On Fri, 05 Nov 2004 18:32:27 +0000, NSM wrote:


"Rich Grise" wrote in message
news
| But the problem was, it wasn't lighting up at all. A failed power supply
| could do that, couldn't it? 55V is noticeably less than 90V, albeit that
| _could_ be attributable to the meter, of course.
|
| I'm "only" a tech, but one aspect of troubleshooting is determining
| exactly where the failure has taken place, and diagnosis can be
| cheaper than shotgunning, especially if you have to make up a
| custom part.

1) It doesn't matter what frequency is used to test it with (surely?)

When I was a kid we got one of the first EL night-lights - just a disk,
about 3" diam. (7 cm?) with a wall plug sticking out the back, so
evidently it was running on 60 Hz. For a sales gimmick, they included
a shiny new US penny, with the quip: "We'll even pay for your first
year's use of electricity!"

After about 10 years, it got a black spot that grew so fast that
the thing was useless in a few months.

I've also seen them run on, I presume, 400Hz, on the sides of USAF
fighter planes. I think their purpose was to be able to be seen to fly
formation in the dark.

Thanks,
Rich