Phew...thanks Clive, you don't know how happy I am to find out that's it's not going to electrocute everyone that bought it. Killing off your subscribers is never a good idea.
We put one of these along the outline of a custom guitar like 10 years ago. Imagine our disappointment the first time we turned it on and the pickups were totally overwhelmed by the squealing.
+thefiestaguy i will have to look into Ashens channel it's not one that I am aware of,TechMoan is so thorough on his reviews and they really come out well even stuff I'm not interested in I watch them
I have LEC nightlights throughout my house. Some of them have been running for 20 years continually without any problems. They are very good and light a 10x10ft room with a dim green glow. Perfect for seeing where you are stepping.
Hmm, I've had some of them for 20 years also, and by that time they we're BARELY glowing anymore, and they certainly wouldn't light up a room at all when they were new either... 🤔
You may have something there. After all, it's those evil incandescents that are banned. These new high-tech LER's with perfect colour rendering and no perceptible flicker are what we've been waiting for.
I'm impressed with how they managed to pack all those terminating wires into the end of the plug - heatshrink and all. Also, EL watch backlights have to be the best thing ever
I saw techmoan cover this and thought "I should message clive about this!" Then I remembered your late night song from a few weeks ago and realized you'd surely find it yourself. :) Glad you got to it so quickly!
Thanks for that vast discription of the old EL emitter, I have some very old 1 inch wide 12 inch long 110 volt EL 's they were made in about 1972 , they still work even today .
I have a few usb 2.0 cables with clear lit led plugs, but only the plugs, which is just a nice indicator to see if something is powered and of course helps light the area behind the device so you can plug other things in the right way around. More should be made that way.
I recall as a child - early 1960;s- that we had flat circular night lights ( 3mm-4mm thick?) about 80mm-85mm in diameter that plugged directly into a two-blade 120VAC socket. Some trick of memory says these had "Sylvania" cast in the rear of the off-white plastic case, but no markings around the front ring of the same material (about 5mm width, measured from the outer edge) around the central luminous panel. In a darkened room, they glowed with a bluey-green light that wasn't very intense, but did give an indication of "geography." The plug-in prongs were offset close to one edge of the back side, which allowed the light to plug into a standard double receptacle but leave one outlet freely accessible. There was no switch, and I don't think there was any sort of sensor that turned the luminous panel on or off depending on the presence of daylight or room lights - I think they just ran continuously. They didn't get warm to the touch, and if there were any circuit components inside behind the luminous panel they would have had to be very small or thin. I had one of the original night lights, still giving off the blue/green glow, in the mid-1990's, so it had been operating more or less continuously for 32-35 years. I never saw them for sale; "conventional" night lights using a 3W - 5W clear glass tungsten bulb with a miniature Edison base were common. These bulbs were the same size as indoor 120 VAC parallel Christmas lights, so could be "customized" with different colours. I debated trying to disassemble it, but there were no fasteners - the plastic casing was glued together around the edge. It would probably still be operating today but it went missing while moving house in 2015,. I've never seen these anywhere else, although they must have been on the market for a few years at least - we had about half a dozen around the house.
I love Techmoan's channel when it comes to obscure A/V stuff, and his view on things are really worth listening to. He's getting a bit ansty regarding comments etc., though. UA-cam hate is really spreading badly and affecting channels. Sad. I have started to notice that a load of creators are having to cover their own backs by saying "So and so has done this before me, but..." yet the heavily sponsored channels can merrily provide the same bloody content almost verbatim (I'm picking on the recent PC component reviews). Sorry for the rant. Thanks for the the literal teardown Clive, instead of an "Ooh look shiny" review.
bumtree Putting quite a fair bit of effort in to show how it doesn't phase him using puppetry... I'm not too sure. Still, some of his content is unrivalled. I hope he doesn't run out of obscure A/V stuff to show us.
