Good signal-to-noise ratio optogalvanic effect (OGE) has been obtained in a hollow cathode discharge using commercially available low cost and low power diode lasers emitting in the visible region of the spectrum. The OG profiles of Ne and He transitions suitable for diode laser wavelength locking to absolute reference have been studied. The amplitude and sign of the optogalvanic signal (OGS) have been measured simultaneously with the absorption in dependence on the laser power and the gas discharge parameters in order to find the conditions for optimum OGS.