Replacement Clock Lamp

numbers

OK, folks...

I just want to end this thread and let everyone know how I made out. I used the green neon bulb from Radio Shack (# 272-708) and cut the plastic housing away from the bulb with my Dremel tool. While it is certainly not original, it works just fine and looks pretty good as well.

As far as the original bulb - the NL 60T8-B, I did some experimentation and determined that it is absolutely a colored neon bulb that gives off a light purplish-blue color. I found this out by using a microwave to exite the phosphor coating, thereby letting it show its true colors . My feelings about the bulb number are pretty much:

NL = Neon Lamp T8 = Tubular, 8mm diameter B = Blue

Now as far as the "60" goes, I'm not really sure. Franc suggested the possibility of it being the striking voltage. I tend to think not, as it would seem that you wouldn't need 230 V to run a tube that only needs 60 V to start. I don't think it's a wattage rating, as this certainly seems more powerful than 60 mW, but is less than 6.0 W. I did notice that the phosphor coating (which corresponds exactly to the lighted area) is precisely 60mm long, so that's a possibility. But, again, I really don't know.

In any case, I want to thank all of you who contributed thoughts and suggestions. I learned a little, and most importantly, repaired the item satisfactorily.

A final thought - I am still not averse to restoring this to its original condition, so if someone, at some later time, ambles across this thread and has first-hand knowledge of where I might actually find a good NL60T8-B, please e-mail me at:

snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net

Thanks very much...

Bob Archambault

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feelings

As you suggest later, this is almost certainly the length, nothing else would really make sense, particularly since the phosphor area is 60mm long.

As a collector of unusual lightbulbs I'd be very interested in seeing one of these lamps if you ever find a way to get a picture of it. It would also be interesting to take an X-ray of it to see what the internal construction is like. Blue "neon" bulbs are available and may work better than the green ones from radio shack, another option would be SMD LED's in a small piece of translucent tubing using a capacitor as a ballast.

On Mon, 10 Jan 2005 01:34:38 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net (Bob Archambault) put finger to keyboard and composed:

Very clever!

powerful

Look at this "blue crystal neon lamp" as used for PC case modding:

It operates from 12VDC via an inverter. In my previous post I was thinking that your "special" lamp may have failed as a result of a faulty inverter, or that the inverter's unloaded voltage may have been a lot higher than its normal operating voltage.

- Franc Zabkar

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That's a cold-cathode fluorescent tube, it's exactly what I was suggesting a while ago.

On Mon, 10 Jan 2005 07:11:46 GMT, "James Sweet" put finger to keyboard and composed:

Hmmm, then look at these:

- Franc Zabkar

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They're pretty neat, you can get them locally at Fry's amoung other places.

On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 04:29:35 GMT, "James Sweet" put finger to keyboard and composed:

Actually, I wanted you to compare the CCFTs at the top of the page with the "crystal neon lamps" at the bottom.

This site has CCFL tubes (eg cat # Z8040) which it describes as being "80% brighter than standard sized automotive neons":

Look at these 12V neon wall clocks:

- Franc Zabkar

I know this is a really old thread, I found one of the radios also. Is it s till running? And how did the bulb replacement go? Also I have a loose wire that goes up to the doze button can't find what spot on the board it suppo se to connect to. It is loose right under the fiber board. I think I see wh ere it once was but not sure.

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