DIY - ABL using EL wire, and 3/16" tube

[Johnny Kanuk]

Originally Posted by With envy

No problem! Nic will have to field that question on the LEDs. As for the EL wire question: Did you get the wire with the connectors already attached, or is it raw wire that you have to solder the connectors on yourself?

Raw wire and my question was about the EL wire. The list of comps says to get 3 Male connectors and if you are only lighting up the dash shouldn't it be just 2? I have never seen this stuff before so I don't know if there is something extra I don't know about it.

[martin105]

Is there a reason that you buy a power supply that only lights 0-4 ft? It says to buy 10 ft of wire. I am guessing you do not use the whole 10 ft.

[With envy]

Originally Posted by Johnny Kanuk

Raw wire and my question was about the EL wire. The list of comps says to get 3 Male connectors and if you are only lighting up the dash shouldn't it be just 2? I have never seen this stuff before so I don't know if there is something extra I don't know about it.

Not sure. I'll have to go back and read the OP. The drivers that I use come with a male connector. I have to attach leads with female connectors to my wires. My supplier sells "Y" splitters that you can plug into the driver and connect two wires in parallel. You can also hook the wires up in series, which is what it sounds like the DIY you are doing is calling for. But I would think for every male connector, you would need a corresponding female. I'll take a look.

7/11/12
Found it. Post #20: Camarorick was thinking ahead to the possibility of expanding and adding more EL wire for things like footwell lighting.

Originally Posted by martin105

Is there a reason that you buy a power supply that only lights 0-4 ft? It says to buy 10 ft of wire. I am guessing you do not use the whole 10 ft.

There are different drivers with different capabilities. Higher frequency inverters will run more wire, and be brighter, but will shorten the life of the wire. If the supplier only has one inverter that only pushes 4 feet, find another supplier that offers a wider variety of inverters.

[nicave13@gmail.com]

The dream color can not be dimmed, it is constant 12V and somewhat computerized... I ended up redoing it by painting all but the LED area back to orange. More stealthy look. See video:




If I ever had to do the dream color for someone else I would face the LED's backwards and sand just the very top like the doors to get the light shining through. It would still be pretty bright though, but would look awesome not being able to see the led's. I choose my way for the wow factor... Video is in broad daylight

I did do dimmable ambient lighting for my entire interior. I cut up one 5 meter strip into 11 pieces. Front and rear of seat, footwells, door sills dome light and the entire rear window. Dome and rear window are on a switch for more control. These are dimmable with a cheapo 44 key RGB controller u can get on ebay for $5 or so.

Interior lighting vid:

[SLO-POKE]

Very Nice when you get to Florida i will be needing mine done.

[nicave13@gmail.com]

Lol, airfare is cheap

[With envy]

Y'know Nic, it's funny, but I was just looking at the pics you posted awhile back (higher up on this page) and I noticed something I didn't even catch before. I realized that you made the speaker inserts to resemble Bumblebee's eyes! So cool. The reason I finally caught it was because a friend of mine up here showed me a toy Bumblebee mask/helmet that he placed under the hood of his car at a show, to entertain the kids. Since it was only made as a toy mask, it just had blue lenses for the eyes. I mentioned it would look cool with some LED eyes installed, and offered to make some. Now I see you're way ahead of me! I'll have to get your tips on putting them together. Like what did you use to form the inner halo? And stuff like that...

[With envy]

Of course I went back to your build thread, like your tagline says, and it answered pretty much all of my questions...

duh!

If I were paying attention, I would have thought to do that in the first place!

[nicave13@gmail.com]

I really should stop posting my silliness on your thread. Your DIY started me thinking about different stuff...

Yeah, I had the idea for ever for BB's eyes, but couldn't find small enough Halo's. I just used pro strength double sided tape to attach to background. The clear diffusser's come from Superbright. Honestly it looks better in photos, the rest is equal if not better in person. Nobody is prepared for how bright at night!!! lol


Took the pics today on a quick trip to Lake Havasu, AZ, hope u like.

[With envy]

It's not my thread. I just hang out here because I've got a little experience with EL wire, and it's fun to give advice to people just starting to use the stuff. Camarorick was the OP. He did a real good job on the DIY, but he hasn't made an appearance since last year. It's kind of like finding an abandoned shack in the woods, I don't think anybody'll mind if we use it as a clubhouse for awhile! If we weren't posting here, this thread would probably just sink deeper into the internet ether, and new people would have no place to go to talk about EL wire. (Or they'd just start a new thread.) I think of it as tending the garden until the gardener comes back. And if he doesn't come back, at least we have a place to sit around an brainstorm cool new lighting things to push the envelope!
So post away, (Everybody!) I like the company.

Hey Nic, are your headlights Eagle Eyes?

[Johnny Kanuk]

So I was researching more about the EL Wire I bought and I came across something that I think would possibly make this even easier. There is EL Tape. It looks just like a thin peice of plastic that is whatever colour you want it to be then when you put power to it the stuff glows. Just google EL Tape I found a few youtube vids of the stuff in action and it shows promise. I think this stuff is used by people who want to make costumes like in the movie Tron. They can use 4 AAA batteries to run the tape. I just can't find anyone that sells it in long enough strips, best I found was 18" and thats not even a door, maybe a sill? Anyone ever play with this stuff?

[iKeablr]

Originally Posted by Johnny Kanuk

So I was researching more about the EL Wire I bought and I came across something that I think would possibly make this even easier. There is EL Tape. It looks just like a thin peice of plastic that is whatever colour you want it to be then when you put power to it the stuff glows. Just google EL Tape I found a few youtube vids of the stuff in action and it shows promise. I think this stuff is used by people who want to make costumes like in the movie Tron. They can use 4 AAA batteries to run the tape. I just can't find anyone that sells it in long enough strips, best I found was 18" and thats not even a door, maybe a sill? Anyone ever play with this stuff?

I have used this stuff the aqua color nearly matches the ice blue from GM. I know a place that does 1 meter. That should be enough for the driver and passenger trim. This would make it easier to use because it is so wide. Unless you used Welded EL Wire than that would be much easier but to color match with GM I don't know which would be best as Aqua doesn't match the same aqua as EL Tape. Maybe blue. It looks close enough. Just a reminder if you decide to use both of these it is nearly impossible to match the colors as they are made differently. Hope this helps. Any more questions about the EL Tape or Welded EL Wire. You know where I am at. Lol

[With envy]

Hey Johnny! I have to admit, I hadn't run across this stuff before. So I Googled it and found some places that sell it by the foot, and in more colors. I found one place that also sells precut shapes. If I remember correctly, you were using Orange, and they do have that color. I'm really interested to see if anybody comes up with a good idea for it. I haven't thought of anything yet, but I think there has to be a lot of possibilities. I don't have the links to the sites I visited today, they're on my work computer. But if you need them let me know.

[SSGTNBZ]

It's people like you guys who share your abilities with others who still make this world a better place....I will be doing this after my engine upgrades next week....
Thank you very much for a great thread!!