Voltage managmnet help!!!

[DJMoonbass]

hey guys. im a little befuddled here. and i need some help PLEASE!!! i will be so grateful

i have an EL wire inverter thats 3 volts and i want to power it with a li ion. well im positive that 3.7 volts will blow it. so i was wondering what type of voltage regulator or resistor would work to step the voltage down. ive never used or wired a regulator before so i need help from more advanced electronics wizards.

then there's 6 volts from a 7.4 volt pack for another EL inverter (its a 4 channel chaser modual)

BIG ONE!!! MOST IMPERATIVE.

another one is i need to only allow 12 volts come from a 14.8 volt 5200mah battery pack. i am powering 2 12V DC fans and a 12V automotive multicolor sound sensitive controller controlling two 10watt RGBAs. only mixing the RGBs so it will be pulling around, mmmm, i would say no more than 4.5 amps max. because it only flashes to beat while mixing RGB. so its not a constant pull.

so any help anyone can give me will be very much appreciated thank you.

[Jedi-Loreen]

Why are you so positive that you'll "blow" a 3V EL inverter if you give it 3.7V? It's probably not an expensive one, try it and find out if you can.

The ones Tim sold ran at 9-12V, I think they could even be pushed to 18V.

[alreadyRogue]

For the first one use a 3V voltage regulator due to the inconsistant voltage output of Li-ions

For the second one do the same (6V regulator)

for the third use http://taskled.com/h6cc.html 6.7 A led driver. Has on board trim pot so u can set it at whatever current you want.

Hope that helps with ur mau5 head

[DJMoonbass]

the link didnt work. also J Lo:

you are an EL wire Expert. will a 3V inverter light up about 8 feet of 5mm high bright okay? and then i have 6 volts for a four channel sequencer. and its doing around 4 - 5 feet. i got my inverters from thatscoolwire.com.

and i want to use li ions so i can recharge them. i dont want to dissassemble the helmet every time.

whats your opinion?

as for the regulators i still need the 12 volt one. this one is the most important


edit:
i just purchased a couple of 11.1 volt li ion PCBs so i think i will power all the 12V components with 11.1V so no regulator will be needed and then i will get the EL power inverter from TCSS and use that to power all the 5mm high bright i have at 11.1 volts. (ill use a seperate pack. i dont want to pull to many amps from a single 11.1v pack.)

so then the only thing left is the 6volt 4 channel sequencer. and im sure 7.4 volts will blow that so i need a regulator. any suggestions?

[Jedi-Loreen]

It's pretty evident by the product descriptions.

If you're talking about this inverter, then no, it's not rated to light that much EL wire, only up to 3ft.

But if you're talking about this one, then yes. I hope this is the one you got, and not the other one.


Sequencers are fun. I bought one years ago that has red, white and blue wires pre-soldered to it. It's also a 4 channel, so it has a pause in the sequence, since it only has 3 wires on it.

[Rhyen Skytracker]

The 3V inverter for 1 - 3feet of EL wire will handle I know at least 4.5 Volts with out any problems. At least the ones I used did.

[DJMoonbass]

j lo. yes the second one is the one i got.. i wired up a section of the 5mm. about 3 feet of it and it looked white not teal blue and wasnt that bright at all. im SURE it has to be brighter. but i am sure its because its too short of a length. but the way i WILL have it hooked up is i have a three way splitter on it. two sections of about 3 feet and then a longer section of about 4. will this solve my problem since typically its lighting about 10 feet plus?

i was going to get the inverter from here anyway. because its a higher voltage and will probably make my EL wire brighter.

i have alot to learn about the properties of EL wire. i feel like im starting all over again. lol.

thanks for any help j lo.

[Jedi-Loreen]

I don't know why the teal wire would look white, that's strange.

Even if you have a splitter, if you're running that much EL wire on that little inverter, it's still 10ft. It's additive, it won't matter if you have the length split up.

Another thing that makes EL wire brighter is the output frequency of the inverter. The higher the frequency, the brighter the wire. Notice how the ones in the Store are 4kHz? Most of the battery powered ones you find online are ~2kHz.

[DJMoonbass]

i thought so... i think it was white because i had to short of a length powering it. i read somewhere tim saying that. and i thought it was the frequency okay. im gettin the hang of it now. thank you.

now all i need to do is solve my 7.4v to 6v problem and im all set.