What's a Green Neon Lamp?

[Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun]

I found some replacement lamps for the neon lamps that are in the HP
power supplies that I got off Ebay. They're distributed by Linrose,
the company that has those lousy LED displays at Fry's. I bought a
regular red neon for $3 something, but the green neon is about $5, and
obviously it's not neon because neon is red. So what gas is used in
those green ones? It has a green crystal on the front, but I don't
think the lamp itself is anything other than green because the light
shining thru the white translucent barrel behind the crystal is green.

I wonder how long the new lamps will hold up. Maybe a few tens of
thousands of hours? I wonder if the green is any longer or shorter
than the regular neon lamps? Hmmm.

Any ideas? Thanks.

For a look, scroll down to the 115V lamps at this URL
http://www.action-electronics.com/linrose.htm

--
@@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@h@e@r@e@@
###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS? Check HERE First:###
http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/electronics/databank.htm
My email address is whitelisted. *All* email sent to it
goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the
Subject: line with other stuff. alondra101 <at> hotmail.com
Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers. Go to the URL
that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
http://www.everybookstore.com You'll be glad you did!
Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't
changed it: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
@@t@h@e@@a@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@m@e@e@t@@t@h@e@@E@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@

 

[Garrett Mace]

"Watson A.Name - Watt Sun, Dark Remover" <alondra101@hotmail.com> wrote in
message news:MPG.1a75cf5230e4f007989b5a@news.dslextreme.com...

I found some replacement lamps for the neon lamps that are in the HP
power supplies that I got off Ebay. They're distributed by Linrose,
the company that has those lousy LED displays at Fry's. I bought a
regular red neon for $3 something, but the green neon is about $5, and
obviously it's not neon because neon is red. So what gas is used in
those green ones? It has a green crystal on the front, but I don't
think the lamp itself is anything other than green because the light
shining thru the white translucent barrel behind the crystal is green.

I wonder how long the new lamps will hold up. Maybe a few tens of
thousands of hours? I wonder if the green is any longer or shorter
than the regular neon lamps? Hmmm.

Any ideas? Thanks.

For a look, scroll down to the 115V lamps at this URL
http://www.action-electronics.com/linrose.htm

Possibly argon/mercury, or xenon/neon with green phosphor on the inside of
the bulb (since you say the bulb is white translucent, not clear, my vote is
for the latter). No idea on longevity.

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 11:27:14 -0800, the renowned Watson A.Name - "Watt
Sun, Dark Remover" <alondra101@hotmail.com> wrote:

I found some replacement lamps for the neon lamps that are in the HP
power supplies that I got off Ebay. They're distributed by Linrose,
the company that has those lousy LED displays at Fry's. I bought a
regular red neon for $3 something, but the green neon is about $5, and
obviously it's not neon because neon is red. So what gas is used in
those green ones? It has a green crystal on the front, but I don't
think the lamp itself is anything other than green because the light
shining thru the white translucent barrel behind the crystal is green.

They use phosphor inside the tube, the gas itself probably glows UV.

I wonder how long the new lamps will hold up. Maybe a few tens of
thousands of hours? I wonder if the green is any longer or shorter
than the regular neon lamps? Hmmm.

Any ideas? Thanks.

For a look, scroll down to the 115V lamps at this URL
http://www.action-electronics.com/linrose.htm

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

 

[Garrett Mace]

Possibly argon/mercury, or xenon/neon with green phosphor on the inside of
the bulb (since you say the bulb is white translucent, not clear, my vote
is
for the latter). No idea on longevity.

Eh...nevermind it's probably got phosphor inside either way. In any case I'm
just Googling for you.

 

[Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun]

In article <3wWOb.42780$LW.35791@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com>,
g.ryan@macetech.com mentioned...

Possibly argon/mercury, or xenon/neon with green phosphor on the inside of
the bulb (since you say the bulb is white translucent, not clear, my vote
is
for the latter). No idea on longevity.


Eh...nevermind it's probably got phosphor inside either way. In any case I'm
just Googling for you.

Thanks. I should have said that the sleeve that holds the lamp and
resistor is translucent. I can't see the lamp itself because the
sleeve is sealed, but the red lamp sleeves that I sawed apart to
install the LEDs in had a regular NE-2 and a 30k resistor. I really
like the blue LED ones, only problem is that I have to run new wiring
to the filter cap in the power supply. If you use an ultrabright
illumination grade LED, keep the current down to just milliamp or so.


