Increasing 110v/60Hz freq to between 100-2000hz

Thread Starter

circuit_noob

Joined Dec 3, 2010
1
Hello,

I'm starting a project involving el-wire and I'm looking for some advice. I'd like to make a circuit that I can plug into a 110V AC wall outlet that will send the 110V to the +/- of a strand of el-wire, and that will allow me to vary the frequency from the default 60Hz to anywhere in the range of 100-4000Hz. If it's too complicated to make the frequency variable, I'd be happy if I could have it run at a static 2000Hz (the frequency adjustment would just be to experiment with brightness). I could (and may) buy a commercial el-wire driver to do this, but I would like to know how to do it myself so that I can make the el-wire driver as small as possible. Having a low risk of blowing up or starting fires would be a plus :D.

I've seen a few posts that are similar to this one but I haven't been able to piece any practical information together from them given my limited experience with circuits.

Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
Last edited:

beenthere

Joined Apr 20, 2004
15,819
You can't increase the frequency of the line. You need to use a proper inverter to drive electroluminescent wire. Using some such device is the only way to avoid lethal shock and/or fires.

Indications are that the lifetime of the wire is considerably shortened by higher frequencies. Only some colors change with frquency.

http://www.glowire.com/drivers.htm
 

thatoneguy

Joined Feb 19, 2009
6,359
You could try PWM to change the brightness of the el wire, though I'm not sure what impact that would have on lifetime.

PWM is basically turning it on and off a few thousand times per second, and varying how long it is on vs how long it is off to get dimming. This is how proper LED Dimming circuits work.
 
Top