> Great video of dekatron in action! One thing to consider about neon > tubes of this nature is that ambient light can effect the striking > voltage.
I doubt it's a striking voltage problem, as dekatrons are self-sustaining once the discharge is established. Issues with glow transfer like this are a different sort of problem, with all sorts of subtle factors. It would be interesting to take a misbehaving dekatron and try establishing the discharge at various electrodes and see if the voltage varies. But most dekatrons have many electrodes paralleled, and you don't get a choice as to which of them will strike first - the one with the lowest voltage*. And once one is struck, the others won't want to, as the voltage is now lowered to the maintaining voltage. * You could, I suppose, use something like a blue laser to try to influence which one struck, but that would also effect the striking voltage, so you wouldn't learn much about striking voltage variation amongst cathodes. But it sounds like something interesting to try anyway. - John KG4L -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/neonixie-l?hl=en-GB.
