Make a Nixie Clock | Part 2 | Adding WiFi & Custom Features
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- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
- Welcome to part 2 of a series on building a custom Nixie Clock. It's both a digital and analog clock based on the Arduino MEGA 2560 and Nixie tubes. Nixie Clocks are like the grandfather clocks of the 21st century! I will be sharing all firmware updates, schematics, 3D printed parts in future videos. Stay tuned!
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Additional build photos and resources can be found on my site:
www.buildxyz.xyz/
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The kit used in this video was source from GRA&AFCH:
gra-afch.com/
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It's a shame that with all of the effort and time that goes into assembling the nixie clock kits they don't really give you a substantial discount versus buying a pre-made one. I understand it's a hobby thing but it's hard for me to justify paying the same amount for an extremely complex kit rather than something that's already finished.
Hi! great Project!
I have two questions:
1. is there no need of a level shifter between the esp and the arduino rx/tx lines?
2. what is the purpose of the second 2-pin jumper/pinheader?
Hi! Great Questions!
1) The ATMEGA2560 is a 5V device while the ESP8266 is 3.3V device and I did _not_ use a level shifter. The ESP is 5v tolerant according to Espressif:
facebook.com/groups/1499045113679103/permalink/1731855033731442/?hc_location=ufi
hackaday.com/2016/07/28/ask-hackaday-is-the-esp8266-5v-tolerant/
My clocks have been running for over 6 months without issues.
2) The purpose of the two Jumpers was covered briefly in the video:
- J3 -> Pull GPIO_0 low on boot to put the ESP8266 into programming mode
- J2 -> Checked in the firmware to clear network settings
My schematic is here:
github.com/buildxyz-git/nixiclock_ncs314/blob/master/NixieClock_WiFi_Schematic.png
I hope this helps :)
@@buildxyz Hi! I've build this wireless-module according to your schematics. Everything was tested 3 times. Now, i ran into a Problem: If i connect the esp-01 directly to my usb-uart, the module connects to my wifi and fetches the time correctly.
now i connected the esp-01 with your pcb (via socket), first setup with wifimanager works. the module connects to my wifi and fetches the time. but afterwards the module starts to reconnect to my wifi every 60 seconds.
10:31:16.365 -> ⸮⸮fL⸮L⸮⸮⸮⸮⸮⸮S Connecting to AP
10:32:39.670 -> H!⸮⸮⸮L⸮⸮⸮⸮⸮⸮S Connecting to AP
i double-checked voltage and current (5V ok , min 1A ok)
so, sketch must be ok, module must be ok, i see no error on pcb (was made with your .pcb-file), tested all solderings (ok), tested all resistors (all 10k), tested another pcb (i have 3 of them) - same result
i don't know, what i do/did wrong
It's hard to say without seeing your setup. When you say "connect the esp-01 directly to my usb-uart", are you connecting the ESP directly to a PC with a USB serial cable and viewing the ESP UART output in a terminal program such as Putty or minicom? If your ESP fetches and NTP sync then later fails I'm not quite sure to be honest. This may be an issue with your wireless network or even the ESP board you are using.
@@buildxyz if i connect the esp-01 directly to an usb-uart-debugger (like this one www.tindie.com/products/IOTMCU/esp-01-programmer-debugger/ but capable providing 5V) all works fine.
Instead of soldering the esp directly to "your" pcb i use a socket but i tested, if this causes any issues - no it does not. connecting the 4 pins of the pcb to vcc/gnd/tx and rx the wifi disconnects like described above. i use arduino-ide serial monitor to check the connection. i dont know, if the pullup-resistors are to large? many use only 1K and lower pullup-resistors (read many threads about pullup and esp-01 ;-) )
must be something with the pcb i'm doing wrong.
I soldered four bridges, as i've seen it in NixieClock_WiFi_PCB.png, used 10k resistors and there is afaikno other "magic" with it.
it's a straight forward pcb, so i'm a bit lost
@@buildxyz a little update: maybe you are right that the ESP is the problem. i connected my ESP via jumper-wires to the pcb to get some distance between pcp an the ESp and all problems are gone. something seems to interfere with the ESP-antenna, so it can't connect to my wifi correctly.
You mentioned adding 2 parts of code (the tempertature LED and turning off the tubes at certain times), but never went into detail of either. I don't see any additional code on your website either. Could you provide the code for those 2 additions?
All of my code can be found in the associated GitHub repo which is linked in the description here or my website’s project page. :)
@@buildxyz Thanks for pointing that out. I assumed you were linking to the original code repo.
@@DownandOutNYC ah good point. Maybe I can clarify that in the comments.
Hello. All of this goes waaaay over my head,BUT, I wanted to see if you might be willing to build one for me. Specifically without a cosmetic cover. I would be able to do that. I particularly love the down time feature you're doing during the time you would never need it anyway. Would you be willing to perhaps talk about building one for me?
Hey George, sorry I do not offer any services like that. I’m busy trying to make new stuff!
Hello, which pins do I connect the ESP to the Arduino Mega?
If you refer to the code hosted on GitHub, you will find I am using *Serial1*
github.com/buildxyz-git/nixiclock_ncs314/blob/master/NixieClock_NCS314_Firmware/NixieClock_NCS314_Firmware.ino
The Serial Pinouts can be found here: www.arduino.cc/reference/en/language/functions/communication/serial/