QA

Quick Answer: How Bright Is El Wire

At 3 meters, its not as bright, it appears about the same as ‘classic’ EL. Each meter of high brightness EL draws about 10-15mA at the high voltage, which means about 1.5 Watt/meter (at 100VAC).

Is EL wire brighter than LED?

LED strips are the clear winner in this category, as they can easily change color and brightness while EL wire and tape can only be one color and level of brightness. LED strips require significantly more power to operate than EL wire and tape.

How long do EL wires last?

Generally speaking, EL has a lifespan of about 4,000-6,000 hours, however with our MEGA series of inverters, this lifespan is increased to about 6-8,000 hours, but we’ve seen products last well over 10,000 hours using these inverters.

How do I increase the brightness of my EL wire?

Make your windings closer together, you have a trade off with the wire blocking more light and the E-fields being more strongly overlapping and exciting more volume of phosphor. Commercial EL wires use a transparent electrode that wraps around the phosphor eliminating this effect (i.e. uniform E-field).

Does EL wire fade?

Although EL wire has great staying power, its color will eventually fade from sun exposure. Keeping your EL wire outdoors in direct sunlight will cut the life span to one to two years. When kept indoors or with limited outdoor exposure, your EL wire’s color will last as long as three years.

What is the brightest EL Wire?

As with all electroluminescent technology, because the EL naturally glows blue/green the brightest colour of the wire is the Aqua, Lime Green and White. The least bright are the red and purple as they have to be filtered the most to get the colours right.

Can EL Wire change colors?

EL Wire, because of the properties, can never truly change colors from Green to red, or blue to orange. EL Wire is made from a colored plastic tubing which cannot change colors. This enables the wire to change a different hue when it is powered from a different frequency.

Does EL Wire make noise?

Nearly every el wire inverter or battery pack that has been made to date uses a very high frequency (generally over 1500Hz), which tend to make a loud humming noise which is in our audible range, and can be annoying in quiet environments.

Can EL Wire be cut?

Be careful when handling EL products and any exposed circuits that are powered on the AC side. You can cut EL to any length or shape, but you must reseal the ends you cut. If you do not have an end cap for the EL wire, you can still seal the ends with hot glue or epoxy to seal cut wire.

What is the thickest EL Wire?

The EL wire is now also available in a larger 5mm diameter! The 5mm EL wire is thicker and brighter than its 2.3mm counterpart. Note that this item requires more power than the 2.3mm EL wire therefore you can only connect 1 5mm EL wire to the standard battery pack. Good news everyone!.

What is El wire lights?

Electroluminescent wire (often abbreviated as EL wire) is a thin copper wire coated in a phosphor that produces light through electroluminescence when an alternating current is applied to it. —much as rope light or Christmas lights are often used.

How thick can you get el wire?

A: The EL Wire thicknesses are: Thin Diameter – 1.3 mm (0.05in) – for usages requiring flexibility. General Purpose – 2.3mm (0.09in) – for common indoors usage. Outdoors – 3.2mm (0.13in) – for outdoors usage.

How do you dim EL panel?

The usual way to dim these panels is to sandwich a sheet or two of A4 between it and the scope, lowering the input voltage is not a good idea. While searching the net I came across this little unit and decided to give it a go. Well It works!!!Feb 26, 2013.

Is EL Wire waterproof?

EL WIRE is water resistant but should not be submersed in water or be used in high humidity applications. You could, however, slide clear heat shrink tubing over the EL Wire for waterproof applications.

Can you plug in EL Wire?

EL Wire needs a power source to glow, and for that you have a couple different choices: ready made kits, plugging it into a wall outlet, or hooking it up to a battery pack. EL Wire doesn’t run on a common household power, because it uses a special high frequency alternating current which enables the wire to glow.

What are electroluminescent materials used for?

Electroluminescent materials are able to emit light in response to the application of an electrical current or a strong electric field. It is a well-known phenomenon that is also used in rigid, electronic applications and in flexible textile structures.

Why does EL Wire need an inverter?

It is not as bright as LEDs or Neon but provides a very nice eye-catching light and illumination. EL Wire requires an inverter to light up. The inverter’s function is to convert the low DC voltage into higher AC voltage necessary for EL Wire operation.

What is laser wire?

Laser Wire® cable is a brand new product that we call the next generation of EL Wire and Fiber Optic Lighting. It has better bending properties, it’s brighter and takes less power! It’s extremely thin, flexible and provides a brilliant glow (about 4x-10x the brightness of EL Wire), which can even be seen in daylight.

How flexible is EL wire?

Flexibility of EL wire is similar to common phone wire, folding angle reach more than 15 degree, maximum bending achieve 360 degree, and can be bent or stretched repeatedly. The length of EL wire is cut according to customer’s application but the homogenous lighting effect remains still the same.