Hello,

Perhaps this old book may answer some of the NEON lamp questions.

Bertus

 

Or use a piece of black shrink wrap over the bulb. You’ll probably need to paint the tip...

That's probably not going to fix the problem.

Some trigger tubes use radioactive gas inside to stabilize the trigger point.

Here is some fascinating in-depth reading about gas discharge tubes:

http://g3ynh.info/disch_tube/intro.html

 

YEs, I know that. I was attempting a sub for a diac. Neons trigger at 100v, and I wanted enough current to switch a triac.

This sounds like an idea that isn't going to result in much success. It is good that you were thinking out of the box, but there is probably a reason why we have never seen a neon lamp (at least I haven't) used to trigger a triac or SCR. Just guessing at what you neon lamp would do, after firing it will drop 60 to 70 volts, with a 330 resistor that will give you around 100 ma of current -plenty enough to fire most triacs/diacs but in the process the peak power in the bulb is around 7 watts. As crutschow has indicated, this is this is more most "pilot light" size neon lamps can survive.

If you cannot get a diac, which is the low voltage equivalent of a neon lamp, you can try a pair of transistors connected as a bidirectional avalanche diode:

 

Wonderful solution, Dick! What's the avalanche voltage threshole for a BJT?

If you cannot get a diac, which is the low voltage equivalent of a neon lamp, you can try a pair of transistors connected as a bidirectional avalanche diode:

View attachment 216798