--
@@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@h@e@r@e@@
###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS? Check HERE First:###
http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/electronics/databank.htm
My email address is whitelisted. *All* email sent to it
goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the
Subject: line with other stuff. alondra101 <at> hotmail.com
Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers. Go to the URL
that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
http://www.everybookstore.com You'll be glad you did!
Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't
changed it: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
@@t@h@e@@a@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@m@e@e@t@@t@h@e@@E@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@

 

[Kevin McMurtrie]

In article <MPG.1a75d80adfbaad33989b5e@news.dslextreme.com>,
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, Dark Remover" <alondra101@hotmail.com>
wrote:

In article <3wWOb.42780$LW.35791@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com>,
g.ryan@macetech.com mentioned...

Possibly argon/mercury, or xenon/neon with green phosphor on the inside of
the bulb (since you say the bulb is white translucent, not clear, my vote
is
for the latter). No idea on longevity.


Eh...nevermind it's probably got phosphor inside either way. In any case I'm
just Googling for you.

Thanks. I should have said that the sleeve that holds the lamp and
resistor is translucent. I can't see the lamp itself because the
sleeve is sealed, but the red lamp sleeves that I sawed apart to
install the LEDs in had a regular NE-2 and a 30k resistor. I really
like the blue LED ones, only problem is that I have to run new wiring
to the filter cap in the power supply. If you use an ultrabright
illumination grade LED, keep the current down to just milliamp or so.

Sony used these in their old linear sequence tuner modules for
Trinitrons and Betamaxes. They are phosphor based.

 

[Don Klipstein]

In article <MPG.1a75cf5230e4f007989b5a@news.dslextreme.com>, Watson
A.Name - "Watt Sun, Dark Remover" wrote:

I found some replacement lamps for the neon lamps that are in the HP
power supplies that I got off Ebay. They're distributed by Linrose,
the company that has those lousy LED displays at Fry's. I bought a
regular red neon for $3 something, but the green neon is about $5, and
obviously it's not neon because neon is red. So what gas is used in
those green ones?

Most green neon lamps have a mixture of neon and xenon, mostly neon.
But most of the radiation is of xenon wavelengths, mainly the 147 nm very
short wave ultraviolet line that is best obtained with low xenon pressure.
The bulb is coated on the inside with a phosphor that fluoresces green
from shortwave UV.

The mini green neon lamps in Radio Shack's green neon "cartridges" have
a neon-krypton mixture rather than a neon-xenon mixture.

- Don Klipstein (don@misty.com, http://www.misty.com/~don/oddbulb.html)

 

[Myron Samila]

"Watson A.Name - Watt Sun, Dark Remover" <alondra101@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1a75cf5230e4f007989b5a@news.dslextreme.com...

I found some replacement lamps for the neon lamps that are in the HP
power supplies that I got off Ebay. They're distributed by Linrose,
the company that has those lousy LED displays at Fry's. I bought a
regular red neon for $3 something, but the green neon is about $5, and
obviously it's not neon because neon is red. So what gas is used in
those green ones? It has a green crystal on the front, but I don't
think the lamp itself is anything other than green because the light
shining thru the white translucent barrel behind the crystal is green.

I have used neon lamps enclosed in such a barrel, with different coloured lenses.

In fact, some neon lamps come enlosed in a complete "green" barrel. I used them to
indicate that there is a potential between phase and ground (on power distribution panels
for powering amplifier racks and such). I'd use red neons to indicate potential between
phases (208V)

Check these out:

http://www.shokaifareast.com/Products/Lamps/neon.htm


http://www.rpelectronics.com/Default.asp?Main=/English/OnlineCat.asp?Menu=/English/Content/Categories/CatM_43.asp%26Detail=/English/Content/Divisions/Div_43_150.asp

(sorry for the long link, cut and paste it I guess if it doesn't come out in your
newsreader.)

--
Myron Samila
Toronto, ON Canada
Samila Racing
http://204.101.251.229/myronx19

I wonder how long the new lamps will hold up. Maybe a few tens of
thousands of hours? I wonder if the green is any longer or shorter
than the regular neon lamps? Hmmm.

Any ideas? Thanks.

