Most EL wire displays are static, because they use an inverter that simply turns the EL wire on (i.e. constant-on). Sound-reactive inverters are available, but most of these are only “single channel”, so the wires are either all on or all off. To really make your display dynamic you need an inverter with multiple output channels, but these are quite expensive. Fortunately, you can make your EL wire decoration more animated inexpensively by reusing the inverter from a “graphic equalizer” T-shirt (a.k.a. T-qualizer) to drive five separate EL wires at five different volume thresholds.
Projects from Make: Magazine
Simple, Cheap, Multi-Channel, Sound-Reactive EL Wire
By reusing the inverter from an EL panel "graphic equalizer" T-shirt, you can turn on five separate EL wires at different volume levels. This is a very easy way to make an EL wire decoration dynamic.
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Steps
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Step #1: Demo Video and Obtaining the Inverter
- Before you get started, follow this link to watch a video of a multilevel, sound-reactive EL wire decoration in action.
- A replacement EL Panel and inverter for a "graphic equalizer" T-shirt can be purchased for only about $7.
- All we have to do to use the inverter to drive the EL wire is copy the connector used by the EL Panel. This connector is a 7x1 crimp terminal housing connected to ribbon wire.