Neon Bulb ignition timing light

This seems pointless to me. All you have to do is hold the HT lead close to the engine block and check that you get a spark.

And you can measure the length.

[Station X]

Indeed.

I just did a quick crude check on a known good loaf of bread magneto, flicking it over by hand.

The neon flashed an anaemic orange colour, giving no indication of voltage. Holding the HT lead close to the casing showed a fat juicy purple spark, which was good enough for me.

If the OP wants my timing lamp he can have it for £6 including postage. I have no use for it.

[russell_w_b]

Originally Posted by merlinmaxwell

And you can measure the length.

Indeed... Wasn't it Gunson's who made a thing like a plastic caliper that you clipped your HT lead into and held the other side on earth? A scale alongside the electrodes between the caliper legs indicated how 'good' the spark was as you opened the legs up.

If you opened them up too far you got a belt!

[Panrock]

The only way I could use my neon timing light was to paint the timing mark on the flywheel white and either wait until dusk, or throw a coat over the running engine with my head also under it. DANGEROUS AND NOT ADVISED. I was lucky not to lose it - my head I mean!

Steve

[dseymo1]

To keep this in context with the subject of these forums, like a good deal of stuff sold before trading law was updated, these things worked in principle but were not of much practical use. As such, they are interesting to collect, but there are better solutions available in the real world today.

[richrussell]

The coiled neon is a nice bit of glasswork, regardless of its efficiency as an illumination source.

[Warmsteel]

Good Morning All

Once again thank to every one for their input as it has been most valuable. It seems this post has been of quite some interest.

As mentioned before, it seems that there are many variants of neon lights out there and it would seem that some are better quality (and use) than others and from what I can tell the coiled versions seem to be the worst and perhaps there were neon bulbs designed specifically for use as a timing light?

As an example, Station X uses his version on a magneto and said it was anemic, the first photo I attach is of the light my dad has and as can be seen, this is very powerful. Compare this to a NE-2 bulb, indicated by the arrow and even in dark conditions it is difficult to see.

Station X conducted a similar test which ended up with the same result as the NE-2 neon bulb and I am thinking that the coiled neon bulbs aren't that good, so thank you Station X for your kind offer but I think I will decline.

To quote GMB who's comments were posted before the thread was reopened "In some ways they are better than xenon ones in that the brightness gives you a good indication of how well the EHT circuit is working, and mine is fairly bright when the ignition is working correctly"

Incidentally, the way I connected this NE-2 was in parallel, to the HT but fed by a 68K resistor

This has lead me to the following conclusion, the coil type neon bulbs are not very good at what it does, NE-2 neon bulbs aren't really usable. So, for my intended application it seems that I somehow have to find out what is inside my Dads unit and he wont open it!

Either way it would seem that GMB has a similar neon bulb to mine that works just how I imagine it should and my quest continues to try and find out what bulb is used and how it is used in units similar to my Dad's neon bulb.

Thank you chaps and all the very best

John

[Station X]

I described the output from my timing lamp as being "anaemic orange" to distinguish it from the bright white flash of a Xenon lamp. It's difficult to tell from pictures, but the output didn't look too dissimilar to that you show. It was certainly much better than the NE-2 you show. Having a large area of light helps.

Perhaps your local airport could X Ray your dad's unit for you?