Recently, I purchased a Nixie clock online and was looking for an alternative method to sync the time of the clock. The method provided by the clock supplier, Gra-Afch, was to use a GPS dongle. However, I did not like an additional dongle sticking out. The clock is powered by an Arduino Mega2560, and I had a hunch that there were alternative boards with internet capabilities somewhere online. Searching on Aliexpress, I found a Mega2560 board with an ESP8226 built into it.

Prerequisites

• Nixie Tubes + Arduino Shield: Gra-Afch
• Mega 2560 + ESP8266 Board: AliExpress
• Arduino Sketch & Libraries: GitHub

Assumptions

• ESP8266 has been flashed with a AT-Command firmware (Make sure you follow the DIP Switch table)
• Arduino IDE installed

Flashing Firmware

After flashing the ESP8266 with an AT-Command firmware we can move on to flash the Mega2560 with the provided sketch. The sketch is based off of afch code.

Step 1: Adding Libraries to Arduino IDE

Additional libraries added are:

• EasyNTPClient: To retrieve the current time from a NTP server.
• WiFiEsp: To allow the Arduino board to connect to internet and serve as a server for incoming local HTTP request. The server is user to switch the nixie tubes on and off.
• The other libraries are provided by Gra-Afch.

Drag and drop the library folders provided with the sketch to Arduino IDE libraries folder.

Libraries folder is located at:

• macOS: /Users/Documents/Arduino/libraries
• Windows: C:\Users\Documents\Arduino\libraries

*Note that I have removed Tone and IRRemote libraries

Step 2: Editing WiFi Credentials & Flashing

• Open NixieClockShield_NCS314.ino with Arduino IDE
• Edit ssid and pass with your WiFi credentials.
• Flash your board with the updated firmware and you’re done!

HTTP Server Details

This firmware also includes a HTTP Server that allows you to switch the nixie tubes on and off remotely.

• On: /H
• Off: /L
• Status: / (Returns 1 when the tubes are On and 0 when its Off)