NIXLER Is an Arduino-Compatible, Fully-Customizable Nixie Tube Clock

There are a myriad of projects that engineers and makers have created over the years that have utilized Nixie tubes in one form or another, and electrical engineering student Tor Kaufmann Gjerde’s NIXLER clock is no less impressive.

“Back in the days before LEDs were invented, Nixie tubes were used in scientific and military electronic equipment to display numbers and letters," Gjerde explains. "The goal of this project is to combine modern circuitry, electronics, and manufacturing methods together with the old tube-tech in order to create a sleek looking, highly customizable clock/display.”

Gjerde designed the NIXLER around an ESP32 microcontroller, four IN-12 tubes, and a temperature and pressure sensor. Beyond that, it features RGB LED backlighting, an RTC chip, an FT230x USB-to-UART, a USB-C port (for power and programming), and an onboard battery backup for the RTC. A pair of buttons allow users to cycle the time (12/24h), date (month, day, and year), temperature, and pressure, as well as function as a timer.

The NIXLER is completely open source, developed with the DIY community in mind, and has included the USB-to-UART chip to make the clock easy to program using the Arduino IDE. Of course, it also comes with standard clock code pre-loaded for those who want the basic functions.

Those interested in picking up a NIXLER for themselves should head over to Kickstarter, where pledges start at $199 for kit form — this includes a driver board, case/frame, power cable, and a set of four Nixie tubes.