El Wire Projects

BitterDan · Post by **BitterDan** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 11:31 am

I am thinking about doing some El Wire art but I don't know much about how it works. I am hoping that some of you can give me some tips on using this stuff.

1. There seems to be many different brands of El Wire out there. What is a good brand to start with or does it even matter?

2. How do I power these things? I know that there are inverters for use with batteries which is probably the route I'd want to go but I just don't know what kind of inverters I would need for my project(s). Do I need to make calculations about the length of my wire as proportional to my power supply? If so, does anyone know the formula(s) for determining this?

3. How would I attach the wire to, say, a piece of plywood? Could I just glue it or would that be harmful or dangerous? Does this stuff get hot?

That's the main questions I have about the stuff and I'd like to figure this out before I go and order some wire. Any help you can give would be appreciated (I'll buy you a PBR at the next burn too).

phil · Post by **phil** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 11:38 am

see if these links help:

http://www.elwire.com/faq/index.html
http://www.coolight.com/
See their menu on the left for drivers, inverters, tools
http://livewireent.com/frameset.html?3
http://www.vibelights.com/elwirefaq.html
http://www.vibelights.com/lehowtosoelw.html

BitterDan · Post by **BitterDan** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 11:46 am

Yes, very helpful. Thanks Phil!

asp3 · Post by **asp3** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:44 pm

You might also try the Burning Bright tribe on tribe.net.

http://tribes.tribe.net/burningbright?_ ... 633ac72%5D

BitterDan · Post by **BitterDan** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:55 pm

Sweet, I'll check it out. Thanks again.

pbmaniac2000 · Post by **pbmaniac2000** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 6:48 pm

If you have any more specific questions let me know. I work for a company that uses El Wire every day. So i know almost too much about it. lol.

BitterDan · Post by **BitterDan** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 5:56 pm

Thanks.

Just from the small amount of research I have done on the stuff it seems pretty simple.

Basically I plan on making flat artworks using el wire of different colors (kind of like neon signs I suppose). I guess my latest question on this topic would be is it OK to splice different colors together or do I need a power source for each color?

dr.placebo · Post by **dr.placebo** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 1:52 am

You can splice EL-wire together with care. Take two pieces of EL-wire, connect the cores together and the corona (fine) wires together and the combination behaves essentially as one length of EL-wire.

You need to have some idea about the length of the wire that you want to driver with any given inverter. Almost all inverters are designed for a fixed range of wire lengths. Go outside that range and you lose efficiency and (possibly) have safety problems with overheating.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 7:30 am

Is that cumalitive length (five inches here, four there) or 24 wires all less than 7 inches.

Okay it's got to be the first.