What is the difference between Neon and Flourescent ?

[Dion]

I have a kit circuit for two lights which go on and of alternately.
The problem that I am having is that I am not sure what sort of
lights I require. They for for sure mains voltage, i.e. 230V AC
and I think they are Neon because they are marked N1 and
N2 in the circuit diagram. I have purchased two lights but they
are Flourescent, or Flourescent Neon, not sure how I should
say it exactly, but I also noticed in the catalog where I got them
that there are also lights which are Neon and *not* Flourescent.
If anyone can help here is the circuit.

http://www.geocities.com/x_file_space/2lights.jpg

BTW at the moment only
one light lights up, and it doesn't blink. I am pritty sure I assembled
the rest of the circuit correctly.
Thanks

 

[Don Bruder]

I have a kit circuit for two lights which go on and of alternately.
The problem that I am having is that I am not sure what sort of
lights I require. They for for sure mains voltage, i.e. 230V AC
and I think they are Neon because they are marked N1 and
N2 in the circuit diagram. I have purchased two lights but they
are Flourescent, or Flourescent Neon, not sure how I should
say it exactly, but I also noticed in the catalog where I got them
that there are also lights which are Neon and *not* Flourescent.
If anyone can help here is the circuit.

http://www.geocities.com/x_file_space/2lights.jpg

BTW at the moment only
one light lights up, and it doesn't blink. I am pritty sure I assembled
the rest of the circuit correctly.
Thanks

What's the difference?

Neon (or argon or various other "-ons", depending on the color desired)
lights are gas-discharge bulbs that directly produce visible light. You
might think of them as "single-stage" lights.

Flourescent lights are gas-discharge lights that produce their visible
light indirectly - They operate in a manner similar to neons to produce
ultraviolet, which then strikes a coating on the inside of the tube
which glows in the visible spectrum. These guys would be "two-stage"
lights.

I'm uncertain on the electrical differences between them, but I know
that they are substantial - substantial enough that a circuit designed
around a neon bulb is almost certainly not going to be able to fire up a
flourescent, or vice-versa.

Interestingly enough, a large number of flourescent fixtures use a neon
as part of the "fire up the flourescent tube" starter circuitry.

 

[Dion]

Hi
Despite saying that I was pritty sure the circuit was correct, I have
managed
to find a cold soldering, so now the situation is that both lights are on.
I tried increasing the 1.5m resistors to 10m and now they are
blinking, however, they are quite faint. The funny thing is that they seem
to sort of go on in stages rather than in one clean go (they seem to sort
of vibrate like in normal house flourescents). I have a feeling I should
have ordered the Neon type. Interestingly, the Neon ones come in red
and amber, whereas the flourescent ones which I have are green.
However, I clearly remember that when I build this circuit before the
lights were green, so I believe green neons do exist somewhere.

 

[Thomas C. Sefranek]

Hi
Despite saying that I was pritty sure the circuit was correct, I have
managed
to find a cold soldering, so now the situation is that both lights are on.
I tried increasing the 1.5m resistors to 10m and now they are
blinking, however, they are quite faint. The funny thing is that they seem
to sort of go on in stages rather than in one clean go (they seem to sort
of vibrate like in normal house flourescents). I have a feeling I should
have ordered the Neon type. Interestingly, the Neon ones come in red
and amber, whereas the flourescent ones which I have are green.
However, I clearly remember that when I build this circuit before the
lights were green, so I believe green neons do exist somewhere.

Neon is ONLY orange.

Argon glows green.
--
*
| __O Thomas C. Sefranek [email protected]
|_-\<,_ Amateur Radio Operator: WA1RHP
(*)/ (*) Bicycle mobile on 145.41, 448.625 MHz

http://hamradio.cmcorp.com/inventory/Inventory.html
http://www.harvardrepeater.org

 

[Dion]

maybe it was the coloured top which changed the color

 

[petrus bitbyter]

I have a kit circuit for two lights which go on and of alternately.
The problem that I am having is that I am not sure what sort of
lights I require. They for for sure mains voltage, i.e. 230V AC
and I think they are Neon because they are marked N1 and
N2 in the circuit diagram. I have purchased two lights but they
are Flourescent, or Flourescent Neon, not sure how I should
say it exactly, but I also noticed in the catalog where I got them
that there are also lights which are Neon and *not* Flourescent.
If anyone can help here is the circuit.

http://www.geocities.com/x_file_space/2lights.jpg

BTW at the moment only
one light lights up, and it doesn't blink. I am pritty sure I assembled
the rest of the circuit correctly.
Thanks

Dion,

The circuit shown is apparently designed to work with small neon bulbs. The
ones that strike at about 90V and burn until the voltage falls below 60V.
Their light is normally orange/yellow. However I also had green neons. AFAIK
they were fluorescent as you saw a white looking coating on the inside of
the bulbs when they were off. These ones were sold by Farnell.

petrus

 

[Dion]

The circuit shown is apparently designed to work with small neon bulbs.
The

ones that strike at about 90V and burn until the voltage falls below 60V.
Their light is normally orange/yellow. However I also had green neons. AFAIK
they were fluorescent as you saw a white looking coating on the inside of
the bulbs when they were off. These ones were sold by Farnell.

Yes, the neon is yellow, like it the test screwdrivers, but you can then
put it in a coloured plastic housing of any translucent colour, so it can
be green/red/orange. Never seen any other colors. My flourescent ones
are indeed white, which is nice, but they are not good for this circuit
since
they don't switch on in an instant. I shall be ordering some neon lights
from
farnell, and will update you with the result.
Thanks.

 

[John Popelish]

Yes, the neon is yellow, like it the test screwdrivers, but you can then
put it in a coloured plastic housing of any translucent colour, so it can
be green/red/orange. Never seen any other colors. My flourescent ones
are indeed white, which is nice, but they are not good for this circuit
since
they don't switch on in an instant. I shall be ordering some neon lights
from
farnell, and will update you with the result.
Thanks.

Neon lamps have a very limited range of colors based just on
filtering.
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/quantum/atspect2.html

Argon lamps have some short wavelengths that are good at exciting
florescence in other materials (usually rare earth oxides) to produce
a wide range of color.

http://home.achilles.net/~jtalbot/data/elements/argon.html