Re: TI-H: EL Panel

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Re: TI-H: EL Panel


>If I needed more in the future, would you be willing to make them?

Sure, but I would prefer that either you purchase the materials and
have them shipped to my address, or you purchase in quantities of
7.  I don't really want to have my resources tied up in unused EL panels
:)

>The EL panels I have are plastic-coated.

The top, or light emitting side of these lamps is made of polyester film,
the bottom is the same, at 2 mils thick.  Apparently the phosphor layer
(directly under the top film) makes up the top conductor.  Under that is
a layer of barium titanate as dielectric, followed by a carbon or silver
rear conductor.

>Someone from Lumitek told me that you have to inspect the edges under a
>microscope to check for small shards.  If they are present, it can cause
the
>inverter not to work.

If the edge cuts caused the phosphor layer to directly contact the rear
conductor,
the lamp probably would not work.  I'll check each lamp to verify that it
funcitions
properly.

>>The leads for the kit appear to be crimped male pins, which
>>it says are solderable.
>
>Are they on all the panels?

Yup.

>Will the inverter fit in the calc?

The inverters are 5mm x 8mm x 5mm, with 4 PCB mount pins, two for DC input
(1.5-5v) and two for AC output (70-80V @ 300-400Hz).  The inverter
requires an
external inductor to set the voltage, and a capacitor to set the frequency
(the cap
and coil come with the package).   The inverter will power the lamp to a
brightness
of about 5-6 foot lamberts.  If you require adjustable brightness, the
capacitor could
be replaced with a variable cap.

If it will fit kind of depends on how much room you have left in your
calculator.  It will
fit into an unmodified calc with no problems.

There is no reason you need to use this particular inverter, the range
appears to be
quite limited, and I don't know if it will operate outside of this range
(I will experiment
with it when I get one).  Note that inverters are not rare, and you can
probably find them
elsewhere for about 5 bux less.

David Knaack