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electrodeless tubes
These are a few sealed off tubes I made a few years ago.  They contain various gases and some additives. (Argon, Neon, air, iodine, fluorescent powder). They are all being lit with a high voltage high frequency AC supply I have been building and experimenting with. The transformer is made with the parts of taken from 2 old TV line output transformers.  All the discharges are capacitively couples from the two metal tape strips running underneath. The metal tape strips around the tubes themselves are only to protect the tubes from arcs to the glass which quickly puncture them. I particularly like how they all can be driven at once despite being different pressures and gasses.
Keywords: Miscellaneous

electrodeless tubes

These are a few sealed off tubes I made a few years ago. They contain various gases and some additives. (Argon, Neon, air, iodine, fluorescent powder). They are all being lit with a high voltage high frequency AC supply I have been building and experimenting with. The transformer is made with the parts of taken from 2 old TV line output transformers. All the discharges are capacitively couples from the two metal tape strips running underneath. The metal tape strips around the tubes themselves are only to protect the tubes from arcs to the glass which quickly puncture them. I particularly like how they all can be driven at once despite being different pressures and gasses.

railtube.jpg PCA.jpg tubeson_HVHF4.jpg crookes.jpg laser_co2.jpg
Lamp/Fixture Information
Manufacturer:self-made
File information
Filename:tubeson_HVHF4.jpg
Album name:Tuopeek / Misc
Keywords:Miscellaneous
Filesize:272 KiB
Date added:28 Feb 2026
Dimensions:2500 x 1481 pixels
Displayed:25 times
DateTime Original:2026:02:28 23:02:05
Exposure Time:1/125 sec
FNumber:f/4.5
File Source:Digital Still Camera
Flash:No Flash
Focal length:34 mm
ISO:3600
Model:NIKON D3400
Software:Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0
White Balance:0
URL:https://trad-lighting.net/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=1115
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Comment 1 to 4 of 4
Page: 1

Max   [Sun 01 Mar 2026 at 19:53]
Very nice and creative, well done! The capacitances of your tube's external electrodes provide the right impedances for a proper distribution of current in your system. More specifically, those capacitances counteract the negative dV/dI characteristic of your discharges which would result in all the current flowing in one tube only if those had resistively-coupled electrodes.

What gas is in the tube filled with phosphor powder? The discharge color doesn't look like it's from argon nor neon... or there are impurities there and/or the pressure is very low in that one.
Tuopeek   [Sun 01 Mar 2026 at 20:31]
Thanks, I think the tube with the powder retrieved from a fluorescent tube is supposed to be argon but there will be air in there too. The pressure is quite low, but I didn't accurately measure any of these at the time. There are no getters used so they will all have a degree of impurities in them. They all have different striking voltages due to the various pressure differences. Almost a useful guide to the voltage being achieved by the transformer here or from a TC test.
Ria   [Mon 02 Mar 2026 at 01:02]
Fascinating, well done Mark Bulb Man
Max   [Mon 02 Mar 2026 at 17:29]
Tuopeek - That discharge color is quite consistent with air as an impurity, so that makes sense indeed.

Comment 1 to 4 of 4
Page: 1