Does this cable carry data at all? Would imagine running high voltage high frequency AC parallel to the USB data lines isn't going to be great for interference.
bigclivedotcom They so, and that's horrible. I currently use Volutz cables. But since I will upgrade to the next new Nexus Device, it's USB-C and Volutz doesn't offer this. I bought AUKEY adapters, but I am afraid of the resistance due to the connectors... Do you know any 20AWG USB-C charging cable? It's okay if it's only supporting USB 2.0. I don't think the next Nexus device will use USB 3.1 Rev1 or even 2 for data transfer anyway.
mharris1270 Thanks. I will take a look. I think cables under 10 EUR for 1.5 meters should not be bought. I can ask if they can have a look what's printet on the cable. Usually, there is an AWG number on it. For cables shorter than 40cm, 22AWG is still okay by the way. But for any longer cable, 21 and 20 is must have, best is 19AWG for 2 meters and 18AWG for 4 meters plus.
Back in the late 70's I worked for a company that manufactured medical equipment. We used small electroluminescent panels in some units as courtesy lights so that the technician could see where to position the electrophoresis plate for reading. I was always fascinated by that green glow...never quite knew how they worked, as we ordered them as pre-made units from another company.
Clive, it would have helped if you probed it with a scope. Then we could see the waveforms and seen whether it was using transistors or triacs. A scope helps to take some of the guess work out of it. IMHO.
***** It could be confused for a "0" on small screen printed parts. It also allows you to save space on tiny parts by putting the letter symbol in place of the decimal point. It also prevents the decimal point from "disappearing" when you try to read it.
+Jammit Timmaj You will also frequently see resistor values in schematics specified as R100, 1R400, 1K4, etc, in schematics as well to ensure that decimals do not get lost in copying and to avoid confusion where different countries treat decimals and commas oppositely in their notation.
Probably it are transistors with build in protection diode,they use the diode for half the AC cycle. The electroluminescent wire working as A capacitor would work fine with that. Since it only uses current and gives of light when charging/discharging.
your a bloody clever man, love your videos I am a plumber by trade but love electronics and your basic knowledge and the method of taking about it helps me in my interest on electronics keep going many thanks
Colin Furze is also a plumber who has taken up electronics, among many other things. You might like his videos. He does not, however, have Clive's calm, soothing manner.
I used to use EL lamps but stopped using them due to EMI / RFI issues and the annoying AF 'whistling noise' The unwanted emissions are most due to poorly shielded driver circuits (which can be improved with better shielding) but the EL lamps themselves also produce unwanted RFI. They do have their uses as they are flexible and can be easily fixed to cylindrical and curved surfaces.
In my experience, a given fluorescent product often is the most faint in the blue version. Makes sense, as florescence involces exitatiion at high photon energies, and emission at lower energies. As blue is quite high energy for visible light, less photons are emitted. Back in the days, bright BLUE Leds were the missing peace for the LED revolution.
It seems quite nice. Is that high voltage and electrical noise a potential issue for expensive gear? It does seem like good fun anyway. I'm going to have to get you a coffee or two eventually. Bit skint at the moment, but I feel obliged to do something for you. You're inspirational.
Clive, I suspect that the three transistors connected to each section of ELC just turn each section on and off, and the main transistor connected to the micro is used to create a pulsed DC waveform, probably something close to being a square wave. It's likely at a fairly high frequency which means that it won't be very square, but much more sinusoidal. This would make it like and AC source with a DC bias. I bet ELC works just fine with a DC bias, so this is much cheaper than using a transformer with an RC oscillator. The choke and cap and other parts look like a textbook switch-mode boost psu circuit, so that's where the voltage comes from.
Light emitting capacitor!... I'm going to watch this video a few times, I've been wondering about how EL works - it's really too bad about the burn in because they can have fantastic contrast. I have a digi-beta VTR with a nice but burned in orange yellow EL display. It's got an internal 400 volt power supply and had it's caps not failed long before I bought it (dropping the voltage) I'm sure the display panel would have been totally gone by the time I got it!
Since there is confusion on an AC signal for EL wire, and it is listed as LED, it could still be an LED device with an inverter, 3 HV drive transistors, and the strip could contain a relatively high voltage series string of LED's. He never used a scope to view the drive signal to see if it was really DC. Since the "Sense" resistor has a capacitor in parallel, it would indicate it is designed to measure DC current, which EL wire will not pass. Surprised this was missed as most teardowns are spot on.