For a look, scroll down to the 115V lamps at this URL
http://www.action-electronics.com/linrose.htm

--
@@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@h@e@r@e@@
###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS? Check HERE First:###
http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/electronics/databank.htm
My email address is whitelisted. *All* email sent to it
goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the
Subject: line with other stuff. alondra101 <at> hotmail.com
Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers. Go to the URL
that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
http://www.everybookstore.com You'll be glad you did!
Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't
changed it: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
@@t@h@e@@a@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@m@e@e@t@@t@h@e@@E@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@

 

[Oppie]

The ones I've seen in pilot lamps are NE-2 style envelopes but are filled
instead with an argon mixture that glows blue and emits UV. the inside of
the tube is coated with a green phosphor.
Lumex is one manufacturer that comes to mind
http://www.lumex.com/pls/lumex/subproduct_galary?iproduct_id=1000656

Oppie
--
For valid response address, remove the '1' following oppie
_________________
"Watson A.Name - Watt Sun, Dark Remover" <alondra101@hotmail.com> wrote in
message news:MPG.1a75cf5230e4f007989b5a@news.dslextreme.com...
| I found some replacement lamps for the neon lamps that are in the HP
| power supplies that I got off Ebay. They're distributed by Linrose,
| the company that has those lousy LED displays at Fry's. I bought a
| regular red neon for $3 something, but the green neon is about $5, and
| obviously it's not neon because neon is red. So what gas is used in
| those green ones? It has a green crystal on the front, but I don't
| think the lamp itself is anything other than green because the light
| shining thru the white translucent barrel behind the crystal is green.
|
| I wonder how long the new lamps will hold up. Maybe a few tens of
| thousands of hours? I wonder if the green is any longer or shorter
| than the regular neon lamps? Hmmm.
|
| Any ideas? Thanks.
|
| For a look, scroll down to the 115V lamps at this URL
| http://www.action-electronics.com/linrose.htm
|
| --
| @@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@h@e@r@e@@
| ###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS? Check HERE First:###
| http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/electronics/databank.htm
| My email address is whitelisted. *All* email sent to it
| goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the
| Subject: line with other stuff. alondra101 <at> hotmail.com
| Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers. Go to the URL
| that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
| http://www.everybookstore.com You'll be glad you did!
| Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't
| changed it: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
| @@t@h@e@@a@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@m@e@e@t@@t@h@e@@E@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@

 

[Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun]

In article <slrnc0orcs.l3v.don@manx.misty.com>, don@manx.misty.com
mentioned...

In article <MPG.1a75cf5230e4f007989b5a@news.dslextreme.com>, Watson
A.Name - "Watt Sun, Dark Remover" wrote:

I found some replacement lamps for the neon lamps that are in the HP
power supplies that I got off Ebay. They're distributed by Linrose,
the company that has those lousy LED displays at Fry's. I bought a
regular red neon for $3 something, but the green neon is about $5, and
obviously it's not neon because neon is red. So what gas is used in
those green ones?

Most green neon lamps have a mixture of neon and xenon, mostly neon.
But most of the radiation is of xenon wavelengths, mainly the 147 nm very
short wave ultraviolet line that is best obtained with low xenon pressure.
The bulb is coated on the inside with a phosphor that fluoresces green
from shortwave UV.

The mini green neon lamps in Radio Shack's green neon "cartridges" have
a neon-krypton mixture rather than a neon-xenon mixture.

- Don Klipstein (don@misty.com, http://www.misty.com/~don/oddbulb.html)

Wow, thanks, Don. I went over to a local electronics store and asked
the guy at the counter if he had any NE-2 neon lamps. He went down
the aisle, and pulled out a box, and turned it upside down, and said
sorry, nothing in stock. Then he said, but there's some neon lamps
down there, in a big pile of stuff. I sorted thru handfuls of neon
lamps, most of them having a 100k resistor, and found some without, so
bought a half dozen of them.

I got home and pulled the power supply apart and unsoldered the old
one and installed one of the ones I bought. Turned it on, and
nothing. No light. So I said, I wonder of the others work? I got
out a suicide cord and a 47k resistor and alli clipped another one of
the ones I just bought and plugged it in. Nothing! Same for the
other four! I measured across them with the DMM and the full 116 or
so VAC was across each! And they didn't glow at all. Cheese! I got
screwed! They're all DOA! So I had to unsolder the one in the PS and
I scrounged up an old NE-2 from the junkbox and installed it in the
PS. I didn't notice if the crap on the shelves was marked AS-IS, so I
can't take it back for exchange. Dirty rats! What little I know
about statistics tells me that it is statistically improbable that I
could pull 5 or 6 of those out of a pile of good ones and get all bad
ones, in other words it is statistically probable that all or most of
them in the pile are bad.

