PDA

View Full Version : El outside wiring?



Ewok0412
08-28-2006, 08:25 AM
Hi I was looking at a few pictures of peoples custom lightsabers, and they had El wiring on the outside. What do I need to just make an el wire glow?

Thanks!

james3
08-28-2006, 08:27 AM
an inverter and a battery is all you need. If you are doing an EL saber all you need is to calculate the length of wire between both spots.

<center>http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e370/Dadof3/kotor2.jpg</center>

Jase Kala Maris
09-29-2008, 07:10 PM
I'd like to do this also on my hilt.

probable set up will be...

Battery->Recharge Port->BLI->US2(IfICanGetHoldOfOne)->led

Momentary switch.

I'd like to wire it so the momentary switch turns the hole thing on.

Do I need a second battery/switch set up in the hilt for this?
Can it be wired off the same 4.8V AA 2600mAh I'm useing for the rest...(plus inverter wired in someplace)

Can anyone point me to some info on how to wire this?

Am I asking to many Questions at once?

Jedi-Loreen
09-29-2008, 09:24 PM
An EL inverter needs at least 9V to run, 12V makes the wire brighter, so no, it won't run on 4.8V.

Take a look at the How to make and EL Blade tutorial for an idea of how the EL wire is wired up, you just won't use a mono audio connector. You can use a bit of stereo wire to connect it to the inverter, just be sure to stagger the connections and cover them with heat shrink, so that you don't create a short in the wire.

If I were you, I'd look through the gallery and PM the guys who have done this to and LED saber and ask them directly.

Lord Maul
09-29-2008, 09:48 PM
It was Jedi Ranger who did a lot of them if memory serves...Ti El did a staff with EL in the hilt I think...

ThreeQuadFive
10-03-2008, 12:47 PM
Sounds like you'd need two battery sources (one for the LED setup, one for the EL) but sounds like a DPDT switch could do the trick?

Jonitus
10-03-2008, 01:03 PM
I've got a low-voltage inverter that I picked up for doing something like what you want, but never got to it. It will run off 3 to 12 volts and can supposedly power up to 3 feet of EL wire. That's not a bunch, but if you're doing wraps around the MHS, it would give you a shade over 7 wraps around the hilt.

PM me if you're interested in it.

Jase Kala Maris
04-14-2010, 03:47 PM
I've found a bunch of 3v el wire drivers that look like they could be pulled apart for the interals and work within a hilt.

I was hoping to wire this up to my battery with a resistor but there is very little info on what the current draw on these things... besides very little.

They all run on button cell batteries or 2 1.5v AA batteries...

I'm going to be useing a 7.4v 2600mah battery pack and I'm trying to figure out what resistor I could/should use.

Can anyone help?

Jonitus- this is probably the same or very similar to the one you have

PS why do some sites say do not use with rechargable batteries, mine has a pcb but why can or shouldn't you use rechargables?

Rhyen Skytracker
04-14-2010, 08:02 PM
I have used the low voltage EL inverters with pretty good success. Here is one I used on my Mando helmet around the t-visor. http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/showthread.php?p=166464#post166464

Jase Kala Maris
04-14-2010, 08:19 PM
The costume rocks and the el wire in the helmet looks awesome.

But I still need some help with the resistor and current needs to drive this off my battery pack.

You prob got one of them mini drivers to power that length of el wire correct. Unless your driving it off a battery pack in the helmet that runs everthing else, in that case I'd love to hear how you figured out what the current needs would be and resistored it.

I tried to email a few of the el suppliers but they havn't gotten back to me.

I'm thinking that it draws very little I've read that 2 AA batteries can run 3-6 feet for 6+ hours at 3v's so I'm guessing the current draws gotta be like 100-200ma tops but I really don't want to hook this up wrong and burn out the wire or driver so I'm just going to hang in there.

Rhyen Skytracker
04-14-2010, 08:29 PM
I have had EL wire and a sound card on the same power source but it can be very tricky. For my Helmet I have several different power sources. The Voice amp/wireless headset has it's own battery compartment, I have the fans running off of 9 volt batteries and the EL wire is running off of 2 AA batteries. It is a 3V inverter.

Jase Kala Maris
04-14-2010, 10:50 PM
how much current did you allocate for the el wire?
how was it tricky?
which hilt, I would love to see what you did!

Why you teasing me man give up the detail!:o

Jedi-Loreen
04-15-2010, 01:56 AM
EL wire works on high frequency AC current, the transformer in the inverter will put out the correct current. All you have to worry about is giving the inverter you choose, the correct battery voltage.

Rhyen Skytracker
04-15-2010, 03:48 AM
Yep, J-Lo is correct. As long as you use a Low voltage inverter you should be fine. Just make sure your battery source is a little higher than the normal 1 V over the LED voltage to make up for the inverter.

Jase Kala Maris
04-15-2010, 12:29 PM
oh sweet thanks alot