There was a company a little while ago doing electroluminescent paint, aimed at the chopper & lowrider scene, they were candy paints, 2-3 coat system, I'd assum the candy had the phospor in it, you applied it to either bare chrome/polished metal or could apply it over the top of metal flake paint & then you had to use their clear coat over the top, I'd assume the clear coat must have been conductive. Sounds very expensive(which custom paintjobs tend to be in the first place) for something that would most likely stop working after the first year on the show circuit.
This is so helpful thank you! -ATLR I bought a "BLUE LED" - Flowing Charging Cable off ANAZOM for ~$15 USD and since it came with *DOH!* no external markings, direcions or specs., I hastilly and foolishly plugged it into my Motorola Turbo Charger for my Droid Turbo and WOW! She lit up beautifullyu for about two seconds before totally going eternally dark.
Chrysler/Dodge used electroluminescent lighting in the instrument clusters of the 1962 Chrysler New Yorker and the 66-67 Charger. Arguably the coolest instrument clusters ever.
Interesting as always. I actually skipped Techmoan's video on this, but I never skip a BigClive video. I have a couple of questions though. In the past I bought a couple of static EL-wires that I was thinking of sewing to my jacket or backpack for extra visibility during the dark Swedish winters. The drivers are they come with are noisy, however. So my questions are basically: can you make less noisy drivers? What are the typical ranges for voltage and frequency that you need to drive these things? If you wish to connect multiple strands of different colour to the same driver, what would be the best way to do it? I've tried just running two strands in parallell and although it works just fine, one colour gets much dimmer than the other. Perhaps it's a bit much to expect any comprehensive answer, but I'd very much appreciate anything you could tell me off the top of your head. As always, I love your content. It's the perfect mix of educational, entertaining, and meditative. :-) Cheers!
Theoretically you could drive them with an H-bridge from a boosted supply. I'd guess 40V up to 100V and a frequency between 100Hz and 1kHz noting that the frequency and voltage would both have an effect on the intensity and you don't want to overdrive it. Normally I would expect to be able to run sections in parallel, but some colours are very dim compared to others. The brightest colour is a cyan shade.
Ch00ftech (not sure if I can link here, some channels allow, others not) made a better EL wire driver. Not sure if it was any less noisy. As for how loud they are, you really don't notice it unless you're in a room in a house. Even then, it's sort of hard to hear unless you get close to it (I usually have a fan running too, but in my living room, there's no fan, and it's not easy to hear). Now, I have green EL wire from an amazon seller. It's great. The box requires 2 AA or AAAs, not sure which. Just like you, I wanted to put it on clothes. While I didn't do that to clothes, rather a backpack, it works great. You just have to get clear thread from either online or your a local place (I recommend local as you will be able to feel it, see it, and other stuff you might want to know about it). It's pretty strong. Not insanely strong where it won't come off, but it's good. I wear the backpack while I snowboard in the winter (and it probably gets pretty beat up as I fall a lot snowboarding as last season was only my third year and I'm forcing myself to learn new stuff a lot). I also wear it when I ride my bike, which is in fall, spring, and summer. I don't fall on my bike very often, so it's more movement that stresses the thread. It took forever to put on the backpack (and I planned it out in MS paint very quickly), but it works great at night. The thread is a little frayed now, but it's been through a lot of biking and a season of snowboarding. It'll work fine for what you need. Also, you might even get some compliments on your EL wire stuff (not even kidding, people were starting to recognize me as the guy with the green glowing backpack, hah). Anyways, if you go read ch00ftech's website, I'm sure you'll find his improved EL wire driver.
