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The Plasma Lamps Page — Not just balls!

If you want a great deal on a blue plasma disc, check out this eBay person’s offering on a Luminglas model, from America. I had to pass up the opportunity to get this one, when a green one came along instead. I will remove this link if I find out that it sells. These run on 12 V DC, so if you have another power supply capable of 1 amp, you can run them in Australia.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the 1st time I saw a plasma ball, was the 1 that’s at the PowerHouse Museum in Sydney, when we went there on a school excursion. According to a chap that worked there, who I got on a video, it cost $15 000 in 1988! So it must’ve been when I was in about year 2 to year 5, I would say. I was in year 1 in 1987. Anyway, this big blue ball was apparently made by Bill Parker, an Australian who made a lot of plasma balls back in the 1980s. As the plasma glows blue in this particular ball, I would say it’s “doped” with iodine, which I’ve read about elsewhere, regarding making blue plasma lamps. It has a green tip to the plasma if it can be made to hover in one point at the top. I don’t know if that indicates what the main gas is. This is definitely a museum grade ball, and it’s really big! Maybe 50 cm in diameter. If you know more about this particular one, let me know.
Anyway, when I was a kid, I remember touching it with my whole hand, and it felt like I got a bit of a zap! Even though that’s not something that normally happens. Plasma balls are like a big capacitor, with a charge on the inside caused by the high voltage, and an opposing charge outside the glass. When you touch it, the opposing charge is increased, making the plasma streams more attracted to that spot. The current is alternating, not DC. This was proven by the guy I mentioned at the museum, who showed 2 L.E.D.s connected in reverse to each other, in parallel, both appearing to light up at the same time. This indicates that it’s producing AC. Otherwise, only 1 L.E.D. would be lit.
Plasma balls are usually evacuated of all air 1st and then filled with a low pressure amount of inert gas, or a combination of gases. Any of the noble gases (— column 18 on the periodic table of elements —) can be used, but 2 of them are problematic. Firstly, helium. While this will work, it will leak out of pretty much anything, including glass, due to the size of the atoms. Secondly, radon. This is radioactive, and is too dangerous to concentrate. It was suggested by somebody that it may produce a green-ish yellow colour — maybe because of its relationship to the glow that radium gives. So the other 4 gases, neon, krypton, xenon & argon are those which are mainly used. I think krypton is more expensive to obtain though, and neon on its own is quite fuzzy, and doesn’t make well defined plasma streams. Adjusting the circuit to match the resonant frequency of the ball also allows things to be brighter and more efficient. Depending on the size of the lamp, the output voltage may be a few thousand volts, and the AC frequency may be around 10 to 30 KHz, I think.

The PowerHouse Museum Plasma Ball
The chap at the PHM described this as a brush discharge in the middle, and the vertical plasma stream seemed to occur because the turbulence in the ball was very low. It just seemed to balance like this. It was achieved 1stly by the guy putting his hand directly above it. It wasn’t a one off either. I saw it happen at least 3 times.
Other gas filled objects, such as this fluorescent tube will light up in the close proximity of a plasma ball. Small neon bulbs are another good example you can use. The guy at the museum also had a “wand” of L.E.D.s connected in series to demonstrate things.
See a video of this plasma lamp. (1.82 MB)
It’s best if you save any of these files, if your web browser tries to play them instead. Some browsers may incorrectly declare that they’re corrupt, when it’s just their inability to play them. They all play fine in QuickTime 7, VLC & Light Alloy.

Heebie Jeebies Plasma Ball
I wanted a plasma ball for years, and this was a gift I received, but it didn’t last more than about 1½ years or so! Not very impressive. At the time of writing, (12th of September, 2024,) you can still get these, but I wouldn’t recommend one.
As you can see, this one has an exposed electrode, which directly comes in contact with the gas inside. In fact, it looks like a modified light bulb of sorts. Most other plasma balls have their electrode insulated by a glass coating, which also forms the outer part of the ball. In such a case, inside this central area, around the electrode, is often some other kind of metal that looks like steel wool or a pot scourer.
Here’s another sample from a video, of a small fluorescent lamp coming on next to the ball. It didn’t matter if I held it by the plastic or the base.
See a video of this plasma lamp. (996 KB)

