Neon Light Operating Voltage

The neon lamp is a type of gas discharge lamp they generate light when an electrical discharge travels through an ionized gas or plasma.

Neon light operating voltage. The life of a standard brightness lamp at dc is about 60 of the life value at ac. In neon argon tubes a decrease in operating temperature increases tubing voltage. The neon sign is an evolution of the earlier geissler tube which is a sealed glass tube containing a rarefied gas the gas pressure in the tube is well below atmospheric pressure when a voltage is applied to electrodes inserted through the glass an electrical glow discharge results. Typical tube voltage waveform 10000 volts vertical divison.

The transformer steps up normal wall voltage of about 115 volts to a range between 2000 volts and 15000 volts 2000 15 000 v. Measure the power consumption of a linear light source like a neon tube by using a ratio of watts used per foot of neon. A neon light contains a tiny amount of neon gas under low pressure. Geissler tubes were popular in the late 19th century and the different colors they emitted were.

To change the color from the normal orange. The power consumption of a given neon tube depends on the type of transformer used and the color of the neon but consumption of 3 1 2 to 4 watts per foot for red neon is typical. The color of the light of a neon glow lamp is orange but other colors typically green or blue can be obtained by using a different gas mixture composed manly by argon. Ions are attracted to terminals of the lamp completing the electric circuit.

The tube ionizes and the voltage drops to the normal operating voltage which is a bit lower. A small electric current for a 5 mm bulb diameter ne 2 lamp the quiescent current is about 400 µa which may be ac or dc is allowed through the tube causing it to glow orange red the gas is typically a penning mixture 99 5 neon and 0 5 argon which has lower striking voltage than pure neon at a pressure of 1 20 torrs 0 13 2 67 kpa. Neon lamps are low current long life light sources limited by the high ionization voltage of neon 80 v and higher for use in line voltage circuits 80 v. The ne 2 will fire at around 90 volts ac or dc then the operating voltage will drop to about 60 volts.

Electricity provides energy to strip electrons away from neon atoms ionizing them. When the voltage between the electrodes exceeds certain. And in the case of neon argon filled tubing the operating temperature. The lamp glow discharge lights at its striking.

Sometimes with additional small amounts of krypton argon etc. That means that a foot of red neon tube that. Light is produced when neon atoms gain enough energy to become excited. For dc operation the life of a high brightness lamp is about 50 of a neon lamp operating at the same rms ac voltage.

Increases in tubing length gas pressure and decreases in tubing diameter cause the tubing voltage to increase.