xDylan25x Thanks for the tip! I'll look it up. I've done some preliminary experiments with the EL-wire I got and it works great. The small drivers it came with (2xAA box with a small driver) gives me a headache though. Even when I'm outside and the drivers are tucked into the bottom of my backpack. Hence I'm looking into quieter alternatives. My idea is to use two colours - one for the right side and another for the left. When using separate drivers both look about equally bright, but when I simply tried connecting them in parallel to a single driver, one colour got much dimmer. Perhaps the easiest way is just to use one driver per colour, or perhaps a slightly beefier driver. Anyway, like Clive said, it's relatively cheap and it has a limited lifetime, so when the darkness once again descends on my commute, I'll probably get more to play around with. :-)
I had no idea about this; found it very interesting. You seem to have had a lot of experience with it Clive. One question though- what I gathered is that you've been involved with theatre productions, don't know if that was as a am-dram cast member or job contract, but how did you deal with the hum made from the high voltage we could hear? It surely must have been a problem in such a situation for obvious reasons and you can't exactly cover the illuminations can you.
Not for the performers I should imagine. I though you meant that the stuff was on the sets rather than the costumes. Can it be made into large panels at all?
Could the transistors be switching the ground, leaving the AC on the central (common) wire? That might explain how they use transistors to switch an AC load.
Oregon Scientific used Electro-Luminescent lighting in a lot of their alarm clocks and weather stations, I have an old Oregon Scientific clock radio and also a weather station, I'm quite sure both of them use EL lighting because they both make noticeable whistling noises when the display backlights are in use, I don't know how many modern LCD clocks with backlights use EL lighting now. I've also heard people talk about Indiglo lighting in LCD backlights, is that the same thing as Electro-Luminescent technology under a different name, or is it completely different. I think some early laptops from the 80s and possibly early 90s may have used EL backlighting.
Which pins of the microcontroller were the power and ground connections? If they were pins 4 and 8 then it could well be an Atmel ATTINY24A. Pins 1 and 8 it could be a PIC.
I wonder if you made a more standard capacitor with these materials could you make something that visually shows flashes of light whenever the cap discharges?
Hey Big Clive, have you tested or do you know how voltage tolerant these cables are? I would LOVE to use them on my phones and devices but a few of them are qualcomm quickcharge 2.0 devices (and I know a few other companies are starting to do the same) so when it detects say my Galaxy S6 Edge or Note 5 running at less than 50% capacity the quick charger will step up to I believe 9v DC. (Or 9.2v perhaps which would put it more in line with other lipo chargers I've seen?) Would this additional power (it's not lowering the amperage proportionally afaik) fry the circuitry or potentially be dangerous on the output/phone end? Or is there a tolerance range on the circuitry that could handle it since it's increasing the voltage anyway for the EL wire? (Like how a 3v Xbox 360, Xbox One or Wii (etc.) controller are all fine with a 4.2v 14500 and a blank?)
Hey Clive, it shouldn't matter if they're using transistors because it's still an ac waveform, just with a dc offset, and because it's a capacitor the dc shouldn't matter
Very nice video again! Although I wonder what would happen if this would be used with 'Fast Charging' where 9V is used. Although I have a feeling it might fall back to 5V and slow down charge.
Wow, I thought it was going to be an LED strip Controlled by Christmas light circuitry, not a different tech. The sound reminds me of the CRT static noise. I wonder if there is high voltage. That would probably affect charging speed though.
Clive I was thinking can't you find out how the voltage is being 'spiked' and maybe if the unknown components ARE transistors by connecting a multimeter ? not sure how I would do it myself so.....
Chrysler Corporation used that for dash lighting in the early 60s, 60 and 61 for sure I'm not sure when they stopped. Is there any circuitry at the other end? Or are they just shorted there?
They would have to be open to provide a voltage difference for the device to charge, otherwise it would be just short circuit current going through the wires doing nothing else. Think it's a capacitor.
I have a Chrysler 'Golden Tone' car radio with vacuum tubes from this era. The numbers on the dial scale glow green, but the dial pointer which seems to be none other than a small painted piece of metal rod glows RED! A step-up power supply is used for the electroluminescent items on the dashboard.
It's also known as E.L. Wire, I was looking at applications for this technology on you tube a while ago, some guy painted his car so the panels lit up at night. The el wire I have, all the electronics, the inverter is potted in black resin, it's a 12 volt one and the high pitched squeal isn't so bad.