Rabbit Systems White Lightning Plasma Lamp
I saw 4 of these in a video of somebody’s amazing collection of about 54 plasma lamps. Little did I know that 10 days after, I would actually own one! I saw some on eBay from America for quite a bit of money, and as I kept looking over the following days, I found this one from here in Australia. There was a photo showing the bottom of the unit, indicating it was supposed to run on 120 V at 60 Hz. I was a bit concerned about whether the frequency difference would affect it if I ran it from my transformer. Well, after some explaining from the seller, they said they got it here in Australia, and it had a transformer for 240 V operation. The frequency difference seemed to be irrelevant. (The transformer output is 24 V AC.) Anyway, it was a really great price, and the postage cost was very affordable too, so I jumped in quick smart! It’s also said to be a tricky model to obtain. I guess I looked at just the right time. I received it 2 days after the order as well, which was impressive, since it had to come from Victoria. I wanted this one for 2 reasons: It has white plasma with strange green ends, and it’s an unusual design. It’s like a double dome. There is an interior gap where the insulated connection to the electrode runs, and the gas is between the inner dome and the outer one.
In America, these were also sold under the Radio Shack / Tandy brand name, Realistic. They were called Lightning Fury. The eBay seller said they got it in about 1990. The date on the base says 1988, so I guess that would be right then.
When it’s running in the finer mode, you can hear a fuzzy tinkling noise on the glass, which I never noticed on my Heebie Jeebies one.
This thick plasma stream seems to occur less often than the fine, psycho looking one that this lamp does. There are 2 knobs on the front. The left one has a switch to turn it on, and turning it clockwise seems to make the plasma streams thinner and more crazy. Putting it too low though, will cause it to cut out. The right knob seems to adjust how long the plasma streams stay in the one spot, and how far from the top they come out. So perhaps these tweak the frequency and voltage levels. This picture’s from a video I did, so the quality isn’t the best. Taking a still picture would make it awkward to capture a single thick stream. The light output is gentle. This wouldn’t light up a whole room.
Here’s a slightly better picture. It really is tricky to get it to do these thicker plasma streams, and they’re not consistent, like I’ve seen in some people’s videos. So I don’t know if it’s variations between each lamp, whether something internally has worn out in the last 34 years or so, if it’s the external humidity conditions, or what. You just need to fiddle with the knobs to get it as close as possible. I think the left knob is actually the amount of voltage, and perhaps the right one adjusts the frequency. The plasma streams also seem to be concentrated more to the front, which makes me wonder if there’s some part of the base which is more conductive.
See a video of this plasma lamp. (1.61 MB)

You should be careful to keep sensitive electronic equipment away from plasma balls, including people with pace-makers.
Some of the technical details I said mightn’t be exactly correct, so let me know if I’m a bit off here and there. Although I don’t want to get this page overly complicated.
Come back again soon! Hopefully I will have a few more goodies to show on here eventually. Although these things cost a bit of money, so don’t expect more than maybe 1 extra every 1 or 2 years.

Be sure to check out my Plasma Thing program for Mac OS X (PowerPC) on The Downloads Page. (A Windows version is available by request.)

Plasma Lamp Manufacturers
• Aurora Plasma Design — These guys are one of the best for consumer priced plasma balls. They’re based in Canada, and only send their products to their own country, and to America. If you really want one though, you can arrange it for a courier service to collect a product from their warehouse and send it to you, but be prepared to pay a lot of money!
• Strattman Design — Top of the line plasma balls at museum grade quality. They’re based in America, and will send worldwide. Choose what gas you want, and even glass shapes. Power supplies are custom made to suit, and they also refill broken plasma balls. If you have the money, they are the best, but they aim most of their products for museums and the like, who can afford a few grand. From what I gather, Wayne Strattman was the chap who made the plasma discs for Star Trek: First Contact.
• Phantom Dynamics — Another American company with some serious quality. They also do tubes, LASERs, mirror balls and more.
• Tesla Coil Pro — A Russian company based in St. Petersburg. These guys make a broad range of products, a lot of which are hand made, including electrode-less plasma balls, with your choice of colour. (This means they have no internal electrode. You’re supposed to hold them near a Tesla coil.) They also have BagelGens, which are a special type of plasma lamp with a bagel shaped ring of plasma. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get them to respond to my e-mail, so I’m not sure what’s up there.

If you know of any other quality manufacturers, especially here in Australia, let me know.

Videos
(Externally hosted)
• Electrode-less krypton plasma balls by Tesla Coil Pro
• Somebody’s huge plasma lamp collection — I think I counted about 54 working ones.
• New Homemade Plasma Balls — I seem to keep losing this link! So hopefully it will stay here. There are some really cool electrode-less balls in this. Be sure to check out the fuzzy white one. This would be the sort of direction of plasma lighting.
• Intense Red Custom Plasma Ball — Another 1 by Tesla Coil Pro, which I saw a few years back. I wonder what’s in it. You don’t usually see red plasma balls. I don’t suppose it’s arsenic. I might be way off course there. I know they use that for red L.E.D.s, but it might not work the same.
• Xenon BagelGen dealies — Also by Tesla Coil Pro. One of these would be sweet, but they’re pretty expensive. You won’t find these on eBay or Amazon. Or if you have, tell me otherwise!
• Plasma Tubes Installation At Sevcabel, St Petersburg — These beggars look really big!