Vbeez said:
Anybody can help me with info about EL wire ? What do you call thin EL wire, EL tape or ribbon ? How to make display with this thin EL ? Where to get them ? Any website explaining EL know how ?
Acoording to the guy at:
http://www.thatscoolwire.com/
the wire comes in .09, 2.3, and 4.0 millimeters thick. He also rates them as to relative and absolute brightness.
My understanding is that the EL wire has a metal core, a plastic jacket, and more metal wires close but not touching the core. You run an AC current through it and the plastic glows. Don't know if you'd consider it a sort of capacitor or what. The wire does have a life expectency Sunlight will fade it and it slowly wears out with use. Running it harder will wear it out faster. It's life expectancy can probably be measured in thousands of hours of run time.
If you happen to have access to 277 volt AC current I can give you a green EL panel about 8x10" By daylight it just looks like a bright green piece of plastic. At night it is about as bright per square inch as a cyalume stick.
So far as making displays, the only real limit is your own talent. You can bend it like fishline, run it underwater, glue it, tie it, staple it, put it in your car, power it off a battery pack and walk around wearing it, etc.