Off topic question, but this seems like a good place to ask. I was recently doing laundry and I was folding a t shirt that I just got out of the dyer. Well it must have had a lot of static on it because it came into contact with the wire of the left earphone and I heard a static noise out of the earbud. Since then the left side is dead, no noise at all. How likely is it that the static killed the left earphone? Is this even possible since the wire is insulated?
Why not try to make some EL wire with your glow powder. Solid core wire stripped to the copper, coated in glow epoxy, thin layer. Then a fine wire wrap all over the dried outside, for durability heat-shrink tubing
Hey bigclivedotcom I had an idea. When the transformer driver transistor is sinking the primary of the transformer might it also be sinking the output? If at the same time the base of the output transistor were connected to ground then a current could flow up the collector diode. This would explain why the transformer is driven by the controller (synchronously) and not a self contained oscillator. What do you think?
I recall that the egress routes in the bunkers had the walls painted with "glow-in-the-dark" paint on the walls. The floors had a "greenish" stripe for exiting and a different color for a different purpose. It wasn't powered: its purpose. I thought that it was really cool. But, I am unaware of the cost. It was the early 1980s.
Would this work with one of those fancy quick chargers? These supply 12V, 9V and 5V depending on the battery charge. Also I don't think that those thin wires are enough to carry high currents used by modern smartphones...
Jeremy F sounds alright to me :) Before Clive uploaded his video I already ordered a cheap one ~ 3 USD on ebay so hope it will behave once it has arrived :)
Jeremy F Thanks I don't expect a whole lot from it for its price of 2,88 euros, I just was curious if people saying these cables limit current alot were right. Its this one www.ebay.nl/itm/262334397319?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
I had a few of those E.L. "chasing" USB power/data cables that would chase faster as the device it was charging would use more current. BUT, the H.F. H.V. to drive the 3 E.L. strands inside of the sheath of the cable MUST have capacitively coupled a BUNCH of noise onto the power/data wires inside there also. Many devices that contained a microcontroller that I would plug that cable into would either lock-up, or start to operate very jerky and slow... even my Samsumg phone would be affected by it. I had bought a bunch of them because I found them on clearance for a dollar at a local store... no WONDER they were only a buck, everyone else had already figured out that they negatively affected just about anything you plugged it into. Yep, ALL of the cables i had bought did it too, it wasn't just a fluke with one of them... 🤨
I've got this cable a couple of weeks after I saw this video. About a year on, and it's gone completely dull, the pattern is no longer visible, etc. If they found a way to make this sort of cable more durable, it would be really good though.
Hmm. I'm not sure the phrase "happy accident" is correct. I think perhaps using 3 wires etc was a kind of "wear leveling" kind of thing. If you run high voltage along the different paths for less time than the same path for longer then you'll get a more "even" wear over the same material? That'd be my guess. It's cheaper and easier to test that than trying some kind of complex timing thingy. It might also be some kind of animation attempt. I only understand a minor amount of heat dissipation stuff in metals etc but I can see the spacing of three wires being a positive thing in regards to trying to lengthen the time the phosphorescence stuff lasts. i.e it seems more like a logical thing to try than not.
Interesting to hear it is not very bright. I was kinda tempted to buy one of these but I charge my phone at night generally and who needs more light at night to keep us awake? Though what I really want is a dim light on the phone end so I can find it in the dark.
I have one of these and its glowing in the dark after I pull it out of the wall. Is it just a capacitor giving the last of its juice or is there more going on ?
I got one of these for an iPad, I just needed a cheap cable and it fit the bill. Ultimately I liked it better then the original one, because I easily knew about how charged it was.
I'd like to order one from Aliexpress (they cost like 4$/each?) but what about data and charging speeds? Can it keep up with 2A charging or its just fancy-looking chinese cable (very low charging speed)
I can certainly confirm the "problems of water ingress" where EL wire is concerned - I used to own a boat, and it seemed a great safety idea to put red EL cable around the escape hatches, so they would be clearly visible in case of emergency. Quite a "sophisticated" set-up, whereby removing any fire extinguisher from its cradle actuated a reed switch, that in turn provided 12v power to the EL controllers (3, for 3 hatches). The cost wasn't that great, but the cabling effort was, and after spending hours getting it all fitted just right (including ensuring the wire was inside waterproof PVC tubing), the end result was a disappointment, with "significant failures" after a measly 3 months.
