Anyone used EL wire?

[sunray]

Many years ago I made an 8 pointed cross for my outdoor christmas tree.2x 4 way plastic besa boxes mounted back to back offset by 45^o and clear 20mm PVC tube, loads of white leds wired in series.It's now become too unreliable and I thought I'd repair with LED tape but I need something which illuminates all round and my searching has come up with EL wire. Is it likely to be the right product and how easy is it to terminate?

 

[david.elsbury]

EL wire is very dim in comparison to most other products. Have you considered side emitting LED “neon”? Bigclive has posted some tear down videos recently-

[tonytech]

EL wire isnt terribly bright.

I've used some white wire to mark the edge of a raised area on our stage... It was masked to be out of the audiences direct line of sight.

It was bright enough to stop student stepping into the abyss during a blackout, but not bright enough to be obvious to the audience.It is fairly energy efficient so ran for 6 shows on a set of batteries, saving a further trip hazard.T

 

 

[adam2]

Agree, EL wire is not very bright and probably unsuitable for the O/Ps requirements.

 

To re-use the Christmas star I would either replace the LEDs or use some cheap ready made LED Christmas lights. If wiring up discrete LEDs I would use a very low AC voltage, perhaps 4 or 5 volts, and wire the LEDs in inverse parallel pairs, with a dropper resistance in series with each pair. AC is far preferable to DC in such circumstances as corrosion is less of a problem. Alternatively use cheap ready made battery operated LED Christmas lights powered either from batteries as intended, or via an ELV power supply that is located indoors. Such lights are of course DC but are hopefully better insulated than anything home made and therefore not too vulnerable to corrosion.

 

 

 

[sunray]

EL wire is very dim in comparison to most other products. Have you considered side emitting LED "neon"? Bigclive has posted some tear down videos recently-

As it happens I watched the video just before I started the thread and earlier in the day I'd lbeen given the opportunity to handle a sign made with the neon strip. I found there is a big dark side to the strip and I'm trying to find a product that gives more like a 360^o radiation pattern.

 

I was actually wondering about using fluo tubes but I feel it would be silly proposition these days.

 

As an aside I made a cross using a 3ft & 8ft flou tubes and wire for a show some 40 years ago. Initially it was flown in illuminated with par 36 pin spots pointing straight up as the lighting on a choir dimmed, then lit normally [struck] as the choir pointed to it and the stage faded to black. Initially we were concerned about the flickering as it struck but in the end it seemed to work with the crescendo almost like lightening.

 

[Superpants]

I've used El wire and tape in a number of costumes- I did a write up of my Tron on here:

 

Tron

 

 

As others have said it isn't very bright. Some colours are much brighter than others though, and to get the best out of it you need to drive it with an appropriate inverter for the length. As others have suggested it may well not be bright enough for your needs

 

Terminating to it is very fiddly, so if you just want a one off project it's easier to buy it pre-terminated in the next length up than the one you need and cut it back rather than terminating yourself. (There are a couple of good tutorials on instructables on this).

 

Normally it's based on a solid core wire, so it holds it's shape but doesn't take flexing very well.

 

For a reliable UK source, I use ELwirecraft.

 

Basic 1m kits with 2AA inverter are pretty cheap- I'd recommend buying one and experimenting.

[sunray]

Thanks, my concern was brightness which is very hard to ensisage from pictures or videos.

I'll require 8 pieces amounting to well under 3 metres and all terminating in a besa box so I'm hoping to avoid any sort of bulky connector I haven't yet seen a way of terminating without it but I haven't looked too hard yet. The flexible neon strip is ideal from this point of view as it can be soldered.

 

[bigclive]

You may find that traditional LED rope light does the job best.

 

You can get double sided LED neon strip, but sealing against water ingress to the DC strip inside would be essential.

[sunray]

You may find that traditional LED rope light does the job best.

 

You can get double sided LED neon strip, but sealing against water ingress to the DC strip inside would be essential.

does it still have dark patches in its radiation?

 

All I've seen so far is this sort of thing:

https://www.weloveleds.co.uk/products/9x18-double-sided-led-neon-flex?variant=12397666205786&gclid=Cj0KCQiAxrbwBRCoARIsABEc9shGd_If5lH0JDZHsdy3F0O3MPYaYLpXgu4-8Nppcg4echHwk8YYvdAaAklgEALw_wcB

 

Sealing is not an issue, it's inside weld sealed pipes.

Edited January 2, 2020 by sunray

[bigclive]

Standard rope light has an LED point at between 25mm and 50mm spacing depending on the type. At a distance it creates a solid line of light.

[sunray]

Ive just been given about a foot of 3528 120/m with the silicon sleeve which looks like it will do the job quite well if I use 2 lengths back to back inside the tube but I've seen too many comments about heat. As this will only be used outdoors in the winter am I being too concerned?

[bigclive]

3528's are generally run at about 15mA in those strips, so it shouldn't be an issue.

[sunray]

3528's are generally run at about 15mA in those strips, so it shouldn't be an issue.

I've had my sample running for about 18 hours laying on carpet and it's vaugely warm so I don't see it as an issue but as I said I've seen various references to heat.

Thanks.

 

[bigclive]

Some of the 5050 strips or ones with high power LEDs run at very high temperatures.

 

You can prolong the lifespan of simple single colour strips by nudging the voltage down a bit. In the case of short lengths a simple 1A or 3A diode in series has a profound effect on current at the expense of initial intensity.

[sunray]

Some of the 5050 strips or ones with high power LEDs run at very high temperatures.

I've been looking at this and found ou a fair bit

 

You can prolong the lifespan of simple single colour strips by nudging the voltage down a bit. In the case of short lengths a simple 1A or 3A diode in series has a profound effect on current at the expense of initial intensity.

 

Funny you should suggest this, A couple of years ago a friend equipped a van as an OB/amateur shack/... and ran several lengths of tape around the inside of the vehicle and now I recall the first time used the strip stuck under a melamine shelf warmed up and fell off, but the heat had discoloured the white melamine in under 2 hours.

 

A second issue being the variable methods of powering the ancilliaries so they installed bridge rectifiers and reported insignificant drop of light level but significant reduction of temperature and current.

 

I'd forgotten all about it until now.

 

The sample I have looks to be much brighter than I need so there could be a lot of scope for reduction of current.