In , zzz wrote,
edited by me for space:

On Sat, 24 Apr 2010 20:10:54 -0500, The Daring Dufas
wrote:

wrote:
On Sat, 24 Apr 2010 11:57:29 -0400, Peter wrote:

SNIP to here to edit for space

I was able to pull off the rotating shade, unscrew the bulb socket,
pull it out about 2", and observe a 1" glass bulb that looks almost
like a neon bulb with an opaque mercury-like metallic coating on the
inside of the glass bulb. There are 2 wires coming out of the base
of this little bulb, 1 connected to the black, and the other to the
white power wires that enter the base of the socket. Perhaps this is
the hard-wired starter? There are no markings on it at all. I
reattached the bulb, plugged in the fixture, and turn it on while
observing the little glass bulb. Nothing at all; no glow, no sparks,
no "tink" "tink" "tink".
What do I replace it with?
Try an NE2 bulb? That's what used to be in the old starters.

ERRRRRRR! Wrong! I would suggest you find an old florescent starter
and take it apart, carefully break the glass off the silvered bulb
and you will find a heat activated bi-metal switch. A little searching
of The Interweb will help you learn how it works.

Most starters were neon.

http://home.howstuffworks.com/question337.htm

"The most common fluorescent starter is called a "glow tube starter"
(or just starter) and contains a small gas (neon, etc.) filled tube
and an optional radio frequency interference (RFI) suppression capacitor
in a cylindrical aluminum can with a 2 pin base."

I have looked at the color of glow produced by many of those. My
experience as of the late 1970's was that few produced a neon-like color,
and that those appeared to me less-modern-than-usual as of then. I have
also seen the glow from the starters built into PL-13 CFLs.

My experience is that most starters produce a lavendar glow of a color
close to usual for argon, only a little more whitish.

===================

As much as you appear to me to hate fluorescent lamps, I suspect you
might be interested in a characteristic that some starters have. I
thought that maybe you would have mentioned this by now. Some fluorescent
lamp starters are cranky about starting in complete darkness! Some of
those starters are cranky about starting without assistance from the
photoelectric effect.

One solution was to add Kr-85 to the gas (or gas mixture) in the
starter bulb. But radioactivity got to be politically incorrect. I also
see that many aluminum can style starters have a hole in the center of the
top of the aluminum can. I wonder if that is to allow one to see whether
the starter glows, or to let light into the starter.

--
- Don Klipstein )