Here's a question. CV Neon that works sometimes. I have 12V at the transformer, even tried putting an external 12V on it and it wouldn't light. Left it on for a few hours and it came on and worked fine. Left off for about 18 hours and turned it on and it came right on.

I just got a new transformer but I don't want to drill out the rivets, etc if there's anything I might have overlooked.

Yes it started working last night and has worked ever since. I had 12V at the transformer input and had nothing. Put 12V on it and got nothing.

This pin has some strange random but small issues that seem to move. I even wondered if the 2.0H rom in it is flaky. The Ringmaster wasn't flinging the ball so much as it just dribbling off. When the neon came back he started flinging.

Wacky.

So it worked for 3 weeks and died again last night.

So the simple test for the transformer and Neon is make sure theres 12V to the Transformer input and ground the negative lead (like grounding one side of a coil) ?

When it wasn;t working 3 weeks ago I put 12VDC from a multiadapter on it. Got nothing. 2 Days later after i got a replacement transformer in the mail it started working and continued to operate for 3 weeks. So I didn't change anything. Last Thurs it stopped working again.

SO..I'll check for 12VDC at the transformer in again. If I have 12VDC but grounding the neg side does nothing then it must be the transformer or possibly a connection inside the housing itself.

Sound about right?

Replaced the transformer and it's worked ever since. Apparently they can SORT of fail as proved in this case.