What is this HV gadget?

[Mac Doktor]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/184339010355

It looks like it was designed for some other purpose and may be available for less elsewhere.

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor”

"Never install version point-zero of anything"

[Dekatron42]

I think it is called "high frequency neon tester", google it and you'll se some similar items.

/Martin

[gregebert]

I assume it's high-voltage+high-frequency intended to ionize gas in a tube being tested for leaks.

More convenient than lugging your plasma globe around at swap meets, etc.

[Mac Doktor]

On Jun 24, 2020, at 4:48 PM, Dekatron42 <martin....@gmail.com> wrote:

I think it is called "high frequency neon tester", google it and you'll se some similar items.

Bingo. It's a bit shabbier than the much more expensive handheld Tesla coil we used in neon school but the price is hard to beat. Ordered.

[Ice cruncher]

With a single probe. My best guess just an oudin coil

Used often times on argon, krypton and HeNe lasers. If tube lights up it is still gas intact otherwise it’s open to air

 But that is a guess

Sent from my iPad

On Jun 24, 2020, at 4:32 PM, Mac Doktor <themac...@gmail.com> wrote:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/184339010355

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[celzey11]

Supposedly they were designed for testing neon sign components, a quick way to see if a tube failed or not in the field without powering the whole thing up.

[Mark Moulding]

I bought one of these a copuple of years ago.  It seems to me it was a little cheaper than this, but not much (maybe $18 or so).  I don't know what the original application of these is - I'm certain it wasn't to help a bunch of gray-beard Nixie collectors at swap meets - but it does work well for that purpose.

~~
Mark Moulding

[Nicholas Stock]

Hey! Nothing wrong with grey-beards... :)

I use a cheap plasma globe for the same purpose....but I like the portability of this.....never been to a swap meet though....

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[Michail Wilson]

I also use a small plasma globe.   They are only $8 shipped on ebay.  Some even cheaper.

 

I wish I could find nixies at swap meets.  Never have seen them, but I must just be at the wrong ones.  I do have a spare globe in my car just in case.

 

Michail Wilson

206-920-6312

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[H. Carl Ott]

I carry one of those cheap "ARC" cigarette lighters to test any tubes I find at hamfests.  And to burn random things (mostly my eyeballs from the raw UV). because I don't smoke.    

  

  Nixes are scarce at  hamfests, but you do spot the occasional one hiding in some old piece of test gear or a scrap PCB assembly. 

carl
--------------------------------------------------------
Henry Carl Ott   N2RVQ    hcar...@gmail.com

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[Charles MacDonald]

On 2020-06-25 11:05 a.m., celzey11 wrote:
> Supposedly they were designed for testing neon sign components, a quick way to see if a tube failed or not in the field without powering the whole thing up.
>

I got a similar one, it will light up one digit on a nixie tube. also
give you an RF burn if you get your finger too close. Good for a 1 cm
arc on a good day.


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No Microsoft Products were used in sending this e-mail.

[Mac Doktor]

On Jun 25, 2020, at 7:55 PM, Charles MacDonald <cm...@zeusprune.ca> wrote:

I got a similar one, it will light up one digit on a nixie tube.  also give you an RF burn if you get your finger too close.  Good for a 1 cm arc on a good day.

If all else fails I have an induction coil that's hot enough to generate some X-rays.

The "antique" that's been mentioned sounds like the old "violet wand", a quack medical device from back when electricity was new and exciting. Today they sell tons of them as sex toys. No well-equipped dungeon should be without one.

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.”–Philip K. Dick, I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon

[Terry S]

I have one, I bought it for testing neon sign tubes. I leave it in my car so I can grab bargain neons as soon as they pop up on CL.

I tried it on nixies, It works, but I did somehow manage to blow the decimal points off a couple of IN-14's when using it.

[alb.001 alb.001]

just search on eBay for  portable neon tester  and you find the same item for around  $14

Pharma Phil

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[Mac Doktor]

On Jun 28, 2020, at 9:30 PM, alb.001 alb.001 <alb...@sympatico.ca> wrote:

just search on eBay for  portable neon tester  and you find the same item for around  $14

I bought one from a seller in the US (100% positive feedback) for $15.80, free shipping. He's sold out but there are plenty of others. Just watch out for the ones that are on a slow boat from China.

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"

"There is no Main Street anymore except at Disneyland—and try and buy a gun there"—Hank Hill

[Paolo Cravero]

On Mon, Jun 29, 2020 at 9:29 PM Mac Doktor wrote:

On Jun 28, 2020, at 9:30 PM, alb.001 alb.001 wrote:

just search on eBay for  portable neon tester  and you find the same item for around  $14

I bought one from a seller in the US (100% positive feedback) for $15.80, free shipping. He's sold out but there are plenty of others. Just watch out for the ones that are on a slow boat from China.

At this price it is not worth building a combination of  3v7 LiPo cell > 12V booster > CCFL driver, which costs the same once you add a proper case. But it solves the shipping delay if you've got everything at home.

[Mac Doktor]

On Jul 2, 2020, at 1:05 PM, Paolo Cravero <paolo....@gmail.com> wrote:

At this price it is not worth building a combination of  3v7 LiPo cell > 12V booster > CCFL driver, which costs the same once you add a proper case. But it solves the shipping delay if you've got everything at home.

I just received mine yesterday and it works perfectly. Lights them up like a Christmas tree. I can now put my DiscWasher Zerostat "pistol" back in a safe place. It's worth a lot more than what I paid for it 35 years ago.

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"

https://www.astarcloseup.com/

“The book said something astonishing, a very big thought.
It said that the stars were suns, only very far away.
The Sun was a star, but close up.”—Carl Sagan, Cosmos, 1980