all come on again and stay lit for the next 30 seconds until the noise started again and repeat.

the other shields would not light up.

So I spent 5 hours, checking the solders on the shields that didn't work, replacing some of the leds, even trying to resolder some of the pins on the TLC59401 SMD IC.

Bit frustrating, the feeling of making little progress after the whole day. Next move is probably to strip the two non working shields and re solder everything on again.

I don't mind having the assembly problems, I am learning something. It was my choice to take on a project beyond my skill level :wink:
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Re: Warm Tube Clock sat v2

Post by trax »

Hi,

Hm, if LEDs are not consistent in color then it is either the TLC chip or you did not program the AVR properly. CKDIV8 fuse must be disabled, and CLKOUT mus be enabled. CLKOUT provides the clock signal to the TLC chip.
The voltages are maybe OK since you get relatively the same value on all three boards - it might be the booster feedback resistors that have big ohm tolerance.

The "high pitch" noise is actually normal. It is the test mode for the booster. It slowly starts to generate the high voltage and you might even see that on your multimeter. It starts from 12V up to around 180V.

If only your RGB LEDs showed the same color I would feel confident that it was the time to solder on the Nixie tubes.

Best regards!
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Re: Warm Tube Clock sat v2

Post by Niall »

Hi Trax, Just wanted to say thanks for the reply. As you can guess I have been on work projects for the last month, and may be I see a fr*e day sometime next month to sit down again and do some more nixie building. I'll keep you posted.
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Re: Warm Tube Clock sat v2

Post by kpcjn »

Hi,
I want to build this clock.
I have one question:
Is there any significiant diference between TLC59401 and TLC5940?
Can I replace TLC59401 with TLC5940?
Thanks for reply.
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Re: Warm Tube Clock sat v2

Post by Black »

Mene zanima šta je toliko zanimljiva gradnja ovog sata zašto je tako velika navala?
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Re: Warm Tube Clock sat v2

Post by trax »

Ljudima se jednostavno svidja ovaj sat, zbog svog izgleda i starih Nixie cijevi :)
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Re: Warm Tube Clock sat v2

Post by Black »

Iskreno kada sam postavljao pitanje vidio sam samo sat sa nekim starim žarnim cijevima(moja standarna površnost :( ) . Tek kasnije sam gledao linkove i uvidio da je mnogo zanimljiv, pa mi je i jasnije zašto ga žele izgradit
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Re: Warm Tube Clock sat v2

Post by WhiteHead »

Kada sam 1983 bio u JNA imali smo neke primopredajnike koji su pokazivali frekvenciju s tim cijevima.
Smatrali smo to čudom tehnike, mada su već postojali display-i s tečnim kristalom, a niko od viših oficira nije znao ništa da objasni o tim stvarkama.
Sorry za offtopic-izbriši ovo moje i @black-ovo.
Ako kaniš pobijediti, ne smiješ izgubiti
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Re: Warm Tube Clock sat v2

Post by rvd72 »

I have finished the mainboard for the v2 nixie, but I fear I made a mistake with the header board. Can you confirm if the direction of the TLC chip is right? The dot is on the top left (see image)
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Re: Warm Tube Clock sat v2

Post by rvd72 »

There is a marking dot on the IN-16 pcb on the bottom right. On the IN-14 the was a dot on the top left I read however in a previous message that the dot should be on the lower left on the IN-14 pcb. I am a bit confused now.

Is there a way I can check the correct position of this chip? For example the upper pin next to the dot is GND. Which header pin is also GND?

I only mounted this chip, so I could still change the position if necessarry.
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Re: Warm Tube Clock sat v2

Post by trax »

For IN-14 the direction is correct - as you soldered. The chip is on the bottom PCB side and the marking is near the PCB side - just like you marked with yellow dot.

IN-16 is indeed rotated by 180 degrees with marking closer to the middle of the PCB and chip being on the top of the PCB.

There is an assembly manual for IN-16 that you can check out as well: https://www.elektronika.ba/misc/shield_in-16.pdf

Power it up! :)
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