Do they have any type of "starter" like flurecent

[Chris McNevison]

Stephen,

There could be one of several things wrong, can you give more info on the type of transformer(s), diameter of glass, and the fill of gas. The gas fill will either be argon (blue) or neon (red), and will be most noticeable at the clear end of the electrode.

More than likely a knackered transformer, but more info will give me a chance to give a more detailed "diagnosis".

Also, neon lamps don’t use a starter like fluorescent.

Cheers,
Chris

[David Rogers]

Neon can be a bit of a pig to fault find – especially with intermittent faults.

The first thing I’d suspect is a poor connection / arcing to earth in damp weather – it will either buzz at a joint or if arcing shut down the transformer (if modern earth leakage type).

Transformers rarely go, but when they do (seen a few cracked ones in my time) – failure is total and not intermittent.

If it’s a poor joint, or an under rated transformer the ‘circuit’ can be temperamental depending on things like ambient temperature & humidity and so may strobe or just not even initiate.

Best course of action is check EVERY joint as it evidently worked when first installed. Then start spending money by trying another transformer (don’t skimp – get a F.A.R.T one) or better yet, get a neon installer / supplier to check the current load for the circuit or even take an educated guess at the rating based on (as said above) colour (can determine the fill gas from colour even if phosphor coated tubes), length, number of sections & glass diameter.

I occasionally do neon installs & repairs – and have seen many cooked transformers (under-rated so run meltingly hot) and tend to rely on experience & advice from my suppliers when choosing replacements.

Dave

[Stephen Ingham]

cheers chaps, i’m sorry about this but i don’t really know anymore than i have already said.

maybe i should just leave it to a proffessional…anyone know any in the West Yorkshire area??

cheers
stephen

[Martin Pearson]

Stephen, don’t know what your electrical background is like but if your not sure what you are doing I would leave it alone. Not sure if you need any special qualifications to carry out repairs on neon systems at all but you do need to be a qualified neon installer to fit the stuff.
sounds like David knows a lot more about it maybe he will be able to tell you.

[Stephen Ingham]

hi martin, yeah i wunt touch it.. and certainly wunt fit it..not summat we usually get involved in, its just that we have recently done a lot of work for a customer with lightboxes etc and he asked the question.

so any neon repair/ installers out there, not too far away from leeds, west yorks maybe you could PM me

cheers
stephen