Background
Working with a lot of electrical projects means i have gathered many mains extension leads over the years of many shapes and types. There is very little to go wrong with them, the only item being the neon indicator bulb if one is fitted.
I tested my collection of extension leads and found many of them either had no working neon light or it was very faint. I decided to see if they could be repaired. Neon bulbs are very cheap to buy costing less than £1 each.
Fortunately i had a small number of neon indicator units with neon bulbs built in. As i had had these for a number of years, originally intended to repair electric cooker hobs i decided to cannibalise these for the neon bulbs. I could always buy bulbs and repair the indicator units if the need arose or the cases could be fitted with LED's for low voltage projects.
I have done a lot of these repairs for a number of clients. The extension cables are failed during annual electrical testing procedures as the neon indicator is not working and have to be repaired or replaced. Where the case is easily opened and this applies mostly to the more modern units(<15 years old) it is cost effective to repair them even though the labour cost is many times the cost of the neon bulb! It is more expensive to have to safely dispose of the unit and travel to purchase replacements or place an order with a supplier and process the associated paperwork. i.e. the total cost of ownership is much higher than the cost of the unit itself.
I tested my collection of extension leads and found many of them either had no working neon light or it was very faint. I decided to see if they could be repaired. Neon bulbs are very cheap to buy costing less than £1 each.
Fortunately i had a small number of neon indicator units with neon bulbs built in. As i had had these for a number of years, originally intended to repair electric cooker hobs i decided to cannibalise these for the neon bulbs. I could always buy bulbs and repair the indicator units if the need arose or the cases could be fitted with LED's for low voltage projects.
I have done a lot of these repairs for a number of clients. The extension cables are failed during annual electrical testing procedures as the neon indicator is not working and have to be repaired or replaced. Where the case is easily opened and this applies mostly to the more modern units(<15 years old) it is cost effective to repair them even though the labour cost is many times the cost of the neon bulb! It is more expensive to have to safely dispose of the unit and travel to purchase replacements or place an order with a supplier and process the associated paperwork. i.e. the total cost of ownership is much higher than the cost of the unit itself.
This particular unit was about 20 years old but was easily opened by removing all the recessed screws on the rear of the unit, all 10 of them! The failed neon is easily seen. There is no sign of heat damage to the series resistor.
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The neon lamp was removed by cutting and de-soldering the leads then soldering in the new neon bulb. The extension was tested before the covers were re-attached. The replacement bulb in this unit was quite large in comparison to the others.
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This picture shows a selection of extension units daisy chained together to show the newly repaired neon bulbs in operation.
The units are now safe to use in hard to reach locations, e.g underside of desk, under a desk or table, in an equipment cabinet as the neon can be seen and the user is sure if the power is switched on or not.