As per title, does anyone know if it is possible to convert a 240v neon sign to work off a car battery 😕

Cheers

Yes, change the bulb to a 12VDC one………….or buy a horribly inefficient inverter.

It’s a neon sign so you can’t just change the bulb.

For a neon to work it normally needs to step up the voltage anyway so will probably have an inverter/transformer. the most efficient route would be to find the specs of the current inverter and get a 12V version to match. The quick and easy route is get a 12 to 240V inverter. I imagine you won’t need a hugely powerful inverter but look for something decent quality as a dirty or non-pure sine wave might affect the neon inverter.

Thanks will give it a try.

What could possibly go wrong.

Neon signs run in the order of kV – somewhere around ten to fifteen thousand Volts if memory serves – and require Alternating Current. To meet its power requirements you’d need a transformer specifically designed to run a neon sign rather than just some random inverter, and with all due respect if my knowledge of electronics was limited to asking “will it work” on a bike forum I sure as shit wouldn’t be going anywhere near it.

Here,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon-sign_transformer

I’d hazard you’d be better served buying an EL Wire kit. Not quite the same, but considerably less likely to kill you.

You would go:

Decent 12V to 240V inverter –>– original neon transformer –>– neon

Or if possible find a 12V inverter that is to spec for what the neon needs. I doubt you will find anything suitable to be honest.

We used to build daylight brightness touch screens that used CCFLs. They needed a very high voltage to get the tube to fire up and then a high (800-1200V) voltage to sustain he tube. Guy I was working with made a slight handling error and got a nice shock 😀

This

Sorry folks a little mis-information its a LED light not sure if it makes any difference though? Hopefully this link may show what I want to put into my Van.

All that hassle for a vw logo in a van ?

Check what output voltage that shitty Chinese transformer is using. Then start there, I’d hazard a guess its no more than 12v so might be dead easy to use a fused spur from vehicle electrics.

Big difference between LED and Neon!

Crap sign anyway.

its going in a vito right ?

Probably 12v already. Might need a regulator so just get a the correct car adapter once you know the voltage/power. Plenty on ebay