I have one of these and wondered how it worked and now I know, but mine doesn't make any noise. Wondering about the AC wave, is there any chance of introducing any current into the data lines that run through the same track?
I removed 1 of those transistors and I messed around with it and it appears to sarrey current bolth ways sort of like a small fet with a built in diode
I got a cheap one like this from ebay for $3. It seems to not like chargers with more than 1.4 amps. Whenever the amperage goes above that, it stops lighting up at all. I wonder what causes it.
ooh, the EPS Power transfer conduit form Techmoan indeed, haven't bought one myself though, I seem to be on a USB cable breaking spree, or they're all just crap and thin-wired these days... Pretty cool the way those work, like you say I think the one Techmoan had was a bit brighter, but it's still basically the same thing, could be useful as a prop in something sci-fi-ish though... :)
Phew...thanks Clive, you don't know how happy I am to find out that's it's not going to electrocute everyone that bought it. Killing off your subscribers is never a good idea.
Techmoan lol huge fan techmoan or tech loan.com
yay techmoan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Robbie Edward's MASSIVE business SayersTM how?
Techmoan Since when are you mostly doing dashcams? I remember you doing 85% Audio Stuff
We put one of these along the outline of a custom guitar like 10 years ago. Imagine our disappointment the first time we turned it on and the pickups were totally overwhelmed by the squealing.
I am SURE they were.... 😬 🫨
I love the way several of some of my favourite youtube uploaders all know each other. BigClive, Ashens and Techmoan!
add Julian Ilett ?
***** I'm aware of him, although I rarely watch any of his content.
+thefiestaguy i will have to look into Ashens channel it's not one that I am aware of,TechMoan is so thorough on his reviews and they really come out well even stuff I'm not interested in I watch them
1:26 "Can you hear it?" OH GOD MY EARS! MY YOUNG SENSITIVE EARS!
Jeez man you made me feel old...
EDIT: Wait no haha I had a low pass filter on my computer blocking off anything above 16kHz
I feel it in my throat
It hurt so bad
I have LEC nightlights throughout my house. Some of them have been running for 20 years continually without any problems. They are very good and light a 10x10ft room with a dim green glow. Perfect for seeing where you are stepping.
Hmm, I've had some of them for 20 years also, and by that time they we're BARELY glowing anymore, and they certainly wouldn't light up a room at all when they were new either... 🤔
Can we call tungsten lightbulbs Light Emitting Resistors?
or LER for short
You may have something there. After all, it's those evil incandescents that are banned. These new high-tech LER's with perfect colour rendering and no perceptible flicker are what we've been waiting for.
PTCLER?
Good idea.
Well, they are kind of a PTC thermistor also.... 🤷🏻
I'm impressed with how they managed to pack all those terminating wires into the end of the plug - heatshrink and all. Also, EL watch backlights have to be the best thing ever
Rxxx is the standard marking for 0.xxx ohms on larger SMD resistors
Clive needs to be in Ashens' next movie.
I wish, but at this point all of the rolls are probably filled.
***** Just be good to see Ashens rescue the last remaining Gamechild from a destructive teardown by the evil Big Clive.
+Aaron Lindros what if they need some warm white led's installed on set?
+Aaron or chocolate covered snacks?
Also, for those not caught up on the latest Ashen's news: tmblr.co/ZPSp_x28SQjo6
So many of us are watching Techmoan AND Bigclive, both my favorite channels 🤓
I sub his channel during the camera 808 period, from Chucklohr also :)
TechMoan, Big Clive, Ashens, Mike Jeavons, it's like all my favourite UA-camrs know each other!
started watching you and techmoan around the same time and found you both for completely opposite reasons hehe.
keep up the good work man
EL wire is incredibly fascinating stuff! Changing color by changing frequency is just mind-boggling...
I saw techmoan cover this and thought "I should message clive about this!" Then I remembered your late night song from a few weeks ago and realized you'd surely find it yourself. :) Glad you got to it so quickly!
