Neon Lights?

In my new featherweight i am planning to use neon lights to create a glow from underneath. The problem is that the tubes run on 160V, there is a tiny circuit board supplied with them to up the 12v input to 160-180V. Are these allowed? or am i breaking the maximum allowable voltage rule?

Joseph Townsend

I wouldnt feel comfortable picking up a damaged robot that I knew could generate 160V. That should be common sense, not something you should consult the rules about.

Can you use blue or white LEDs to create a similar effect?

Neon lights ? Those things that shatter and splinter at the least impact ? Not where I am present thank you very much !!!

Better stick with LEDs, they use a lot less power and are very sturdy. You would be amazed at the amount of light a couple of LEDs can generate with practically no power at all. (I use a string of those in my little Christmas tree, runs an entire week, 24h/24h, on two AA batteries.)

Have to say mate, even tho it will be low current, 160v shock will not be nice. I would think you are breaking the over 36 (or evne the new 60v rule) full stop.
We all know that its not giving you any advantage in terms of fighting power (well it might if it goes to a crowd vote- hehe) and in terms of damage, i dont think there practical. Like babs said, shatter and all sorts sadly.

My 2 pence worth.
Mr Stu

Joseph,
I think I will have to side with Stu and Ms Van Son on this one.I feel 160V would be a clear breach of the rules (Personaly I wouldnt go near it in the arena). You will defenatly do better with some ultra bright LEDs.Try Maplin and/or RS Components, and of course, with LEDs not only will you save a serious amount of both battery life and weight you also have a choice of colours!
Geoff,
Team Scorpion

Hmmm... now that I think about lights... my old robot Project Two: Hexem (Dutch Wars 2002/2003) has two eyes who shine red. It is two 50W halogenic lights on one 2 Amp/h 12 Volt Phoebus battery behind red polycarbonate. Beautiful special effect. Another Dutch robot, X-Bot (Dutch Wars 2001), had a halogenic spot light on both sides built into the robot, was nice too.

It doesnt have to be neon in order to be flashy !!!

Also note that Tough As Nails (which we helped build) has 2 red High Density LEDs to mark weapon activation and a normal red LED to mark robot active, there has also been a blue LED to mark weapon solenoid powered but is has been removed and not yet replaced. With the new FRA rules demanding visible signs of activation you might consider installing that as well if you want to go on the live circuit.

ok, i think that is a definate no. The neons i was thinking of using were flexible wires rather than glass tubes so there was no chance of them smashing. The only low voltage ones i could find are glass which is why i wanted to know if i could get away with the bendy ones. So unless anyone knows where i can get hold of some low voltage bendy neons i am going to have to go with LEDs

Thanks,

Joseph Townsend

people have made flashlights with LEDs, so to create a 2 fast 2 furious like glow you can use blue LEDs.

I know the type of flexible wires you are referring to, was looking at using them myself on one of my bots. I missed the part of them being 160V though.

Cant you get 12v ones like the ones they use under cars

Another downside, high-voltage transformers can get emf noisy after being subject to mechanical shock, even assuming they were well-made and not noisy beforehand! No sense in building an interference Achilles heal into your robot for the sake of good looks.

Lee - the way those neon lights work is by stepping up the 12v supply to a higher voltage (~200V).

Right not that simple then think i will stick with leds

Fraid not Lee, its all charged particles and stuff :sad:

Cant see any reason not to use LEDs, there bright, efficient and cheap.

we have 2 Red LEDs for weapon & drive power active and 2 cool ultra bright blue LEDs for each weapon function. When upsidedown you can see the glow off the arena floor and they only take 20mA. I think they were around £0.30 each from Farnell. Dont forget the resistor though, very important and for 24V it will be more than a standard 1/4 Watt.

Actually, the internally luminating LUXEON LEDs have been taken out of TAN because of the added wireing and weight. It was a nice effect though. Especially at night during the summer party.
It was hard to see during the day though.

Have a look at
http://www.surelight.com/content.phphttp://www.surelight.com/content.php
It might be what your looking for

A suggestion...

You might try looking for LEDs like the one I picked up for my mobile phone from Singapore which were imported from Taiwan. Theyre mounted on ultrathin circuitboards that you can bend (but not fold obviously). On the phone they run straight from the battery with no obvious power drain. Im sure there are larger ones out there somewhere.
Even my little LED circuit can make me visible from the other end of the shopping mall.

Kim - The problem I can see is that that uses an invertor to step up the voltage... Which I think weve written off.

My little LED board is called an FPC or flexible printed circuit board. It might be worth using a web search engine to search that with LED.

I think I am going to have to scap the neon lights or LED effect as the robot is well overweight and I am going to be scrounging for every last gram, but thanks for the overwhelming number of solutions offered. Maybe in my next bot.

Joseph Townsend

Youll need a light of some sort Joseph if youre wanting to run at live events.

The FRA require a power light to be clearly visible once the link has been inserted..

LEDs seem to be the option most are plumping for, as theyre light, cheep and relatively hardy.

Sam
http://www.shredderteam.comhttp://www.shredderteam.com
http://www.robotcrusade.comhttp://www.robotcrusade.com

It think his bot is a feather weight - so no need for a light.

Mr Stu

Nice new 10mm leds fitted for the new season