Electroluminescent wire & RGB color addition

[strantor]

Has anyone here used EL wire before? The info I can find on it seems very limited and usually in chinglish. What I have found is that it needs 90-120VAC @ 1000Hz and draws very little current. I am curious about it's life expectancy (and what effects life expecancy, brightness, flashing, heat, etc), bend radius, and how to control the intensity of it. Also I cannot find a driver circuit for it.

For a project I am conjuring up, I want to used 3 strands of EL wire (red, green, blue) together to be able to create any color. I am thinking this will require some kind of white translucent diffuser around all 3 wires to add the colors or else you would just see a red, blue, and a green wire next to eachother. For my project, these EL wires will be suspended inside a clear acryllic casting (hence why I need to know about life expectancy). I was thinking of adding some white translucent dye to the acryllic immediately surrounding the wires to provide the diffusion. Does that sound like a sound plan?

 

[strantor]

UPDATE: found a driver circuit: **broken link removed**

UPDATE2: found life expectancy "EL wire should have 3000 to 5000 hours of glowing life before the phosphor fades to 1/2 of its normal brightness." - but not sure if that's correct. I would rather read it in a datasheet if i can find one.

**broken link removed** says up to 25000 hrs depending on brightness

 

[strantor]

never mind. the more i read about this stuff the less interested i am in it.

 

[atferrari]

Hola strantor,

Time ago I was deeply involved with EL wire.

You can play with voltage and frequency.

The weird colors are sometimes a little bit discouraging (at least for me).

In spite I was certainly enthusiastic with them I never completed a design.

 

[Sceadwian]

Why aren't you interested in it strantor? For what use did you intend it?

 

[strantor]

Why aren't you interested in it strantor? For what use did you intend it?

I'm making a clock, which basically will be huge and have a base like a lamp. The base will be made in a mold out of clear casting resin. I was planning to have the EL wires come up through the center and change color depending on the time. All the manufacturers (that even provide info on their product) give their rated life span at max voltage/frequency and just make the broad claim that it will last "significantly longer" at a lower voltage/frequency. Since I can't find a manufacturer that will directly specify the life span for a given voltage/frequency I am not willing to spend money on it when I don't know long it will last as a permanent fixture.

 

[4pyros]

You can use LEDs

 

[strantor]

yep. that was the original plan, then I got side tracked by el wire, and now I'm back on track.

 

[Sceadwian]

Strantor, there's an easy solution for that, don't embed the EL wire in the lamp base, embed a slightly milky plastic tube that will allow you to feed the EL wire through it, easy to replace. Think about it, if you braid the three EL wire's together and feed them through the tube you'll get some very unique and pretty effects as the color will change slightly over the length of the wire even if it's set all on (one wire will block the other) Smooth color transitions would give a marque style flow effect up or down through the base.

LED base lighting has been done a thousand times and more before, you have some unique possibilities with EL wire, and using something like milk plastic tubing will act as the diffuser, so it's a win win, you can replace the EL wire any time it's required as long as the bends aren't too sharp. Nothing you can do with LEDs will look anything like EL Wire could.