Electronic – ny reason nowadays to use a neon indicator lamp instead of an LED

indicatorneon

I have a bunch of old neon indicator lamps recovered from old AC devices and used to indicate power status.

I wonder: is there any reason nowadays to use the neon lamps instead of LEDs? I see they are still widely available.

LEDs are cheaper even after considering the need for a diode in AC applications. They blink half as often in AC applications, but emit much more light per watt.

In what cases are neon indicator lamps still preferred?

Best Answer

Neon bulbs use microamps of current when fed through a dropping resistor directly from the AC line. LEDs need 10× to 100× the current and can't be fed AC directly.