On Thu, 06 Jan 2005 23:28:44 GMT
(Bob Archambault) wrote:


2) I've found some references which say that there were some clock
radios that used a UV lamp to illuminate numbers that were painted
with a phosphorescent paint that would glow in UV light.


If it's UV you need, you might just put a row of UV LEDs off to the
sides, if you've got a low voltage DC supply somewhere you can tap. It
should be relatively easy to determine if the dial is UV fluorescent.


I've seen long skinny neon bulbs with wire leads like this, american
science& surplus used to sell them (said they were originally intended
to illuminate the keypads of telephones), but i haven't seen one
recently.

I will look them up and give it a shot. Any other ideas?

If you're sure it's UV, I believe sciplus.com (AS&S) has a battery
powered "money tester" for a few dollars which includes about a 2.5" long
UV fluorescent tube, but i believe the tube might have a slightly larger
diameter than your original.

FWIW, all the fluorescent UV tubes I've seen were dark purple in color
when switched off, almost black. Would be a dead giveaway. The neon bulbs i
referred to above were clear, and produced green light.

Unfortunately for you the market has really gone to electroluminescent
and now organic electroluminescent strips, which though they have similar
power supply requirements to the neon bulbs, draw so few amps that they
actually consume less power than LEDs to illuminate the same area. They
even come in a variety of colors, including some really warm reds and
some really crisp whites - not just the old blue and green.

Add to that the fact that modern EL and OEL materials are flexible and
can be literally printed onto surfaces, and there's no reason for a long
skinny low-watt neon lamp to exist anymore.

Other electronic dealers that might have this old stuff around include
www.mpja.com, www.allelectronics.com.