A panel of standard neon indicator lamps wired as 9 parallel circuits of six, each circuit is fed from a simple neon relaxation oscillator which fires each row of neons with a stream of very fast pulses. The first neon to strike clamps the voltage down preventing the rest in that line from striking until the capacitor is discharged, and the pulsed nature means that the neons tend to strike randomly and are affected by external factors like light and electrical fields. This results in a very random shimmering on the surface of the panel, which changes during the day. The circuit uses a single rectifier diode to charge all the capacitors from the mains supply via individual 470K resistors (on a 240V supply, use lower for 110V). The capacitors are all 10nF and the series resistors to the parallel neon circuits are all 1K. This panel operates at mains voltage.

7 thoughts on “Neon flicker panel.”
  1. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Hola! Troy W says:

    54… Is this the great-granddaddy of Gallium?

  2. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Simon Cee says:

    I enjoy finding some of your older uploads. Thank you.

  3. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars TheEPROM9 says:

    Its the version 1 of the Super Computer panels. Should pop one of these up in your next live streams.

  4. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Jammit Timmaj says:

    It's a 1 bit old school Matrix screen saver.

  5. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars rustymotor says:

    Thanks for that, great site! I will go and build one of those air wick flame throwers too and see if I can use it on CRC spray. Have a look at my YouTube videos, I have some neon stuff too. Cheers.

  6. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars bigclivedotcom says:

    Just one 1K resistor for all the neons in that row. If you take a look at the Nixie Stix project on my website at bigclive.com you'll see the very simple schematic.

  7. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars rustymotor says:

    Very interesting display, does each individual neon has it's own 1 k resistor? Thanks for the video.

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