Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange
Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [el-wire]

EL wire, or electroluminescent wire, contains a phosphor which glows when powered by an alternating current.

EL wire is constructed using copper wire core coated with a phosphorescent material wrapped (in a spiral pattern) by a second copper conductor. The wire is then covered with a clear PVC protective sleeve, and a second sleeve that may be clear, colored translucent, or fluorescent. The wire will glow when driven with an AC potential in a range of approximately 90-120V at a frequency of approximately 1 kHz.

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How to make your own electroluminescent wire?

I saw Jeri Ellsworth's videos on making your own el wire. It looks simple and since I do neon work, I have a collection of many different colored phosphors. I tried two ways to make the wire: sticking the phosphors with E6000 glue, then using a…
Kiki Jewell
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What factors affect the brightness of electroluminescent wire?

I'm interested in experimenting with creating my own electroluminescent (EL) wire. I've seen some videos on creating your own by Jeri Ellsworth. I have a few additional questions. I understand that voltage and frequency of alternating current both…
user379468
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Modifying El Wire driver for Brightness control

I have an El-Driver that has a potentiometer to control the brightness. I would like to control the brightness with an Arduino, replacing the potentiometer. Here is the schematic of the brightness control stage: simulate this circuit – Schematic…
xoxu
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How to make your own EL Wire (electroluminescent wire) inverter

I would like to make an EL wire (electroluminescent wire) inverter because I can't seem to find a commercial inverter that can drive the right length of wire from the batteries I would like to use: all inverters that run on AA/AAA that I can find…
angelatlarge
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EL Wire vs EL Panel, difference in voltage and frequency needed?

I am currently researching Electroluminescent Inverters/Drivers for a project. There is many accounts that EL Wire needs a higher voltage and frequency than an EL panel or tape needs. (300vpp vs 150vpp, 2000hz vs 400hz, typical/average numbers).…
Passerby
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Driving EL wire with Supertex HV850 family drivers

I was considering driving EL wire with Supertex'es ICs or some equivalent ICs from another manufacturer. The ICs are designed to drive EL panels not EL wire. Would this still work? Supertex'es ICs are rated for "lamp sizes" up to 42 square inch. My…
Martin Maciaszek
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Most efficient way to power both 12V and 5V off a battery

I'm building a lighting project for Burning Man and I have both 12V inputs and 5V inputs that need to be powered off of batteries. Here are the max loads: ATmega328p - 25mA at 5V Addressable LEDs - 100mA at 5V Ultra-bright LED - 1.1A at 5V EL…
Samuel Clay
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Correct EL Driver Rating for 8 Channel Sequencer

I'm trying to use an 8 channel EL sequencer (found here) to control eight 10-foot segments of EL wire. I'm having trouble figuring out what the appropriate length rating is that I need on an inverter. I've read conflicting opinions. One states I…
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Power El wire from Mains

I have been looking at EL wire inverter, and most are battery powered. I want to power it from mains power. I was looking at having a transformer to step down from 220AC to 110AC. This gives me 110AC at 60Hz. Good voltage for most El wire but too…
Joao Leitao
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PNP Astable Multivibrator Variation

I am trying to learn astable multivibrator circuits and I found one in an EL wire driver. I have noticed it has a 100nF ceramic capacitor connected between the transistor bases and additional 22R resistors. I have never seen these before in the…
CDW
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My triac turns on when gate attached to vcc (good)... but also when connected to ground (bad)

I'm still really new at working with triacs and understanding them, but I want to make a circuit that allows a microcontroller to turn on/off an AC signal (very low power, not mains, don't worry) to blink and sequence EL wire. I sketched up this…
user358829
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Arduino triggering a TRIAC for EL Wire, no optoisolator

I have been researching and looking up how to control EL wire online and I will be using the same layout as the EL Escudo shield from Sparkfun but just for one strand. Basically: Arduino (+ resistor) -> Triac Gate -> EL…
Alex Eckermann
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Looking for and SMD optocoupled TRIAC

I'm looking for a SMD optocoupled TRIAC part for driving EL Wire (110VAC, 1000Hz, low current non-resistive load) with an ATTiny85 pin (TTL, 20mA max) running at 3.3V. The previous design used the Z0103 non-optocoupled TRIAC, but it seems there is a…
Havok
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Powering EL Wire from a PoE power source

I'm checking out some EL wire through the simplest means I've found: using the EL Escudo shield. I have connected it to an EtherTen microcontroller, and following the instructions in the EL Escudo manual, it all goes swimmingly. That's until I don't…
kodamapixel
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Which wire is suitable for connecting runs of EL wire?

I've got a little EL wire project coming up. Unfortunately I'm not too savvy when it comes to electronics, but there's plenty of tutorials online to tell me what to do. I'm clear on most of what I'll need to have and know (inverter, sequencer, how…
G_H
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