Cirqus Voltaire
Bally, 1997Broke my tube and need a replacement, nothings easy anymore 
. I see they're available as LED but I want to keep the original neon. So if I understand this, the originals are neon, which means they are white when off, colored when on. If they are colored when off, they are argon? Is there a noticeable difference? So anyone know who sells the closest to original neon?
Honestly, may also want to check out a local Neon sign shop. Probably won't be cheap, but neon sign work is pretty common still.
Quoted from NYP:I did check out Bay Area, but in the description it says they remain the same color when off. I thought that meant they are argon? Has anyone tried the ones that Bay area sell? Would love to hear some feedback.
TIA
I have a red one that I bought from BAA many years ago. It is clear when off.
I have a red one that is clear when it is off. It is yours for free if you can cover shipping. Not sure how well it will stand up in shipping, but I can try my best. It worked fine when I removed it from the machine about 8 years ago, I have no way to test it now. I only pulled it because I liked the purple glow better than the red.
Quoted from ralphwiggum:I have a red one that is clear when it is off. It is yours for free if you can cover shipping.
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Really nice of you to offer help.
I'd read this first:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cirqus-voltaire-neon-from-bay-area
Reports that the neon tubes from BAA don't fit since the curve doesn't quite match the OEM one. Not sure if it is an isolated case or that is how all of them are from BAA. Maybe isolated to a certain batch or certain colour of tubes? YMMV.
Quoted from Vino:For those taking note, THIS is how Pinside can be great.
Really nice of you to offer help.
I just wish he needed it last year... I would have put it in the same box to save him shipping.... lol
Quoted from NYP:Broke my tube and need a replacement, nothings easy anymore . I see they're available as LED but I want to keep the original neon. So if I understand this, the originals are neon, which means they are white when off, colored when on. If they are colored when off, they are argon? Is there a noticeable difference? So anyone know who sells the closest to original neon?
The coloring inside the tube is phosphor. if when the tube is electrified it has a light blue color then argon is the gas used. Any section of glass that has a blue color to it will have mercury as well. When a section of glass has a red glow to it that means that Neon gas is being used, that will have no mercury. Be careful of the mercury. The section of glass one of the posters above has a pic is a very easy piece of glass for any neon bender can duplicate, he will be able to determine the correct phosphor(interior coloring) and what gas is being used via the remnants of mercury.
Unfortunately the neon on got from Tim was DOA, regardless it was a nice gesture and much appreciated. I thought I would try the neon from Pinball Center in Germany because he had green but it arrived 5" inches shorter than the original? Anyone else had this happen? I have 2 CV's and both neons are 5"- 6" longer than the one I got from pinball center. He claims I'm the only one, I find that difficult to believe that no one would notice such a big difference in size. Anyway I'll probably try the ones from planetary, they only have yellow and purple left. Thanks again Tim, you tried!
IMG_7387 (resized).jpgQuoted from NYP:Unfortunately the neon on got from Tim was DOA, regardless it was a nice gesture and much appreciated. I thought I would try the neon from Pinball Center in Germany because he had green but it arrived 5" inches shorter than the original? Anyone else had this happen? I have 2 CV's and both neons are 5"- 6" longer than the one I got from pinball center. He claims I'm the only one, I find that difficult to believe that no one would notice such a big difference in size. Anyway I'll probably try the ones from planetary, they only have yellow and purple left. Thanks again Tim, you tried![quoted image]
Aww man... that stinks.... Sorry to hear. I wonder if they have some sort of shelf life.... Not sure how the gas would go out on it, but who knows. As far as the replacement one you got, I have never seen one that short..... That seems really wrong/weird.
Quoted from NYP:Unfortunately the neon on got from Tim was DOA, regardless it was a nice gesture and much appreciated. I thought I would try the neon from Pinball Center in Germany because he had green but it arrived 5" inches shorter than the original? Anyone else had this happen? I have 2 CV's and both neons are 5"- 6" longer than the one I got from pinball center. He claims I'm the only one, I find that difficult to believe that no one would notice such a big difference in size. Anyway I'll probably try the ones from planetary, they only have yellow and purple left. Thanks again Tim, you tried![quoted image]
Did you try a new transformer? May not be the tube at all. Very weird you those were shorter than yours and the one ralphwiggum (nice move BTW!) sent you, can't believe you're the only one that happened to at all.
Have you checked around for a local Neon Sign company? That was the route I was headed down before I found out it was really a bad transformer and a local shop here said it looked easy from the picture though we never got to the actual template / measurements and cost to do so.
I did try the transformer and no luck, probably going with the purple neon from Bay area, just to keep it more original, but I'm tempted by the LED replacement, seems a lot easier, but seems I don't do things the easy way
Be careful ordering these from the Pinball Center, I don't see how I could be the only one to complain about such a difference in length. It's not like it's an inch shorter, if you look at the pic it's significant.
thanks again Tim!
Would a local neon shop be able to re-gas the tube I sent you? Might be worth a visit to see what they can do.
Honestly, not that big of a deal. I found a local neon sign company, asked if they could do it, brought the plastic neon ramp in for him to make a template, and a day later had an awesome custom neon tube. He also kept the template if I decided to make additional color tubes in the future. All I can say is it is worth the effort. Total cost was $80. Good luck!
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