Pics of Your EL Wire/Glow Wire Projects

I love EL wire. Would love to see pics of any EL projects people have done.

I put some on the hilt of a sword:



And put some on a piece of mirrored acrylic in the shape of a snowflake:



A few more:

http://www.neonstring.com/Gallery.html

-Eric

Here is my project:
http://cdn-channels.netscape.com/gallery/i/a/aleigh/lg4.jpg

my project has nothing to do with the EL wire, but to try to convince this girl to go home with me

New to this group.

where can one buy EL wire?

Thanks

dcarch8:huh2:

Try Ebay.

WOW! Perfect idea for next Xmas!!

What kind of power does this stuff take? Is it very efficient? I've got a couple of ideas but don't know much about it.

TIA,
-LT

I think they are 9V and 12V Not sure.

EL wire requires approx 100Vrms @ 60 to 4000 Hz (AC)

It acts like a "lossy capacitor", with exact current requirements varying
with frequency (as does brightness and lifetime), but figure a couple of
mA per meter in general. It's the same technology as EL backlights,
only in wire form. Warning: drivers designed for EL backlights don't
work very well; the voltage and frequence tend to both be too low
(small panels take something like 80Vp-p at 400Hz. 100Vrms is like 280Vp-p,
and 2000Hz is a typical drive frequency.)

The places that sell EL wire usually also sell a good assortment of inverters
(and sequencers) operating from 3V to 12V (or 110Vac)...

My favorite vendor has been http://www.coolight.com
Also with a good reputation http://www.coolneon.com
And a CPF member: http://NeonString.com/

Neon wire Kimono

One of my side projects is a variable frequency (and thus variable brightness)
neon wire driver. It's "coming along", but is at the point where I need to sit
down and write firmware, which usually results in a long delay. There's a
variable brightness sequencer that is even further away...

see also http://el-wire.tribe.net/ and related forums (not very active, though.)

Thanks for the info. I like the kimono but is it wall art or wearable?

Also how did you power the dog collar?

-LT

billw : I'm trying to make 12 volt inverter for my 5mm 1m el wire, main difficulty is the inductor/transformer. I want to put them in separate places in my car. Is there any website I can learn from ?
Guys, keep it up, should make more noise with these EL.

Just curious, how did you get the EL wires to shape up like a snowflake or any other design for that matter?

The wire is about 1/8 inch diameter (widths of like 1, 1.2, 2.3, 3.2, 5, 6mm,
depending on manufacturer) and is about as flexible as small-diameter
solid-core coax. It's pretty easy to bend to any shape, and you can tack
it to a backing with thread, cableties, glue, all sorts of things... This is
one of the things that makes it so neat.

vaism said:

Just curious, how did you get the EL wires to shape up like a snowflake or any other design for that matter?

Click to expand...

Well I know you asked this about 10 months ago, but since Christmas is coming up again...

The mirrored background on the snowflake


is mirrored acrylic from a plastics store in Houston (Regal Plastics). You can have them bend one end of it so that it will stand on its own. The glue is made by IPS Corporation, and is called "Weld-On" and it is number 3. I'm not sure what that number 3 designates, but that's what I have. I also got that at Regal Plastics. It is thinner than water, and you need a "Plasticator" for applying it. It is basically a little squeeze bottle with a two-inch needle sticking out of it.
I found a picture of a snowflake on Google that would work. You can't bend el wire on sharp angles without risking losing some light at the bend points, so I used a design that was all curvy. I printed the picture, taped it to the mirror, and used something sharp to scratch the outline of the paper cutout, so I could use the scratched lines as reference.Then I removed the paper and began glueing the wire to the plastic. It is a painstaking process, because you have to hold the wire in place, glue it, and hold it in place to it can dry before you glue the next section.

Note: This isn't something you would want to leave turned on all the time, because el wire "burns out" over time as it is used. While it is lit, the phosphorous molecules crack. If the Lytec wire is burned 6 hours a day for 365 days, it will be about half its original brightness. For this reason, some applications of EL wire are better than others. For example: Costume with el wire - awesome application. Business sign out of el wire - not-so-awesome application.

-Eric