Flat Lights: The Light Emitting Capacitor (CeeLite)

[PhotonBoy]

http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/338/

The second comment on the page says: "This is just electroluminescent panels. The technology is 45 years old."

http://www.ceelite.com/index.asp

[Ken_McE]

Their main contribution is to come up with an exciting new name for EL panels?? *shrugs* They don't quite say, but it sounds like they're making high-K bluish panels their focus. I believe EL panels come in greenish and pinkish too, don't know what all else.

Update:

I wrote to them at <info@ceeluminosity.com> to see if they'd quote a price. Their NY rep wrote back, insists that their device is somehow not an EL product, but seems unwilling to answer questions by email, wants an address or phone number to call me at before he'll say anything.

Found a listing. One 8.5 x 11 sheet with inverter (power supply) $69 US. No hint as to brightness.

[PhotonBoy]

Maybe they DO have something different. Time has chosen CeeLite as one of the top 100 inventions of 2006:

http://www.time.com/time/2006/techgu...ns/light3.html

[Ken_McE]

Originally Posted by PhotonBoy

Maybe they DO have something different. Time has chosen CeeLite as one of the top 100 inventions of 2006

A good point. I wrote to shahieda_dasilva(at)timeinc.com to ask why it's in there and to Stu Sclarow, president of "Luminosity" (a vendor?) at STULIGHTS(at)aol.com and elester(at)ceelite.com(some kind of tech guy?) to ask how come they are not considered EL panels.

I also got the PDF "Technology Advantages" (Of Ceelites) available at:

http://www.ceelite.com/pdf/Technology_Advantages.pdf

Unfortunately, the PDF lies its ass off when comparing LED and CEL (their abbreviation for the Ceelite product) technologies.

I also find it somewhat disturbing that on their page:

http://www.ceelite.com/index.asp

they state:

CeeLite™ is the world’s first company to manufacture and market commercially-viable Light Emitting Capacitor (LEC) technology,

I think that the people at http://www.lightpanel.com/ might take exception to that statement, since they have been manufacturing "commercially- viable Light Emitting Capacitor technology" for over a decade now.

[KWillets]

Their FAQ is similarly evasive:

6. What is the difference between CeeLite and Electroluminescence (EL)?

There are a vast number of differences. Most importantly, CeeLite uses a proprietary manufacturing process to achieve high brightness and light uniformity suitable for the printing and signage industries. EL is an old technology. It is typically low brightness, small format and short life at high brightness.

[Ken_McE]

I lucked onto a tech guy at Ceelite and got the following information:

EL (Electroluminescent) Vs. LEC (Light emitting Capacitor)

EL is two wire, LEC is three wire. The third wire is a ground for safety, (not a bad idea.)

EL panels may emit RF noise. LEC panels do not.

LEC is designed to run at higher voltages, EL at lower. LEC can do this safely because of that ground wire.

EL is normally small in size and runs dimmer. LEC is normally large in size (feet rather than inches)and runs brighter.

EL power supplies whine like the worlds largest mosquito is in there desperately trying to get out. LEC power supplies run quietly.

The Ceelight people also feel that their phosphors and manufacturing are superior to ordinary ELs.

The Ceelight people work in Candela, not Lumens. Their panels are preset for 200 Candela per square Meter. I translate this as being 58.4 Lumens per square foot or 628 Lumens per square meter.

My standard for an ordinary 100 watt incandescent bulb is 1,700 lumens output. They vary but I find this a useful figure for comparisons. By my figuring it would take a 29 square foot (2.7 square meters) LEC panel to equal the output of a 100 watt incan. bulb. I'm going to see if I can get a retail price, life expectancy, and power consumption figure to go with that.

Update:


LEC Specs per vendor:

CP-US600-P/L 12"x36" Panel: $287 US
3 square feet, 36 watts, .75 amps, 696 Lumens
19.3 lumens/watt 232 lumens per square foot

Power supply INV-US600-B $146 US, Total $ 433
for panel with power supply.
8-10,000 hour life expectancy (not sure how they mean this)

[Canuke]

This is interesting. Just last Tuesday I was at the Los Angeles SIGGRAPH monthly event, and the guest speakers were all from the various branches of Sony Pictures Imageworks.

One of them was talking about some kind of light panel or "flat light" solution which he needed for lighting certain shots for the movie Ghost Rider. He worded it as "LED panels" but what he was describing certainly sounded like this.

He said that it didn't exist when he first realized he needed it, but it was invented just in time for them to use on the movie. That places the announcement of the "invention" within the still-ongoing production schedule for Ghost Rider.

Wish I'd seen this post earlier, then I could have asked him for more info.

[IMSabbel]

Originally Posted by Ken_McE

I lucked onto a tech guy at Ceelite and got the following information:

EL (Electroluminescent) Vs. LEC (Light emitting Capacitor)

EL is two wire, LEC is three wire. The third wire is a ground for safety, (not a bad idea.)

EL panels may emit RF noise. LEC panels do not.

LEC is designed to run at higher voltages, EL at lower. LEC can do this safely because of that ground wire.

EL is normally small in size and runs dimmer. LEC is normally large in size (feet rather than inches)and runs brighter.

EL power supplies whine like the worlds largest mosquito is in there desperately trying to get out. LEC power supplies run quietly.

So they are saying its actually the same, just with minor differences in the power supply?
Thats a lot of talk to avoid making that point....