What is a "Lixie" Display?

Lixie is an open, modern take on the Nixie Tube, that is available for $32 on Tindie!

https://www.tindie.com/products/conno...

Lixie is an edge-lit acrylic display for any numeric information you can think of! Clocks, temperature displays, hit counters, and more. Always being a fan of the beautiful typography of a Nixie Tube, the Lixie is a modern spin!

How does it work?

Lixie works by shining light through the edge of a clear acrylic. When the light hits an engraving or edge, it scatters in a different direction, and lands in your eye! This allows the flat surfaces of the acrylic to stay clear, and have only edges light up! Now put ten pieces in a stack, each marked with a different number 0-9, and you can show each number individually, on a clear surface!

What can it do?

Lixie is based on WS2812B LEDs, (or "Neopixels" Adafruit calls them) meaning it can display the following in any color:

Date / Time
Temperature / Humidity
Website Views
Youtube Views
Tindie Sales
Or any number in any Arduino Project!
How do I use it?

Unlike the Nixie Tubes the Lixie is based on, setup and use is EXTREMELY easy. Just connect the 5V & GND pins to your Arduino's, and connect the "DIN" pin to any of your digital pins. From there, it's just a matter of including the Lixie library and simple functions!

Lixie is designed as a WS2812B strip, meaning you can chain as many of these together as your power supply can handle! There are 20 LEDS on each board, but when used normally only two will be on at a given time.

The library also does all the work pushing each digit of an integer out to it's own display, so that if you have 4 Lixies, calling lix.write(314) will show " 314" or "0314" on them!

OPEN EVERYTHING

From Day 1, Lixie has been Open Source Hardware and software. Officially recognized by OSHWA, (UID: US000054) all hardware designs and software code has been made available for anyone who wants to study it's design and put me out of business! ;)

What makes Lixie different?

Low Voltage

While traditional Nixie Tube displays took a dangerous 170V power supply, Lixie runs on only 5 volts making it safe for children, pets, and new hobbyists! Connector.

Self Driving

Lixie is based on WS2812B LEDs, which means that they don’t need any specialized drivers – just a microcontroller! Connector.

Chainable

You can simply connect one digit to the next, and drive them all with the Lixie Arduino library!

Who is the Lixie for?

Lixie was designed to be easy for makers of any experience level to use. While not the cheapest at $38, it's still cheaper than any Nixie Tube of the same size, and a thousand times cooler than a lame-ass 7-segment display!