White LEDs / New LED developments

[Buck Buchanan]

Hi all,

> If you think that's cool, wait till you see THIS!
> Light emitting wires! It looks really neat!
> 
> http://www.jdr.com/interact/item.asp?itemno=gr-livewire
> 
> I'm not sure of the details on how these work, but it would be really cool
> if there were extra conductors in there. Can you imagine using them for
> patch cables in your modular! :)

That EL wire ("Livewire") is totally fun to work with and you can make
killer stuff with it.  It works just like an EL panel - the "center"
conductor is approx 28-30 gauge and is coated with the EL phosphor stuff
(I'm sure someone else can properly explain what the stuff really is not
that this is on topic anyway...).  Wrapped around that are two hair size
conductors and the whole thing is jacketed in flexible pvc.  

It starts to get bright with voltages above 85VRMS (110-120 ideal) AND
frequencies above 500Hz or so (your concept of brightness may be
different).  But it really looks good when you crank it up above 2KHz
through 10KHz.  One of these days I'm ganna try and make some kind of
light system for my modular with it but with 120VRMS, 3KHz, and long
unshielded wires, that switcher noise will proably get into everything. 
Would be fun to try.

Most of the commercial driver ICs for EL stuff (that I've seen so far)
don't provide enough power to drive long lengths of it.  I seem to
remember it wants about 8-10mA per meter at 120VRMS @ 2KHz.  Oh yeah, it
wears out pretty fast - especially when your driving it hard (>2KHz
@100+VRMS).

Seems like ya gotta buy it in bulk for a decent price - typically by the
foot is $3.00 to $4.50 USD.  If anybody's interested in the stuff I may
be able to point you at some resources.  Some people at Burning Man have
done absolutely amazing things with it!

C-ya,

Buck