peternewman Posted December 17, 2007 Share Posted December 17, 2007 Hi all, Just thought I'd let you know I found EL wire very cheap in my local Ikea. Its available as green, yellow, white and orange about a meter of wire (Edit: its actually 1.5m) with a small PSU at the end, which allows solid or flashing, running off 2 AA batteries. I can't find it on their website but it's called "GLÄNSA" and is just by the checkouts at Edmonton at least. All for only £0.99 each. Probably great for panto and similar costumes, if a bit late for this years. Anyway thought people might be interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Lewis Posted December 17, 2007 Share Posted December 17, 2007 Seems that GLÄNSA refres to quite a lot of their products (a rough translation is "shine" (apparently!)) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peternewman Posted December 17, 2007 Author Share Posted December 17, 2007 Indeed it does, although as mentioned I can't see the EL wire on the website, and the page doesn't exist when I enter the product code. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter Posted December 17, 2007 Share Posted December 17, 2007 In the Ikea in Warrington they also had 10m lengths for £2.99, although none of the demo units were actually working when I walked past :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musht Posted December 17, 2007 Share Posted December 17, 2007 Could be a sell off, they had it last year in the battery packed 1m lengths and 10m with wall wart discounted after Christmas. Makes for a good deal compared tp eBay. Yellow is brightest BTW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peternewman Posted December 17, 2007 Author Share Posted December 17, 2007 I saw the 10m mains ones mentioned in various places on the web. Didn't notice any at my store, although I didn't look too carefully round the lighting areas, just saw them by the checkout. They also had some rather neat if expensive LED strip sets in the main lighting area, not DMX or anything of course, but they looked quite nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted December 17, 2007 Share Posted December 17, 2007 I am intrested in getting some for our next show ( Arabian Nights). If anyone can find out how long the £2.99 battery powered lengths are and available colours PM me. It would be much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted December 17, 2007 Share Posted December 17, 2007 On a related note, I have a few lengths of EL wire I picked up a few months back, which only seem to work with the wall-warts they came with.I'd like to be able to stick a basic wall-wart on them, plugged to a DMX switch pack, and get these to run when I want them to...I surmised that it should in theory be a simple matter of applying volts to the terminals, but when last I tried, I failed to illuminate the blighters... I recall measuring the output of the wart, and getting a low DC voltage... Have to admit I've not tried TOO hard yet, but curiosity will get the better of me one day - unless someone out there knows what one SHOULD apply to the things to get them to come on...! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pritch Posted December 17, 2007 Share Posted December 17, 2007 I surmised that it should in theory be a simple matter of applying volts to the terminals, but when last I tried, I failed to illuminate the blighters... I recall measuring the output of the wart, and getting a low DC voltage... My understanding of EL stuff is that it normally uses a fairly high voltage at low current. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalljoshua Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 What is EL stuff for the LEss informed. Or is it just me? Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musht Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 Frequency rather than volts,its a light emmitting capacitor, 50Hz unfortunately too low, will normally light dimly on US 120V 60Hz though. Wall wart will have an inline black box which is a high frequency inverter, usually few hundred Hz, higher frequency is brighter but shortens life. Happen to have an Anytronics 4 channel analogue controlled, 0-10V. EL driver pack gathering dust.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatman Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 What is EL stuff for the LEss informed. Or is it just me? Josh Wikipedia is your second best friend. :** laughs out loud **: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 Happen to have an Anytronics 4 channel analogue controlled, 0-10V. EL driver pack gathering dust....You do?:** laughs out loud **:PM on the way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete McCrea Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 I've got a pack of the LED's in our unit lighting up the sign by the door. About 24mm pitch between the SMD's. Controlled by a push button that gives 3 options- Solid Colour choices, snap between colours, fade between colours and off. Ideal for modifying as they are basically supplied with 4 rails; ground R, G and B from the PSU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Hampson Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 Just happened to drop into IKEA last night, The 10m EL wire was there, and it was working, it's just very dim, compared to the stuff I've seen before. I suppose in a blackout it would be great, but in the store under normal lighting conditions it's hard to tell whether it's on or not, even the display stuff that was stuck to a black wall. Does it have a life span and get dimmer over time, or are they like LED's and pretty much last forever. I assume the IKEA ones are on 24/7 and have been for some time. Then again what do you want for £3... All I've got to do now is work out what to do with the stuff now that I can get it cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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