Ya know, this is Deja Vu all over again. I've bought stuff in that
store before and had bought bad parts, one would think that I would've
learned my lesson by now. The crap is bad! Don't buy it! But no, I
did it again. I seldom go to that store, so I guess I've developed an
aversion to it. After you've stuck your hand in the fire, you kind of
develop an aversion to getting burned again. But no, I got burned
again. Oh, well. Maybe I'll go to Radio Scrap, where at least I can
take it back if it's bad.

--
@@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@h@e@r@e@@
###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS? Check HERE First:###
http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/electronics/databank.htm
My email address is whitelisted. *All* email sent to it
goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the
Subject: line with other stuff. alondra101 <at> hotmail.com
Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers. Go to the URL
that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
http://www.everybookstore.com You'll be glad you did!
Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't
changed it: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
@@t@h@e@@a@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@m@e@e@t@@t@h@e@@E@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@

 

[Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun]

In article <jH%Ob.4938$rW5.215879@news20.bellglobal.com>,
myronx19@no.spam.sympatico.ca mentioned...

"Watson A.Name - Watt Sun, Dark Remover" <alondra101@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1a75cf5230e4f007989b5a@news.dslextreme.com...
I found some replacement lamps for the neon lamps that are in the HP
power supplies that I got off Ebay. They're distributed by Linrose,
the company that has those lousy LED displays at Fry's. I bought a
regular red neon for $3 something, but the green neon is about $5, and
obviously it's not neon because neon is red. So what gas is used in
those green ones? It has a green crystal on the front, but I don't
think the lamp itself is anything other than green because the light
shining thru the white translucent barrel behind the crystal is green.

I have used neon lamps enclosed in such a barrel, with different coloured lenses.

In fact, some neon lamps come enlosed in a complete "green" barrel. I used them to
indicate that there is a potential between phase and ground (on power distribution panels
for powering amplifier racks and such). I'd use red neons to indicate potential between
phases (208V)

Check these out:

http://www.shokaifareast.com/Products/Lamps/neon.htm

Hey! You da man! Came thru with not one, but two URLs. The one
above says 'Tell us what you need.' Well, I'll tell you what I need.
I need an indicator lamp that lasts as long as the rest of the
equipment that it's in, and runs off a hundred or so volts. And draws
ony a few hundred microamps. The problem is that these old PSes were
designed before LEDs were commonly available, so adapting the circuit
to use LEDs is _not_ easily done. The voltage is too high and the
current is too low. So I guess the best and most sensible thing to do
is just replace them with another NE-2 and hope it lasts another five
or more years. The old NE-2s that I'm taking out have turned almost
completely dark, and barely glow or don't glow at all. I guess that's
because they're on all the time, even when the equipment is turned
off. So a few years from now they'll have tens of thousands of hours
on them.

Thanks.

http://www.rpelectronics.com/Default.asp?Main=/English/OnlineCat.asp?Menu=/English/Content/Categories/CatM_43.asp%26Detail=/English/Content/Divisions/Div_43_150.asp

(sorry for the long link, cut and paste it I guess if it doesn't come out in your
newsreader.)

--
@@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@h@e@r@e@@
###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS? Check HERE First:###
http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/electronics/databank.htm
My email address is whitelisted. *All* email sent to it
goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the
Subject: line with other stuff. alondra101 <at> hotmail.com
Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers. Go to the URL
that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
http://www.everybookstore.com You'll be glad you did!
Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't
changed it: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
@@t@h@e@@a@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@m@e@e@t@@t@h@e@@E@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@

 

[Mark J.]

In news:MPG.1a767abb5210b607989b5f@news.dslextreme.com (Watson A.Name -
Watt Sun, Dark Remover):

In article <slrnc0orcs.l3v.don@manx.misty.com>, don@manx.misty.com
mentioned...
In article <MPG.1a75cf5230e4f007989b5a@news.dslextreme.com>, Watson
A.Name - "Watt Sun, Dark Remover" wrote:

I found some replacement lamps for the neon lamps that are in the HP
power supplies that I got off Ebay. They're distributed by Linrose,
the company that has those lousy LED displays at Fry's. I bought a
regular red neon for $3 something, but the green neon is about $5, and
obviously it's not neon because neon is red. So what gas is used in
those green ones?

