Recent content by Vintage_MPG

Just so I'm doing this correctly, if I ground one lead to this lift anchor bolt (it's buried in the concrete and drilled into the earth) then use my other lead to touch/tap/probe my letter housing, that's where I might find the transient voltage, correct? Along with brushing the back of my...

Holy smokes... They may not be hanging around long if they're bringing that kind of loot. I have other projects that have priority! HAHAHA!

I love the neon - it's stellar! However - I'm afraid that by the time I get all six of these letters to light up with the existing neon, it's going to be TOO MUCH light. They'll dominate the entire shop mojo! That's all you'll see - T E X A C O in all her full-lit glory! I may end up...

How'd you know this think would be red neon? PBKN - how'd you know that was what this transfer was? Brilliant, I tell ya! OUTSTANDING!

With the dirty cover laying on top - While it was on, I tapped around the case with my multimeter, trying to measure some sort of voltage.. Found nothing, but again - I'm not trusting myself to know what I'm looking for. I set the meter to AC voltage and checked an outlet in my shop; that...

That thing fired right up with no noise or anything. ****! But - now I'm scared to go near it! Is there voltage floating around that beast? Can I test the case with my cheap Klein multimeter? Getting close with the T! Haha! WAHOO!

Here's what I know about T:

So I have this multimeter now. It's rated for Cat III, 600V. If I wire up one of my letters and plug it in, I can use this to chase down stray voltage, is that correct? Instead of finding it with my body?! I'm trying to learn this as quickly as I can. Also trying to be safe.

Would a multimeter like this one be sufficient? Seems like things really jump in price from Cat III to Cat IV. Just want to be sure I'm chasing the correct tool -...

So just getting back to thinking on this....but if each letter has its own built-in transformer, I likely don't need the grey units, correct? Each light looks to be a self-contained unit. Am I thinking of this correctly? The grey units are 9000V units, looks like - they must have come from...

Can I wire that to 110v? I'm such a noob to all of this. I better do more reading....

The gentleman I got the letters from also handed me two transformers (?) - I don't even know what these things do! But he gave them to me, and I still have them. I've forgotten all that was involved with these. From the surface it seems like an LED conversion would be much simpler, yeah...

Here's what I found when I popped the lid on the "T" - The label says Luminous Tube Transformer. Looks intimidating. Not going to lie.

You guys are good! I haven't tried them as they are; I'll peel off the back of one of the letters and snap a pic of what's going on inside. I'll also shoot you a photo of the transformer/ballast that came with the letters. You might have a great idea on how to bring them back to life.

Hey all - So I have a set of large TEXACO letters that I've had for years; for as long as I've owned them, I have wanted to bring them back to some sort of funtional form - but I've never pulled the trigger...but now I think it's time! I'm wondering how you experts would go about bringing...