Modding Cathode Throbber

Welcome to the forums, Rezostat, enjoy your stay.

 

Thanks Yo-Duh! I can't remember who said it, but I was told, that I would come for the forums, but stay for the style. I think they are right.

 

Great mod,

I have made up the circuit but only seems to start working after 30 secionds, does it do this on yours? I tried a smaller capacitor and it speeded up the startup but also the wavefore too.

Dan.

 

Just wondering if anyone has tried using this thing to power their neon string inverter, if so how well did it work if at all?

I would try it but i have no neon string

 

Welcome to the forum.
Mine starts immediately. Sure you don't just have it set on a very slow speed setting?

 

Just a few ideas/thoughts
How easy would it be to add to the circuit to be able to control the phase of the second invertor in relation to the first?
Instead of/in addition to VR1 could a thermistor be used to control the rate dependant on temp readings eg flashing faster as case/CPU gets hotter? I have a flat temp probe from an old ASUS mobo lying around, might that work?

 

Well my throbber won't throb

I can control the brightness of the cathodes with V2 and V3 but V1 does nothing, nada, zilch :cries:

I have used strip board where the strips are split into 3 hole sections. here is a schmatic of how I have wired it:



Where am I going wrong?

Also the TIP3055s that I got from Mappers are bigger than the ones you used. They span 5 holes instead os 3 and I had to increase the hole size to 1.5mm. Is that a problem?

Meblin

 

IC1 pin 7 is unconnected, pin 3 should be connected to pin 6. Pins 8 and 9 are unconnected (I am assuming the gaps in the tracks represent breaks). Pin 3 should be connected to the R1/R2 junction.

I will leave checking, there for now.

 

I have ammended the picture. I missed off the links of pins 7, 8, 9 and the link between R1/R2 Pin 6 junction.

I did forget to link pins 3 and 6 and have connected them together and still no joy

Meblin

 

There is a break between R4 and pin 1, and R4 and pin 5 which shouldn't be

 

WOOT WOOT WOOT!!!

Those last two connections did the trick

Just one last question, one of the channels does not get as bright as the other (think it's inverter 1). What is the reason behind this? I have used the same inverter and cathode on both outputs.

Meblin

Now my hard drive is about to kick the buccket :cries:

 

Will R7 decrease the voltage going to inverter 1?

What will hapen if I remove the resistor and replace with a direct link from VR2 ro R6 and pin 12?

Meblin

 

It will probably stop throbbing
The range of VR2 and VR3 should allow adjustment for maximum output on either channel.

Which channel is producing the lower voltage?

 

Well I got my throbber working and here it is in a little case



The controls are very sensitive and the second one that I built does take a while to warm up.

There were a few people interested in getting me to build them one. Email me if you still want one.

Meblin

 

is it possible to have the videos from the article uploaded temporarily to an http source for download, or emailed to me, as I can't get them to work. I have all the latest codecs etc for windows media player

 

Which program did you use to make this PCB negative? I tried Eagle and StripboardMagic, and a few other programs so far, and I couldn't get a negative printed from either of them!

This is very frusturating to say the least!!! could someone PLEASE tell me how to get the damn layout on paper!?!?

 

Ok, just to clear up any confusion. The PCB foil is a positive and should be printed out from a decent paint package that can do accurate resizing such as Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop. The board was designed using Eagle but the image has been saved as a bitmap since most people have a painting program. Positives are used for UV exposure photo sensitive boards.

I assume that since you want a negative you are using thermal transfer etch resist. Again most paint packages, including PSP will produce a negative with a mouse click. Mainy printer drivers also include the option to print as a negative.

Hope this helps.

 

does this shorten the life expectancy of the cold cathode?

 

I can play/download the files OK now, haven't the link urls changed?

Great effect, but some of us are a bit old for disco stuff :cries:

 

Yes they have changed.
You are never too old to get down and party (It's all in the mind )