Most green neon lamps have a mixture of neon and xenon, mostly neon.
But most of the radiation is of xenon wavelengths, mainly the 147 nm
very short wave ultraviolet line that is best obtained with low xenon
pressure. The bulb is coated on the inside with a phosphor that
fluoresces green from shortwave UV.

The mini green neon lamps in Radio Shack's green neon "cartridges"
have a neon-krypton mixture rather than a neon-xenon mixture.

- Don Klipstein (don@misty.com,
http://www.misty.com/~don/oddbulb.html)

Wow, thanks, Don. I went over to a local electronics store and asked
the guy at the counter if he had any NE-2 neon lamps. He went down
the aisle, and pulled out a box, and turned it upside down, and said
sorry, nothing in stock. Then he said, but there's some neon lamps
down there, in a big pile of stuff. I sorted thru handfuls of neon
lamps, most of them having a 100k resistor, and found some without, so
bought a half dozen of them.

I got home and pulled the power supply apart and unsoldered the old
one and installed one of the ones I bought. Turned it on, and
nothing. No light. So I said, I wonder of the others work? I got
out a suicide cord and a 47k resistor and alli clipped another one of
the ones I just bought and plugged it in. Nothing! Same for the
other four! I measured across them with the DMM and the full 116 or
so VAC was across each! And they didn't glow at all. Cheese! I got
screwed! They're all DOA! So I had to unsolder the one in the PS and
I scrounged up an old NE-2 from the junkbox and installed it in the
PS. I didn't notice if the crap on the shelves was marked AS-IS, so I
can't take it back for exchange. Dirty rats! What little I know
about statistics tells me that it is statistically improbable that I
could pull 5 or 6 of those out of a pile of good ones and get all bad
ones, in other words it is statistically probable that all or most of
them in the pile are bad.

Ya know, this is Deja Vu all over again. I've bought stuff in that
store before and had bought bad parts, one would think that I would've
learned my lesson by now. The crap is bad! Don't buy it! But no, I
did it again. I seldom go to that store, so I guess I've developed an
aversion to it. After you've stuck your hand in the fire, you kind of
develop an aversion to getting burned again. But no, I got burned
again. Oh, well. Maybe I'll go to Radio Scrap, where at least I can
take it back if it's bad.

I'm sure this doesn't apply to NE-2 lamps, but in hard-sealed He-Ne laser
tubes, after a while the helium passivates right though the glass, and the
tube ceases to function because there is not enough helium inside to
initiate light amplification.

The "quick fix" is to suspend the "old" tube in a bath of helium gas, and
the molecules will slowly migrate back thorough the glass and the tube will
start working again.

Perhaps in these tubes, an element has migrated right through the glass,
rendering them useless?

 

[Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun]

In article <75mdnU8DN8i3d5Hd4p2dnA@buckeye-express.com>, "Mark J."
<127.0.0.1> mentioned...

In news:MPG.1a767abb5210b607989b5f@news.dslextreme.com (Watson A.Name -
Watt Sun, Dark Remover):
In article <slrnc0orcs.l3v.don@manx.misty.com>, don@manx.misty.com
mentioned...
In article <MPG.1a75cf5230e4f007989b5a@news.dslextreme.com>, Watson
A.Name - "Watt Sun, Dark Remover" wrote:

I found some replacement lamps for the neon lamps that are in the HP
power supplies that I got off Ebay. They're distributed by Linrose,
the company that has those lousy LED displays at Fry's. I bought a
regular red neon for $3 something, but the green neon is about $5, and
obviously it's not neon because neon is red. So what gas is used in
those green ones?

Most green neon lamps have a mixture of neon and xenon, mostly neon.
But most of the radiation is of xenon wavelengths, mainly the 147 nm
very short wave ultraviolet line that is best obtained with low xenon
pressure. The bulb is coated on the inside with a phosphor that
fluoresces green from shortwave UV.

The mini green neon lamps in Radio Shack's green neon "cartridges"
have a neon-krypton mixture rather than a neon-xenon mixture.

- Don Klipstein (don@misty.com,
http://www.misty.com/~don/oddbulb.html)

Wow, thanks, Don. I went over to a local electronics store and asked
the guy at the counter if he had any NE-2 neon lamps. He went down
the aisle, and pulled out a box, and turned it upside down, and said
sorry, nothing in stock. Then he said, but there's some neon lamps
down there, in a big pile of stuff. I sorted thru handfuls of neon
lamps, most of them having a 100k resistor, and found some without, so
bought a half dozen of them.

