Anyone using a neon-wire + inverter ?

[coaxial-gyro]

Hello , On receiving my Neon-wire and voltage inverter , I'd found the inverter is submerged into a block/blob of resin and so it weighs in at more than the ounce , I'd suppose they did that to drown out the circuit Hummmmmm.... Could anyone suprize me with a neon-wire inverter circuit that I may build that of course is lighter in weight. It whould be great If it would also pulse to the rythem of music so my girl friend can dance around with it on , or maybe thats going too far !!? .





Don't worry about making any old school boy comments , this is the electronics DIY forum .

[AndyOne]

I'd suppose they did that to drown out the circuit Hummmmmm....

The circuit is potted mainly because of the high voltages involved, it insulates the circuit from itself but more importantly it prevents finger access.

If you are going to build one of these, electrical safety will be important.

Andy.

[coaxial-gyro]

So there 'huge' , voltage converters . I thought I'd seen a add for these as handy 9v outfits for RC that wieghed less than the ounce , unpotted ?. I'll press-on and find out what else about them, thanks for the warning.

[CraigF]

Can't help re the dancing thing. I have an inverter from/for glowire, is that the same stuff you mean? If so, it is unpotted, works off 3V. Circuit board, easily removed from case by one screw, weighs only a few grams, has a transformer, two caps, and a transistor, besides the switches. IIRC it was so cheap I wouldn't bother building, just buy. At glowire.com the one I have is #F4, pulses or solid on. Also worth checking them out for other cool RC lighting stuff.

[coaxial-gyro]

Great one GraigF !, I'd been looking at Plasma lightning available for the Car in a tube along with all that Neon , But at least now I know I'm upset with my potted inverters .
Can anyone Paste a good link for the IIRC #F4 outfits ??, I guess there isn't a DIY kit for big kids, but I've just got a amazing A4 paperback on Plasma DIY that'll be on the shelf for a decade untill my children are a bit furthur out of my hobbyist antics.

THX

[westfw]

I've experimented (thanks to some very helpful people at toko) with at least one
of the El-driver chips aimed at watches and such, which in theory would have made
for some very light and small drivers indeed. Unfortunately, the output of these
(80Vp-p @ 400Hz typical) is not too compatible with what the EL wire would like
(120Vrms @ 2KHz or so), and they produced very dim results, even with short
wire lengths :-(

However, here are some possibilities for "less potted" drivers:

http://shopping.netledger.com/s.nl/c.ACCT76399/sc.2/category.22/it.A/id.13/.f
http://shopping.netsuite.com/s.nl/c.ACCT88394/sc.2/category.47/it.A/id.813/.f
http://shopping.netsuite.com/s.nl/c.ACCT88394/sc.2/category.47/it.A/id.799/.f
http://shopping.netsuite.com/s.nl/c.ACCT88394/sc.2/category.41/it.A/id.605/.f

(there are from coolight.com and coolneon.com, generally drivers for 6V of lithium
button cells, in case the links expire or something...)

BillW