neon test globe help

[jinxsta]

Oh forgot thanks for the explaination Robert is helpful.
on another note made another one with a toslink cable joiner glued to the box and still playing with it have attached some pics.Could be useful in getting the neon light onto a slit.

[Merlin66 (Ken)]

Daniel,
What size fibre optic are you using? I've tried 50 and 9 micron stuff.
BTW these can be used as an artificial star for testing the scope and spectroscope.
I found placing a small 6x6x6 prism just ahead of the slit and covering about 30% of the length gave a good comparison spectrum. I'd like to mount the PCB on the side of the spectroscope ( for convenience and safety).

[theodog (Jeff)]

Hi All,
I recieved Daniel's Neon Test Globe system today. I had planed to check it out this weekend but it got the better of me.
The unit looked very good, neat and well put together. The cord for the cig lighter was long enough to allow much distance between the car and telescope.
When pluged in and switched on the globe lit up with a soft orange glow.
The following spectrum of the globe was taken after finding the right region of spectrum through my HM spectroscope, with a 200mm camera lens.
In all I had the globe on for ~30-40 minutes. The 'black box' got warm but not enough to make me uncomfortable with it in the cool air of my shed.
One suggestion I would give is to allow a standard 12v input socket for the power cable to allow it to be run through a power supply, is this possible?
Overall, great unit and will incorperate it into my next project.
Well done Daniel.

[Merlin66 (Ken)]

I use the Buil graph in preference to the Vspec reference for Neon; it seems to have a better selection of ( realistic?) intensity peaks.
The oddball line you show doesn't appear! on Buil
http://www.astrosurf.com/buil/us/spe2/calib2/neon1.gif

This neon driver is sounding better and better by the day!!
Well done Daniel!!!
Any other feedback??

[jinxsta]

Thanks guys.
Merlin the fiber optic cable is just a cheap toslink cable 'plastic' not sure of the micron size? but a more expensive fiber optic toslink cable may have some sort of spec sheet on it I will look into it. The board is small and would fit into your spectroscope no probs.

Theodog The cable plug on the unit could be changed to what ever you needed but I'm not sure what a standard 12 volt plug looks like?
The spectrum pic looks good thanks for posting it up, I only have the SA and its been raining here or cloudy for weeks have only seen it on a home made dvd stectroscope in a tube.

I have started the material gathering to build a proper spectroscope and the little ideas and bits of info are great but can see it will take me a while to get there but looking forward to it, have to get the hang of the SA first.
Thanks guys
Jinxsta.

[theodog (Jeff)]

Sorry Daniel, not ment to be critical at all, just a sugestion. I think its teriffic and it will get much use as is.
By 12v socket, one of those 6mm centre positive thingies often used with 12v transformers that plug into 240v.
Have fun with the SA100, you can get a surprising amount of detail with one.

[jinxsta]

Theodog yes you could but the 6mm plug on the end easy the tip is posative and he outa is negative.
I use RCA plugs for connections as well, tip positive, saves fumbling around in the dark easy to solder as is the plug end.

[MrB (Simon)]

Be carefull of shorting when using RCA plugs as power connectors, both pos and neg are exposed.
If possible use the RCA socket on the supply side, problem is there are no panel mount RCA plugs for the draw side.
Or use something designed for the job, a power connector.

[jinxsta]

Sorry MrB I should have been more specific, yes you are right you could short out the conection thats why I put in a switch for on off. I mounted these on a plastic tool box with recharge gel cell bateries for a power box can run scope fan, or camera or dew heaters etc.
Thanks for heads ups.