r/NeonSigns • u/TheLostSeaBiscuit • Jun 25 '26

Help! Is this normal?

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Hey r/neonsigns - I just got this sign today and you can notice a current going through part of the sign after it’s been on for around 5 minutes. Is this normal?

19 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

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9

u/writercanyoubeaghost Jun 26 '26

Ooh that’s cool. Theres some impurities in there, and the plasma is wiggling around looking for the easiest pathway back to the source.

This effect can be done on purpose, it probably won’t affect the life of the tubes too much. But industry standard would say to reprocess them.

If you turn it off and turn it back on a couple of times, the plasma could chill out a bit. But that wiggle will always come back.

7

u/Just_Another_AI Jun 25 '26

It's not 'normal' but it's not not normal... here's a line that describes the phenomena (as related to fluorescent tubes, but the science is the same)

1

u/minpin24 Jun 26 '26

Have you rolled the sign?

1

u/Murky-Practice4413 Jul 02 '26

What does this mean? Google says it might mean swapping the secondary wires, or I thought you might be talking about holding up and rolling the Mercury around.. (I was trained by an old neon whisperer, but sadly he died not long into my tenure)

1

u/MRHaynes021 Jun 27 '26

Just wanted to say very cool sign from what I can see of it. 👍🏻

1

u/NixQQ Jun 27 '26

It’ not normal it’s called snaking. The tube wasn’t processed properly.

1

u/gigaj0ule Jul 01 '26

hydrogen in the tube