I got home and pulled the power supply apart and unsoldered the old
one and installed one of the ones I bought. Turned it on, and
nothing. No light. So I said, I wonder of the others work? I got
out a suicide cord and a 47k resistor and alli clipped another one of
the ones I just bought and plugged it in. Nothing! Same for the
other four! I measured across them with the DMM and the full 116 or
so VAC was across each! And they didn't glow at all. Cheese! I got
screwed! They're all DOA! So I had to unsolder the one in the PS and
I scrounged up an old NE-2 from the junkbox and installed it in the
PS. I didn't notice if the crap on the shelves was marked AS-IS, so I
can't take it back for exchange. Dirty rats! What little I know
about statistics tells me that it is statistically improbable that I
could pull 5 or 6 of those out of a pile of good ones and get all bad
ones, in other words it is statistically probable that all or most of
them in the pile are bad.

Ya know, this is Deja Vu all over again. I've bought stuff in that
store before and had bought bad parts, one would think that I would've
learned my lesson by now. The crap is bad! Don't buy it! But no, I
did it again. I seldom go to that store, so I guess I've developed an
aversion to it. After you've stuck your hand in the fire, you kind of
develop an aversion to getting burned again. But no, I got burned
again. Oh, well. Maybe I'll go to Radio Scrap, where at least I can
take it back if it's bad.


I'm sure this doesn't apply to NE-2 lamps, but in hard-sealed He-Ne laser
tubes, after a while the helium passivates right though the glass, and the
tube ceases to function because there is not enough helium inside to
initiate light amplification.

The "quick fix" is to suspend the "old" tube in a bath of helium gas, and
the molecules will slowly migrate back thorough the glass and the tube will
start working again.

Well, two things. If it took years to get out od the glass, it will
take years to get back in, no? And if He gets out of a sealed glass
tube, what do you put it in that won't leak? I know for certain that
a balloon will let the He out in less than a day, so I'd say maybe a
half inch thick steel container? That's how it comes at the student
activities dept on our campus, where they throw a lot of parties and
inflate hundreds of balloons every few weeks. Man, it scares me to go
into that place, 'cause the helium tank is just standing there, and if
it fell over and the brass valve on top got broken off, it would jet
itself right thru the walls!

Perhaps in these tubes, an element has migrated right through the glass,
rendering them useless?

Well, there's no helium. But I've read that there's a small amount
of radioactive material in there to help start the breakdown at a low
voltage. If that poops out after a few dozen years, then the lamp
would breakdown at a much higher voltage. But the really old NE-2s I
pulled out of the junk box and hooked up worked fine after a few dozen
years!

--
@@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@h@e@r@e@@
###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS? Check HERE First:###
http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/electronics/databank.htm
My email address is whitelisted. *All* email sent to it
goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the
Subject: line with other stuff. alondra101 <at> hotmail.com
Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers. Go to the URL
that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
http://www.everybookstore.com You'll be glad you did!
Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't
changed it: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
@@t@h@e@@a@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@m@e@e@t@@t@h@e@@E@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in alt.binaries.schematics.electronic that Mark J.
<127.0.0.1@?.?> wrote (in <75mdnU8DN8i3d5Hd4p2dnA@buckeye-express.com&gt
about 'What's a Green Neon Lamp?', on Tue, 20 Jan 2004:

I'm sure this doesn't apply to NE-2 lamps, but in hard-sealed He-Ne laser
tubes, after a while the helium passivates

diffuses

right though the glass, and the
tube ceases to function because there is not enough helium inside to
initiate light amplification.

[snip]

Perhaps in these tubes, an element has migrated right through the glass,
rendering them useless?

They may have a striking voltage higher than 120 V. I'd want to try them
from a 250 V supply with a 220 kohm series resistor.
--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only. http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk
Interested in professional sound reinforcement and distribution? Then go to
http://www.isce.org.uk
PLEASE do NOT copy news posts to me by E-MAIL!

 

[Kevin McMurtrie]

In article <75mdnU8DN8i3d5Hd4p2dnA@buckeye-express.com>,
"Mark J." <127.0.0.1> wrote:

In news:MPG.1a767abb5210b607989b5f@news.dslextreme.com (Watson A.Name -
Watt Sun, Dark Remover):
In article <slrnc0orcs.l3v.don@manx.misty.com>, don@manx.misty.com
mentioned...
In article <MPG.1a75cf5230e4f007989b5a@news.dslextreme.com>, Watson
A.Name - "Watt Sun, Dark Remover" wrote:

I found some replacement lamps for the neon lamps that are in the HP
power supplies that I got off Ebay. They're distributed by Linrose,
the company that has those lousy LED displays at Fry's. I bought a
regular red neon for $3 something, but the green neon is about $5, and
obviously it's not neon because neon is red. So what gas is used in
those green ones?

