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On Tuesday, October 20, 2015 at 10:41:16 AM UTC-4, Tom Miller wrote:
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On Monday, October 19, 2015 at 10:04:36 PM UTC-4, Tom Miller wrote:
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On Monday, October 19, 2015 at 2:45:30 PM UTC-4,
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On Monday, October 19, 2015 at 12:53:45 PM UTC-4, Tom Miller wrote:
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On Monday, October 19, 2015 at 9:52:07 AM UTC-4,

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Hi all, I found this thing.. see pictures

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/sxd1cq8qb...LzNAK-Vaa?dl=0
In the back of a drawer at my house. The previous owner was a
pack
rat,
who also worked for the phone company.
It looks like some high voltage flashlight.
What sort of voltage do I apply to the leads?

Thanks,
George H.

As per Boris - yes, it could be a timing light - but definitely a
stop-action device of some sort. I expect that there were other
parts
associated with it - strobe-type timing lights have an induction
trigger
device, usually, as one example. + & -attached to the battery,
and
the
inductor clamped to #1 cylinder spark-plug wire.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

But there is no trigger electrode. It might be Neon. Can you hit
it
with
some high voltage, maybe from a lawn mower spark plug? See what
the
discharge spectrum looks like.

Hmm OK, I could try that.

I'm a little leery of mixing electronics with my lawn mower.
Way back when, a motor wouldn't start, and I convinced myself
it was a spark problem. I couldn't see a spark
after all. I wanted to see how much voltage I was getting so
I hooked up my DMM (though a series resistor), Pulled the
cord to turn over the engine, and promptly blew up my DMM. :^(

George H.

Tom, Sorry I chickened out and didn't put it across any
of my working motors. (The last thing I want is to
blow out the spark drive... I'm not really sure, what I'm saying.
Is it ok to put a dead short across my briggs and stratton?

George H.


Doesn't the spark plug do just that when it fires?
Yeah, I didn't say my fear was rational.
I had a bunch of old engines, I think most were "re-cycled" this
past summer.
Hmm, OK I'll hook it up to my old tractor.
(Ferguson to-20) If I blow out the coil it's easy to
put in a new one.


What damages magneto ignition systems is open circuit, wire off plug
events.
Then the coil arcs internally.


Don't you have any kind of transformer that could make a HV spark with
say a
9 volt battery? A filament transformer maybe?

9V battery and transformer? (how does that work?)

I've got a 120-24 (6A) tranny, how much voltage would you guess I'll
need?
I could run that backwards from a Variac.

George H.



Just take clip leads to the highest voltage winding (primary?) to the
tube.
Then use the battery to "flash" the lowest voltage winding. Think about
how
the points work in an ignition circuit.

No, do not use a variac.

All you want is to get a discharge through the tube and see what color is
produced. Red says it might be Neon, blueish white may be Xenon, other
will
be who knows.

Thanks Tom, I got nothing with my big transformer.
(I don't have enough current to get any significant voltage across the low
voltage windings. It could also be that the tube is dead.
I'll try with my tractor at home tonight.

If you're trying it with a 9V radio battery - they can't shift much current.

One of those 6V 996 lantern batteries with the springs on top would stand
more chance.