Electroluminescent (EL) wire

[cteno4]

This stuff has been mentioned in a few discussions. I had played with it a long long time back and it was fun as it gives you the old neon sign lighting effect. The wire is coated with a phosphorescent compound that lights up under a high frequency ac current. Miller engineering has flat light up signs that use the same stuff applied to plastic base sheer. You can even buy flat sheets and cut it up to your own design and add the power contacts to it. They require a high frequency transformer to run them. They have become a rage to use in clothing for clubs as well!

 

Downside is that the coating is a tad brittle so bending and handling has to be done with good care. But you can do some interesting lighting effects with it. Simple one is to just run the wire around the edge of a sign to give it that neon framed effect or around the front of a building or along the main lines of a taller building.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroluminescent_wire

 

http://www.thatscoolwire.com/store/category.asp?CategoryID=202&gclid=CMnh2temxs0CFU5Zhgod1TwDJw

 

I recently got a little battery powered inverter and a length to play with very cheap ($1) on Ebay (low bid auction but they start at buy it now of a few bucks). But unfortunately I did not notice that the el wire was wrapped in a thick clear insulation coat that takes it to like 2mm in dia... But you can buy the unshelled wire on ebay cheap so I'll get some of that to use with the transformer to play with on some buildings. The fun thing this little transformer has is it lets you choose between always on, and a couple of different flashing rates.

 

One other caution that may be a deal killer for me is that the inverter does do a high pitch whine. I had forgotten about that. Curt has some of the Miller engineering signs on his layout and I can hear them in the next room but others don't. Have to look into the new chip oscillators to see if they eliminate the whine (I would think so).

 

Anyhow something fun to play with.

 

Jeff

Edited June 26, 2016 by cteno4

[kvp]

About the whine: The drive supposed to be 90-120V and 1000 Hz. Since the wire is a capacitive device, increasing the frequency would increase the power, unless the voltage is decreased, but below a treshold, it wouldn't work, so the maximal frequency is determined by the minimum voltage. High frequency (above 20 kHz) drives that are mostly inaudible might need a modified wire construction. My other idea would be going down to 100 Hz to match the hum of neon signs. (it would be 1/10th of the brightness though)

[cteno4]

Yeah it's only 1000hz but does sound much higher pitch and as some just don't hear it I've sort assumed it was a higher pitch noise generated than 1000hz (usually minimal hearing loss at 1000). The noise is a strong physical vibration of the inverter box as if you press on them you can dampen it a lot, so I need to tear into this one and see if there is a better way to secure the board that lessens the noise. I now remeber this issue with every Miller engineering install I've seen, maybe it's my ears as I can hear a tv fly transformer across the house. I really do want to see if there is a way to dampen it as its really annoying!

 

I'll try hooking a mic up to the pocket scope and see if I can get the freq of the sound generated.

 

Jeff

[utrainia]

 

 

The noise is a strong physical vibration of the inverter box as if you press on them you can dampen it a lot, so I need to tear into this one and see if there is a better way to secure the board that lessens the noise.

You could try potting the whole inverter in epoxy resin, that would stop any and all vibrations!