license plate neon lights problem

[honeybabes]

Hey guys I hope you can help me with this.

K here's the problem, I bought this neon light for license plate and used it for lessthan half an hour then I just noticed that only about 2 inches of it were lit after that period of time. It was working fine after I hooked it up but for some reason it does that problem. I just thought I have a week battery(it was hooked directly from battery) so i didn't bother alot and just let it does that. But yesterday after I changed with a brand new battery it still did the same thing. Will lit up for few minutes then back to 2 inches light after. So I took it off the car and used my keyboard(musical) adaptor(12 v output) to test it, I thought it was ok because it works fine and I decided to let it run for few hours to see what will happen, but after 10 minutes only half of the neon were lit. So I was like WTF....

few things I noticed:
1. on half lit neon, when I touch the wire that goes to it(neon light bar) from transformer, it will die then goes back half lit when I release the wire.

2. on full lit neon(right after I plug the adaptor), it will go half way lit or die when I touch one of the wire that connects the adaptor and neon light.

so you think this is transformer problem. If it is it sucks cause i only used it for lessthan half hour. and is it possible to buy transformer? or make my own(12 volts dc convert to 1500 volts ac 350 milliamps)?

[mx3TT]

Seems like you have loose connections in the transformer. Try to check it out the best you can. I would return it and say it was defective.

[marshmallow15]

definitely a loose connection... is it one of those transformers where you put the wire and secure it by screwing it down? those are the WORST.. and that's your problem right there... solder the wire to the screw for a good connection.

[honeybabes]

thanks for the help guys...really appreciate it.

this came with transformer without any screw thing. it just twist together wire thing(if you know what I mean) but I will try to solder the wires together instead of just twisting them. Maybe you guys are right about loose connection.

more info about it:

transformer input : 9-14 volts DC
transformer output: 1500 volts AC, 350milliamp

thanks again