Here is another eBay find that I thought was worth sharing. This is a Wamco alphanumeric minitron display. It is similar to a numitron in that it is also an incandescent filament display but the packaging is significantly different. I believe these devices were primarily used in aviation because of their resilience but I’m having troubles backing up that belief with hard data.
Driving this device is easy – there is one common pin and the remainder of the pins correspond to a different segment in the display. I was powering these with 3V but for those curious, the full data sheet for the KW series in PDF format.
Video and photos after the break.
Have you ever seen this site before?
http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/tubepage.php?item=17
Oh yes, I’ve spent many hours at decadecounter.com
I got my start in “Ham” radio when I was 14 and the all the elmers showed me things like Nixie Tubes and the like. It was like magic to me then. Have to say I love your posts and going to try and get this post and your Edge Lit Display post up on the blog too.
Glad you like the posts – I try and share cool things as I find them on ebay or elsewhere. I blame my interest in this stuff on Mike: http://electricstuff.co.uk/