Thanks for that vast discription of the old EL emitter, I have some very old 1 inch wide 12 inch long 110 volt EL 's they were made in about 1972 , they still work even today .
I have a few usb 2.0 cables with clear lit led plugs, but only the plugs, which is just a nice indicator to see if something is powered and of course helps light the area behind the device so you can plug other things in the right way around. More should be made that way.
If techmoan, Clive, Ashens and Mike Jeavons got together and made a series of videos together can you imagine how fucking awesome that would be.
.
Add Jimmy Diresta and Julian Ilett as well.
+TheDutyPaid two more you tubers I need to go and check out :D
I like the cut of your jib
That would be one long video.
Techmoan is cool. Never miss it.
I recall as a child - early 1960;s- that we had flat circular night lights ( 3mm-4mm thick?) about 80mm-85mm in diameter that plugged directly into a two-blade 120VAC socket. Some trick of memory says these had "Sylvania" cast in the rear of the off-white plastic case, but no markings around the front ring of the same material (about 5mm width, measured from the outer edge) around the central luminous panel. In a darkened room, they glowed with a bluey-green light that wasn't very intense, but did give an indication of "geography."
The plug-in prongs were offset close to one edge of the back side, which allowed the light to plug into a standard double receptacle but leave one outlet freely accessible. There was no switch, and I don't think there was any sort of sensor that turned the luminous panel on or off depending on the presence of daylight or room lights - I think they just ran continuously. They didn't get warm to the touch, and if there were any circuit components inside behind the luminous panel they would have had to be very small or thin.
I had one of the original night lights, still giving off the blue/green glow, in the mid-1990's, so it had been operating more or less continuously for 32-35 years. I never saw them for sale; "conventional" night lights using a 3W - 5W clear glass tungsten bulb with a miniature Edison base were common. These bulbs were the same size as indoor 120 VAC parallel Christmas lights, so could be "customized" with different colours.
I debated trying to disassemble it, but there were no fasteners - the plastic casing was glued together around the edge. It would probably still be operating today but it went missing while moving house in 2015,. I've never seen these anywhere else, although they must have been on the market for a few years at least - we had about half a dozen around the house.
I love Techmoan's channel when it comes to obscure A/V stuff, and his view on things are really worth listening to. He's getting a bit ansty regarding comments etc., though.
UA-cam hate is really spreading badly and affecting channels. Sad. I have started to notice that a load of creators are having to cover their own backs by saying "So and so has done this before me, but..." yet the heavily sponsored channels can merrily provide the same bloody content almost verbatim (I'm picking on the recent PC component reviews).
Sorry for the rant. Thanks for the the literal teardown Clive, instead of an "Ooh look shiny" review.
Techmoan handles it really well; contempt with a dash of hilarity.
bumtree Putting quite a fair bit of effort in to show how it doesn't phase him using puppetry... I'm not too sure. Still, some of his content is unrivalled.
I hope he doesn't run out of obscure A/V stuff to show us.
kill me end me
+chiken I ate you for dinner. :)
I take it your referring to a certain AMD graphics card? Where all the reviews went up in minutes of one another?
Does this cable carry data at all? Would imagine running high voltage high frequency AC parallel to the USB data lines isn't going to be great for interference.
That's why both outer pairs are screened.
I am more worried about the wire thickness for the current carrying wires. Everything under 20AWG is not usable.
Skimpy undersized USB charging cables seem to be the norm these days. Their resistance must affect charging current and speed greatly.
bigclivedotcom
They so, and that's horrible. I currently use Volutz cables. But since I will upgrade to the next new Nexus Device, it's USB-C and Volutz doesn't offer this. I bought AUKEY adapters, but I am afraid of the resistance due to the connectors... Do you know any 20AWG USB-C charging cable? It's okay if it's only supporting USB 2.0. I don't think the next Nexus device will use USB 3.1 Rev1 or even 2 for data transfer anyway.
mharris1270
Thanks. I will take a look. I think cables under 10 EUR for 1.5 meters should not be bought. I can ask if they can have a look what's printet on the cable. Usually, there is an AWG number on it. For cables shorter than 40cm, 22AWG is still okay by the way. But for any longer cable, 21 and 20 is must have, best is 19AWG for 2 meters and 18AWG for 4 meters plus.
