Lixie is a Nixie tube alternative
Nixie tubes are beautiful pieces of display hardware that are no longer in production, and are becoming harder and harder to find. They also generally require relatively high DC voltages to operate, making them difficult and potentially dangerous. Connor Nishijima, however, has come up with an alternative called the Lixie.
Using a series of etched acrylic panes to reflect the light from WS2812Bs, the Lixie can show numbers 0-9 in the style of a Nixie tube. Since the LEDs are RGB, different colors can be selected as desired.
The Lixie has extremely simple setup, just connect the 5V, GND, and DIN pads to an Arduino and use the Lixie library to write a digit to the display! That’s it! No HV switching, PCB footprint, or worries! Since the Lixie is just wired like a WS2812B strip, you can connect the DOUT pin of one to the next and show a number as long you’d like!
Want to build your own? Check out the “modernized Nixie tube,” including its latest revisions and software updates, on Hackaday.io.
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