On Mon, 10 Jan 2005 01:34:38 GMT, (Bob
Archambault) put finger to keyboard and composed:

I just want to end this thread and let everyone know how I made out.
I used the green neon bulb from Radio Shack (# 272-708) and cut the
plastic housing away from the bulb with my Dremel tool. While it is
certainly not original, it works just fine and looks pretty good as well.

As far as the original bulb - the NL 60T8-B, I did some experimentation
and determined that it is absolutely a colored neon bulb that gives off
a light purplish-blue color. I found this out by using a microwave to exite
the phosphor coating, thereby letting it show its true colors g.

Very clever!

My feelings
about the bulb number are pretty much:

NL = Neon Lamp
T8 = Tubular, 8mm diameter
B = Blue

Now as far as the "60" goes, I'm not really sure. Franc suggested the
possibility of it being the striking voltage. I tend to think not, as it would
seem that you wouldn't need 230 V to run a tube that only needs 60 V to
start. I don't think it's a wattage rating, as this certainly seems more powerful
than 60 mW, but is less than 6.0 W. I did notice that the phosphor coating
(which corresponds exactly to the lighted area) is precisely 60mm long,
so that's a possibility. But, again, I really don't know.

Look at this "blue crystal neon lamp" as used for PC case modding:
http://www.gmb-online.nl/main.asp?mode=item&N=2934

It operates from 12VDC via an inverter. In my previous post I was
thinking that your "special" lamp may have failed as a result of a
faulty inverter, or that the inverter's unloaded voltage may have been
a lot higher than its normal operating voltage.


- Franc Zabkar
--
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