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A dual plasma display for around us$6..!
Helmut-Singer is a surplus shop, right?
That plasma panel needs a pretty complicated drive system. It does not have enough pins for a simple drive system.
The
ABG-12205 is the complete unit, display and driver that accepts 0-5V DC inputs. That's really what we want; however H-S doesn't have any (that I can find). PartMiner.com lists it, but needs an account to see prices and real availability, and $100 minimum. Google didn't turn up any other sources, so it probably isn't distributed or in-stock anywhere a DIY-er can buy 1 or 2.
"The ABG-12205 consists of a 5 phase dual linear plasma bar graph display, driver circuitry and an interface circuit. A DC/DC converter is also included to develop the necessary panel voltage."
"The display operates on the patented principle known as ?glow transfer?. The display has 201 cathode elements per column, of which the first element in each column is a ?reset? cathode. The remaining cathodes are connected in 5 phases where every 5th cathode is connected. The columns are scanned from the bottom to top by pulsing the reset cathode low, followed by sequentially pulsing each phase low until the top cathode is reached, at which time a new scan is started at the reset cathode. The anodes are energized starting at the time the reset code is energized until the desired display height is reached, at which time the anode is turned off for the balance of the scan time. The cathodes are refreshed at a 70 Hz rate so the scan appears to be flicker free."
Patented? It sounds to me like the 1950s neon-lamp ring-counter. Wire ten neon lamps, resistors and caps the right way, bop a common connection, and the glow jumps from one lamp to the next. You can see this in movies and pictures of 1950s lab gear, typically as a row of 6 to 10 circles with 10 numbered lamps per circle.
This scheme seems to break the ring and expand it to 200 lamps. Except I think each 5 lamps work in 5-phase to step the glow up the bar. When it hits the desired point, you stop driving it but a keep-alive electrode holds the glow. For "real time" display, you repeat the cycle 70 times a second so the updates are faster than the eye (and don't flicker-beat against 50/60Hz room lights).