Most green neon lamps have a mixture of neon and xenon, mostly neon.
But most of the radiation is of xenon wavelengths, mainly the 147 nm
very short wave ultraviolet line that is best obtained with low xenon
pressure. The bulb is coated on the inside with a phosphor that
fluoresces green from shortwave UV.

The mini green neon lamps in Radio Shack's green neon "cartridges"
have a neon-krypton mixture rather than a neon-xenon mixture.

- Don Klipstein (don@misty.com,
http://www.misty.com/~don/oddbulb.html)

Wow, thanks, Don. I went over to a local electronics store and asked
the guy at the counter if he had any NE-2 neon lamps. He went down
the aisle, and pulled out a box, and turned it upside down, and said
sorry, nothing in stock. Then he said, but there's some neon lamps
down there, in a big pile of stuff. I sorted thru handfuls of neon
lamps, most of them having a 100k resistor, and found some without, so
bought a half dozen of them.

I got home and pulled the power supply apart and unsoldered the old
one and installed one of the ones I bought. Turned it on, and
nothing. No light. So I said, I wonder of the others work? I got
out a suicide cord and a 47k resistor and alli clipped another one of
the ones I just bought and plugged it in. Nothing! Same for the
other four! I measured across them with the DMM and the full 116 or
so VAC was across each! And they didn't glow at all. Cheese! I got
screwed! They're all DOA! So I had to unsolder the one in the PS and
I scrounged up an old NE-2 from the junkbox and installed it in the
PS. I didn't notice if the crap on the shelves was marked AS-IS, so I
can't take it back for exchange. Dirty rats! What little I know
about statistics tells me that it is statistically improbable that I
could pull 5 or 6 of those out of a pile of good ones and get all bad
ones, in other words it is statistically probable that all or most of
them in the pile are bad.

Ya know, this is Deja Vu all over again. I've bought stuff in that
store before and had bought bad parts, one would think that I would've
learned my lesson by now. The crap is bad! Don't buy it! But no, I
did it again. I seldom go to that store, so I guess I've developed an
aversion to it. After you've stuck your hand in the fire, you kind of
develop an aversion to getting burned again. But no, I got burned
again. Oh, well. Maybe I'll go to Radio Scrap, where at least I can
take it back if it's bad.


I'm sure this doesn't apply to NE-2 lamps, but in hard-sealed He-Ne laser
tubes, after a while the helium passivates right though the glass, and the
tube ceases to function because there is not enough helium inside to
initiate light amplification.

The "quick fix" is to suspend the "old" tube in a bath of helium gas, and
the molecules will slowly migrate back thorough the glass and the tube will
start working again.

Perhaps in these tubes, an element has migrated right through the glass,
rendering them useless?

Many cheap HeNe lamps don't survive for even 6 months. That's why piles
of them end up in surplus stores for $0.02 each.

 

[Dave T.]

what purpose do they serve in the tuner? ive allways seen them there and
wondered.

"Kevin McMurtrie" <mcmurtri@dslextreme.com> wrote in message
news:mcmurtri-63C674.16331319012004@corp-radius.supernews.com...

In article <MPG.1a75d80adfbaad33989b5e@news.dslextreme.com>,
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, Dark Remover" <alondra101@hotmail.com
wrote:

In article <3wWOb.42780$LW.35791@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com>,
g.ryan@macetech.com mentioned...

Possibly argon/mercury, or xenon/neon with green phosphor on the
inside of
the bulb (since you say the bulb is white translucent, not clear, my
vote
is
for the latter). No idea on longevity.


Eh...nevermind it's probably got phosphor inside either way. In any
case I'm
just Googling for you.

Thanks. I should have said that the sleeve that holds the lamp and
resistor is translucent. I can't see the lamp itself because the
sleeve is sealed, but the red lamp sleeves that I sawed apart to
install the LEDs in had a regular NE-2 and a 30k resistor. I really
like the blue LED ones, only problem is that I have to run new wiring
to the filter cap in the power supply. If you use an ultrabright
illumination grade LED, keep the current down to just milliamp or so.

Sony used these in their old linear sequence tuner modules for
Trinitrons and Betamaxes. They are phosphor based.

