Old neon signs

[dandan111]

I have an old 1970s neon sign. It has a new modern transformer on it that makes
it much lighter and I hope a little more safe. I’m new to neon signs and my question
is I’m getting a very small shock when you touch the frame, is this normal?
When we were kids my grandmother’s refrigerator would do the same thing.
Maybe it’s the nature of the old electric stuff?
If you plant your finger flat on the frame you feel nothing but if you touch a corner
of it lightly you will feel it.

 

[kbuhagiar]

I'll defer to the sparkies here for confirmation...but my instinct tells me it is NEVER normal to receive any sort of shock when touching ANY energized electric device.

Exclusive to this is static electricity, which will cause a momentary shock when discharging (i.e. touching a doorknob after shuffling your feet on a carpet) but otherwise no shock is normal, and is indicative of some sort of fault in the electric device.

 

[RPH]

Capacitive couple to the frame. Frame needs to be grounded.

 

[Davefr]

Neon typically runs at 10,000 volts/60 Hz. At that voltage every HV connection has to be very well insulated and have plenty of clearance from the frame. Old insulators, HV connections too close the metal frame are areas to look at.

 

[dandan111]

It looks pretty good. I can see connections close to the frame.
I ran it for hours. Shut it off and felt around. Nothing is hot.

 

[dandan111]

A guy I know was over and said he remembers all of them being like this? I don’t know..

 

[BrandonV]

In the old days? Probably. Grounding the frame it is a good idea and will eliminate the capacitive effect.

 

[BillK]

You should not be feeling anything on the frame, period. If you are then somewhere there is insulation breaking down. I have worked around plenty or high voltage in my Navy radar days and in my Ham Radio equipment so I feel pretty knowledgeable. Grounding the frame might cause more problems if there actually is a leak. The HV will take the path of least resistance.

If you want to be safe then take it to a shop that works on them. Never touch it or mess with it when it is plugged in.

 

[nadogail]

Equipment Ground Wires prevent most shocks.