What is electroluminescent wire? Why electroluminescent wire over neon? What are the available colors of electroluminescent wire? How bright is electroluminescent wire? What can electroluminescent wire be used for? Can electroluminescent wire be installed without training? How do changes in input affect the brightness? In what form is electroluminescent wire available? Q.What is electroluminescent wire? A. Electroluminescent wire is a light source based on the technology of electroluminescence. It is the only linear light source in the world available in the form of a wire, which is produced in many colors, small diameters and continuous lengths varying from inches to thousands of feet Q.Why electroluminescent wire over neon? A.In contrast to neon, electroluminescent wire is: Flexible Energy saving Less expensive Easy to install Cool to the touch Available in many color Available in continuous lengths (ranges several inches to thousands of feet, mm - Km) Powered by either batteries or house outlets Suitable for ornaments and jewelry Can be cut and spliced Enables braiding or looping Water resistant and weather durable Q.What are the available colors of electroluminescent wire? A.Electroluminescent wires are available in: Green Blue Aqua White Yellow Pink Red Orange Lime Purple Q.How bright is electroluminescent wire? A.Electroluminescent wires are bright enough for outlining and decorative purposes. From dusk onwards they are quite obvious, getting more noticeable with nightfall. Increasing input voltage and/or frequency will increase the brightness of the wire. Tips on additional ways to increase the general brightness of electroluminescent wire: Doubling or tripling the wire results in greater brightness. Applying reflective or white paint under the electroluminescent wire(in a sign, for instance, achieves an increase in glow). Q.What can electroluminescent wire be used for? A.Decoration: Consumer products: toys, picture frames, clocks, gift items Fashion: jewelry, jeans, evening wear, sports clothes, footwear Entertainment: special effects for stage, movies, TV productions Safety: Transportation: safety lighting for buses, cars, bikes Traffic: airstrips, stick lights for directing traffic, helicopter landing Security: lifejackets, safety clothing: road workers, police, etc. Signage: Restaurants Museums Points of sale Highway signs Emergency: evacuation from public buildings …and endless other exciting applications! Q. Can electroluminescent wire be installed without training? A. You don't need any professional background in order to install the electroluminescent wire into the application you choose for them. All you need is an ordinary electric outlet and some tools. For portable applications, Elwirecheap.com offers a variety of inverters (also called drivers). An inverter is a small electric device operated by DC voltage. The inverter's function is to convert the continuous DC voltage into changing AC voltage that is necessary for the operating of electroluminescent wire. The intensity of the light varies when the voltage, frequency or both are changed. In order to allow the user many different possibilities, elwirecheap.com developed 4 kinds of inverters; low power/ low frequency, low power/ high frequency, high power/ low frequency, high power/ high frequency. The wire can be cut to the size you need. Any combination of the 10 existing electroluminescent wire colors may be soldered together. Wires of different colors may be attached to each other either in series or in parallel to each other. One may also attach the wire to an ordinary electric wire. Q. How do changes in input affect the brightness? A. Voltage: The brightness increases when the voltage is increased. The range of voltage that electroluminescent wires operate at is 50-130VAC (RMS). Frequency: When the frequency is increased, the brightness increases. The range of frequencies that electroluminescent wires operate at is virtually unlimited. Common use of the wire is at 50-5000Hz. Q. In what form is electroluminescent wire available? A. Electroluminescent wire is available in spools of wire in one color 250m (820 ft) long. The spools come in cases of 8 spools a case. A suitable electric power driver (or inverter) is attached to the wire, according to the length of the electroluminescent wire being used. Electroluminescent wire ranging from several inches to approximately a foot use inverters operating on coin-cell batteries. Wires ranging from several to hundreds of feet operate on a range of higher power inverters. Electroluminescent wire colors: The wires come in 10 different colors: green, blue, aqua , white, yellow, pink, red, lime, orange and purple. electroluminescent wire thicknesses: The wires come in different thicknesses : Standard thickness - 2.3mm, (0.09in) - for common use Thick sheath - 3.2mm (0.13in) -for medium duty Ultra-thick sheathing - 5mm heavy duty wire ultra-thin sheathing - 1.3mm (available in aqua only) Recommenced tools for working with electroluminescent wire: Wire strippers Soldering equipment Shrinkable tube Heat gun 22 guage or better wire Technical Information Electroluminescent Wire (aka EL wire, rope, cable, string, fiber, etc. ) consists of a concentric series of layers, each performing a different function. In the center is a solid copper conductor. The copper conductor is coated with an electroluminescent phosphor. Two very fine wires are wrapped around the phosphor. A clear or colored plastic sheath comes next, and a second plastic sheath surrounds the first. The functions of each of these layers are as follows: The center copper conductor and the two fine wires together supply power. The copper conductor also provides a small amount of mechanical rigidity, and is used as a substrate upon which to deposit the phosphor. The phosphor is the key element of el wire; it emits light when subjected to an AC field. The inner plastic sheath protects the phosphor and in some cases is used to filter the light produced by the phosphor, emphasizing certain colors. The outer plastic sheath provides further protection. Many phosphors are highly sensitive to moisture; the two sheaths together provide good protection against infiltration. EL neon wire can be driven by any AC source. Power is applied between the inner conductor and the two outer wires (which are tied together). This applies an AC field across the phosphor, causing it to glow. A high voltage in the range of 100V is required to make the wire glow brightly. It can be produced from an inverter, from the mains (e.g. a wall outlet), from an audio amplifier, from a signal generator, etc. If the voltage is not high enough (as in the case of a medium power audio amplifier), it can be stepped up with a transformer. When the wire is connected to a high current source like the AC mains, a fuse and/or current limiting resistor is used for safety due to the danger of a short circuit. EL neon wire acts as a capacitor, with capacitance proportional to the length of the wire segment. This means that given a constant voltage, power consumption is proportional to frequency. Light output is also roughly proportional to frequency. See the appropriate table for a more accurate guide to the relationship of light output to frequency and voltage. The spectrum produced by some types of EL neon wire varies with the frequency of the applied power. Those that are filtered (have a colored inner sheath) vary less in color. The "aqua" wire is most sensitive; its color can be varied from deep green to deep blue by varying the power frequency from 60 Hz to 6 kHz. Due to its capacitive nature, to maintain constant brightness as frequency is swept the voltage must also be varied, from high voltage at low frequency to a lower voltage at high frequency.