I'm in the planning stage of a project to light about 8m of EL tape. I need some ideas about the overall strategy for powering it.
As I understand it, EL wire or tape acts like a capacitor, about 10nF per meter of 1cm wide tape. To light it up, it needs over 100V at 400Hz or more, up to say 2500Hz. Let's say the target is 120V at 400Hz (for longer life of the tape). I believe this works out to ~100mA for the 8m of tape.
So the project is to make an inverter producing 100mA at 120V AC at 400Hz. It will be battery powered and I'm thinking 12v SLA but weight and size is a concern, so I'm open to other options. Run time up to a few hours will be an issue, as 12W will deplete any battery at a good clip.
I'm thinking of just running a wall wart transformer in reverse to step up the voltage, and just powering it with a 555 timer at 12V to set the frequency, and a MOSFET to switch current to the secondary. I'll need over 1 amp at 12v to step up to 120V at 0.1A.
Something like this?
Does this make sense? Should I be concerned about supplying a square wave to the transformer? What else might be required? I understand that there are boost converters that could give me the voltage without a big transformer. Would it make sense to pursue that route?
As I understand it, EL wire or tape acts like a capacitor, about 10nF per meter of 1cm wide tape. To light it up, it needs over 100V at 400Hz or more, up to say 2500Hz. Let's say the target is 120V at 400Hz (for longer life of the tape). I believe this works out to ~100mA for the 8m of tape.
So the project is to make an inverter producing 100mA at 120V AC at 400Hz. It will be battery powered and I'm thinking 12v SLA but weight and size is a concern, so I'm open to other options. Run time up to a few hours will be an issue, as 12W will deplete any battery at a good clip.
I'm thinking of just running a wall wart transformer in reverse to step up the voltage, and just powering it with a 555 timer at 12V to set the frequency, and a MOSFET to switch current to the secondary. I'll need over 1 amp at 12v to step up to 120V at 0.1A.
Something like this?
Does this make sense? Should I be concerned about supplying a square wave to the transformer? What else might be required? I understand that there are boost converters that could give me the voltage without a big transformer. Would it make sense to pursue that route?
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