Fluorescent light help

[ballpoint]

Im trying to wire a fluorescent light but i dont want to go and buy the little thing you pop it into... i just want to wire it myself. Not that i cant buy one i just dont want to and like to wire stuff up.. the tube has two little prongs coming out each side how would i go about doing that?

 

[audioguru]

Im trying to wire a fluorescent light but i dont want to go and buy the little thing you pop it into... i just want to wire it myself. Not that i cant buy one i just dont want to and like to wire stuff up.. the tube has two little prongs coming out each side how would i go about doing that?

What are you going to connect your fluorescent light tube to?
It needs a ballast that is designed for it. A light fixture for it has the ballast and the connectors for it.

DO NOT connect the tube directly to the mains. Each end has a low voltage filament that will cause the tube to explode if it is fed with the high voltage of the mains. If the mains voltage is applied between its ends without a ballast limiting the current then an extremely high current will flow which will also explode it.

 

[ballpoint]

Thanks Audio again haha i almost actually did that just experimenting but decided to post the question on here first.. glad i did.. I also got that led circuit to pulse with music up and running thanks for all your help with that too.. im going to try it with bigger lights like a neon tube but all i have are fluorescent ones.. i geuss they wont work or i dont know how to make them work.. neon's are cooler anywase haha

 

[audioguru]

A neon store sign has a power supply that is 12,000V or more. A little neon tube for under a car has a power supply of a few hundred volts.

 

[ballpoint]

oh no i was thinking those 12v neons for computers.. would they work?

 

[Dr.EM]

I think your meaning cold cathode tubes (at least that's what we call them here)? They need an invertor to run, a little box that steps up the 12vdc to around 1600v. They have just enough output to run 2 tubes usually. They are quite safe to mess around with (still don't touch the hv out terminals), just don't try and take the 12v supply from an old PSU, they need a minimum load on them to work. A battery supply or lab psu is best if you have one. A kit like this is what you may want:

**broken link removed**

 

[Hero999]

Powering fluorescent lamps from DC is easy but doing it properly and efficiently isn't, but luckily I've done a lot of research in this area and I will share it with you.

Many fluorescent lamp inverter schematics can be found from Google but most are crap. Firstly they often power the lamp from pulsed DC and secondly they don't preheat the filaments, and only run the tube at half power, all reduce tube life and efficiency.

I haven't built the circuits below (though I have constructed similar designs) but below them are my comments.

**broken link removed**
This circuit is quite good, the filaments are preheated and even though it's pulsed DC a DC blocking capacitor is connected in series with the tube so it's powered from true AC. Efficiency isn't as good as can be at a dissapointing 78%.

**broken link removed**
Good too, efficiency is much better and it's push pull so the tube is powered from true AC the only thing is it doesn't preheat the filaments which won't matter if it isn't restarted very often.

For more infotmation this is a good read and if you don't have time to read it all then I strongly recommend that you should read this section, also here's some more background information.

I would recommend you build two inverters, one with two low-voltage, low-power (about 2V) secondary coils to power the filaments and another with a high-voltage secondary (80V) to strike the arc. The low-voltage inverter can be run continiously and high-voltage inverter can be pulsed on and off to the beat of the music.

Looks like you've got some reading to do.

 

[Techno]

Build a Tesla coil and you won't even have to wire it to anything.

I bought some so called neon which are actually flourescent tubes with a bit of color stripe down them. Now I'm wondering if any of these car or 'puter neons are actually neon lights?
There is diff between neon and flourescent. A big difference. Neon is only one gas you could use. You can actually use just about any gas.
Each gas gives the specific color, it isn't done by a coating or a tint.

 

[Hero999]

All "neon" lights nowadays are infact fluorescent cold cathode tubes with different coloured phosphors with perhaps the exception of some of the, deep red, red/orange, bright pink, and yellow/orrange colours. These are either plain neon or neon with a phosphor or deep red coloured glass to alter the colour slightly.

 

[audioguru]

You think they use coloured glass and a white fluorescent tube?

 

[Hero999]

You're joking of course.

 

[ballpoint]

Cool thank you.. the cold cathode tubes were what im looking for, i think the computer store here in town has some just like those for 10 bucks or so i might go pick up a couple. I have some huge black lights laying around but thats 120v and i dont feel like playing around with those yet haha thanks for all your help ill let you all know when i get this project done and try to get a movie or pictures..

 

[Hero999]

Cold cathode lamps aren't very good at being turned on an off very often. Normal fluorescent tubes are better providing you keep the electrodes warm all the time.

 

[ballpoint]

ok cool, ill just try to find a colored fluorescent tube.. just one more question, if all 12v dont make it to the inverter.. say only like 10 or something.. will the inverter still produce atleast 1kv to power the fluorescent light?

 

[audioguru]

Why will your 12V drop down to only 10V? The inverter expects 12V and might not work with only 10V.

 

[ballpoint]

im not sure how much power will be used up by my circuit and other things in it so i just wanted to make sure that it wouldnt blow up or anyhting to happen.. you previously said it could blow up if i just hooked the light tube straight up to the wall which i wasnt aware of.. dont want to kill my self here haha

 

[audioguru]

im not sure how much power will be used up by my circuit and other things in it so i just wanted to make sure that it wouldnt blow up or anyhting to happen.

Then you better calculate how much current the circuits will use. If you overload a power supply then it could blow up or catch on fire.

you previously said it could blow up if i just hooked the light tube straight up to the wall which i wasnt aware of.. dont want to kill my self here haha

Don't connect anything if you don't know anything about it.

 

[Dr.EM]

Use batteries or a short circuit protected supply if possible.

I thoyght CC tubes were good at switching? Many are sold with sound activated invertors which will flash the tube in sync with music or game SFX. Or mabye thats a way to make you buy more of them as they keep blowing