On 2008-08-18, Joseph Gwinn wrote:
In article ,
"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

[ ... ]

O.K. Also, I think that if they are being run brighter, they
keep from flickering longer. I've got an old surge protector box with
rocker switches with Neon lamps and they have all given up by now. It
does not matter really in this case, but they are all dark, and
difficult to access and replace. :-)

I think that the harder one drives a neon bulb, the sooner it wears out.

Well ... the sooner the envelope will darken with deposited
electrode vapor. But I think that it keeps the actual light behind the
darkening pretty constant.

A neon will flicker if it doesn't have enough current to cause the
plasma sheath to fully cover the smaller electrode, but that's a
different problem.

And the required current seems to increase over time.

The simpler explanation is that someone replaced the pilot light when
the original got annoying.

Certainly possible -- especially if the pilot is easy to get to.


[ ... ]

"On the dole" -- are you in the UK by any chance? Or from
there?

Neither. But I like their turn of phrase.

O.K. I can understand that.

Is Boston close enough?

If you're in the Irish part, sure. They would say that. :-)

Well, the wife is Irish. Close enough?

That will do, I think. :-)

Mine is French-Canadian, so I don't have that excuse. :-)

[ ... ]

O.K. Perhaps just a 12V fan and a wall wart to power it? :-)

Seems clunky. Not clear that it needs a fan either.

O.K. I just hope that the lifetime of the controller is not
shortened.

That was my worry too. On my first attempt, the controller sat at just
under 50 degrees C, which meets the datasheet max temp spec (50C), but
is asking for trouble. After the fixup effort, the controller sits at
36 C, which is far more comfortable. This with no fan.

O.K. At that temperature, never mind. :-)

Enjoy,
DoN.

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