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in alt.binaries.schematics.electronic that Watson A. Name - Watt
Sun, Dark Remover <alondra101@hotmail.com> wrote (in <MPG.1a767ed8e785fc
d1989b60@news.dslextreme.com&gt about 'What's a Green Neon Lamp?', on
Mon, 19 Jan 2004:

So I guess the best and most sensible thing to do
is just replace them with another NE-2 and hope it lasts another five
or more years.

Yes.

The old NE-2s that I'm taking out have turned almost
completely dark, and barely glow or don't glow at all.

You can increase the life by increasing the series resistance. The value
used originally is often set to 'get a nice bright light' rather than to
get long life and you may be able to go to double the value and still
get a stable discharge. If you get flickering, the resistance is too
big.
--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only. http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk
Interested in professional sound reinforcement and distribution? Then go to
http://www.isce.org.uk
PLEASE do NOT copy news posts to me by E-MAIL!

 

[Robert Baer]

"Watson A.Name - Watt Sun, Dark Remover" wrote:

I found some replacement lamps for the neon lamps that are in the HP
power supplies that I got off Ebay. They're distributed by Linrose,
the company that has those lousy LED displays at Fry's. I bought a
regular red neon for $3 something, but the green neon is about $5, and
obviously it's not neon because neon is red. So what gas is used in
those green ones? It has a green crystal on the front, but I don't
think the lamp itself is anything other than green because the light
shining thru the white translucent barrel behind the crystal is green.

I wonder how long the new lamps will hold up. Maybe a few tens of
thousands of hours? I wonder if the green is any longer or shorter
than the regular neon lamps? Hmmm.

Any ideas? Thanks.

For a look, scroll down to the 115V lamps at this URL
http://www.action-electronics.com/linrose.htm

You are incorrect on the "obviously".

There *ARE* green neon bulbs, and they are called neon because they
use neon; no other gas.
The "magic" is the fact that the inner part of the glass envelope is
coated with...
....phosphor!

 

[Robert Baer]

Garrett Mace wrote:

"Watson A.Name - Watt Sun, Dark Remover" <alondra101@hotmail.com> wrote in
message news:MPG.1a75cf5230e4f007989b5a@news.dslextreme.com...
I found some replacement lamps for the neon lamps that are in the HP
power supplies that I got off Ebay. They're distributed by Linrose,
the company that has those lousy LED displays at Fry's. I bought a
regular red neon for $3 something, but the green neon is about $5, and
obviously it's not neon because neon is red. So what gas is used in
those green ones? It has a green crystal on the front, but I don't
think the lamp itself is anything other than green because the light
shining thru the white translucent barrel behind the crystal is green.

I wonder how long the new lamps will hold up. Maybe a few tens of
thousands of hours? I wonder if the green is any longer or shorter
than the regular neon lamps? Hmmm.

Any ideas? Thanks.

For a look, scroll down to the 115V lamps at this URL
http://www.action-electronics.com/linrose.htm

Possibly argon/mercury, or xenon/neon with green phosphor on the inside of
the bulb (since you say the bulb is white translucent, not clear, my vote is
for the latter). No idea on longevity.

You are incorrect.
There *ARE* green neon bulbs, and they are called neon because they
use neon; no other gas.
The "magic" is the fact that the inner part of the glass envelope is
coated with...
....phosphor!

 

[Robert Baer]

Spehro Pefhany wrote:

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 11:27:14 -0800, the renowned Watson A.Name - "Watt
Sun, Dark Remover" <alondra101@hotmail.com> wrote:

I found some replacement lamps for the neon lamps that are in the HP
power supplies that I got off Ebay. They're distributed by Linrose,
the company that has those lousy LED displays at Fry's. I bought a
regular red neon for $3 something, but the green neon is about $5, and
obviously it's not neon because neon is red. So what gas is used in
those green ones? It has a green crystal on the front, but I don't
think the lamp itself is anything other than green because the light
shining thru the white translucent barrel behind the crystal is green.

They use phosphor inside the tube, the gas itself probably glows UV.

I wonder how long the new lamps will hold up. Maybe a few tens of
thousands of hours? I wonder if the green is any longer or shorter
than the regular neon lamps? Hmmm.

Any ideas? Thanks.

For a look, scroll down to the 115V lamps at this URL
http://www.action-electronics.com/linrose.htm

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

No UV in the neon glow; the phosphor does the conversion.