I saw a situation with a local power outlet manufacturer back in the 1990s. The Neons in the outlet normally lasted for years.. then a batch lasted for a few weeks before they went black. The same value resistor was used [and anyway, some of the 'new' bulbs were fitted to old flushplates to also demonstrate to non-tech management. The new batch failed.] The current was 2mA of ac iirc. The bulb manufacturer did not provide any reasons - just replaced the bulbs. No idea whether a wrong part number was involved, or if the supplied part was defective.
John K Australia ----- Original Message ----- From: gregebert To: neonixie-l Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2017 5:51 AM Subject: [neonixie-l] NE-2 bulbs dont last forever I checked my datasheet, and confirmed neon bulbs have an average rated lifespan of 25,000 hours at recommended current. This is about 3 years of continuous operation, so it seems very plausible to me that if an NE-2 bulb dies after 3-4 years, it's normal. The lifetime is a statistical average; some bulbs will last longer, and some shorter. My 'big clock' has 304 NE-2 bulbs, and after nearly 4 years of operation I've had one premature bulb failure (in this clock, bulbs are 'on' for a maximum of 1.3 hours/day which equates to 50 year lifespan on average). There's nothing wrong with the design or manufacture of this clock; it's just an oddball lamp that failed. In a different clock, I've also had an NE-2 fail after about 3 years. This bulb is always on, so I'd say it failed as expected. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/54eab09e-e5aa-4720-b9ef-9c4e5d06a154%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/D476259BEAF042E7AACCB725044812BB%40compunet4f9da9. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
