Hi folks,
inspired by your tremendous help with my sister's clock (thanks again!),
I thought I might ask you on this issue as well. Recently I inquired how
the bargraph tubes work, and somehow we got to talk about lightsabers ;-)
The thing is, I had to think about it all the time, and I finally
ordered some metal lightsaber hilt (much to my local folks' amusement).
Now for the challenge: I'd like to mount a neon tube in this handle that
glows red.
The neon tube is made of clear glass (so it is a true neon tube, not a
fluorescent light that are sometimes referred to as neon tubes as well)
with one electrode at the base, length about 1m, and 2.5cm diameter. I
have seen in the internet that these tubes can be driven by a
high-frequent AC voltage applied to this one electrode (Tesla coil). So
now I have several questions:
1. How do I build this power supply nice and compact so that it fits in
the hilt (length is 20cm, diameter 3cm)? My first thought was a
transformer being driven by some frequency on the secondary side,
inducing a rather high AC-like voltage on the primary side. But which
frequency is required, at which voltage and current?
2. The hilt is made of metal (see above), will this affect the circuit?
When applying the high frequency voltage to the one electrode of the
"blade", the effective circuit has a virtual capacitor in it (glass tube
and back into the handle) that allows some current to flow, same
principle as described here: http://www.amazing1.com/download/sabdon.pdf
3. Will it be possible to create some "star wars" power-up / power-down
effect of the saber by either changing the frequency, voltage or current
of the power supply? I know it can be done (see the link above) but what
is varied? Looking at the schematic in the pdf above I guess it is
voltage and current.
Many questions, but I trust there are some brilliant minds among us who
can help me :-)
Best whishes
Jens
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