Back in the late 70's I worked for a company that manufactured medical equipment. We used small electroluminescent panels in some units as courtesy lights so that the technician could see where to position the electrophoresis plate for reading. I was always fascinated by that green glow...never quite knew how they worked, as we ordered them as pre-made units from another company.
sweet, my questions are now answered after seeing it on techmoan :) thanks clive you are the man!
Read the title > Waaaaait a Moment... > Realizes Techmoan showed it before.
Nice!
Thank you BigClive! I have always wondered how these cables worked. I have one that is brighter than that, I like things that light up.
Clive, it would have helped if you probed it with a scope. Then we could see the waveforms and seen whether it was using transistors or triacs. A scope helps to take some of the guess work out of it. IMHO.
Just love the Techmoan channel
R100=0.100 ohms. The letter takes place of the decimal point. 1K1 would be 1100. 2M4 would be 2,400,000. For low values "R" is used.
Because it's not a latin1 character and not always available
*****
It could be confused for a "0" on small screen printed parts. It also allows you to save space on tiny parts by putting the letter symbol in place of the decimal point. It also prevents the decimal point from "disappearing" when you try to read it.
+Jammit Timmaj You will also frequently see resistor values in schematics specified as R100, 1R400, 1K4, etc, in schematics as well to ensure that decimals do not get lost in copying and to avoid confusion where different countries treat decimals and commas oppositely in their notation.
Ethan Poole
Thanks for mentioning that.
Probably it are transistors with build in protection diode,they use the diode for half the AC cycle. The electroluminescent wire working as A capacitor would work fine with that. Since it only uses current and gives of light when charging/discharging.
your a bloody clever man, love your videos I am a plumber by trade but love electronics and your basic knowledge and the method of taking about it helps me in my interest on electronics keep going many thanks
Colin Furze is also a plumber who has taken up electronics, among many other things. You might like his videos. He does not, however, have Clive's calm, soothing manner.
" A mottled darkening that spreads " Sounds like my sense of humour hehehehehe.
I can see mine glowing in the daytime no problem at all. I bought the Foxnovo one that Techmoan bought and it was only £10 from Amazon.
I used to use EL lamps but stopped using them due to EMI / RFI issues and the annoying AF 'whistling noise' The unwanted emissions are most due to poorly shielded driver circuits (which can be improved with better shielding) but the EL lamps themselves also produce unwanted RFI. They do have their uses as they are flexible and can be easily fixed to cylindrical and curved surfaces.
In my experience, a given fluorescent product often is the most faint in the blue version. Makes sense, as florescence involces exitatiion at high photon energies, and emission at lower energies. As blue is quite high energy for visible light, less photons are emitted. Back in the days, bright BLUE Leds were the missing peace for the LED revolution.
It seems quite nice. Is that high voltage and electrical noise a potential issue for expensive gear? It does seem like good fun anyway. I'm going to have to get you a coffee or two eventually. Bit skint at the moment, but I feel obliged to do something for you. You're inspirational.
Clive, I suspect that the three transistors connected to each section of ELC just turn each section on and off, and the main transistor connected to the micro is used to create a pulsed DC waveform, probably something close to being a square wave. It's likely at a fairly high frequency which means that it won't be very square, but much more sinusoidal. This would make it like and AC source with a DC bias. I bet ELC works just fine with a DC bias, so this is much cheaper than using a transformer with an RC oscillator. The choke and cap and other parts look like a textbook switch-mode boost psu circuit, so that's where the voltage comes from.
Light emitting capacitor!... I'm going to watch this video a few times, I've been wondering about how EL works - it's really too bad about the burn in because they can have fantastic contrast. I have a digi-beta VTR with a nice but burned in orange yellow EL display. It's got an internal 400 volt power supply and had it's caps not failed long before I bought it (dropping the voltage) I'm sure the display panel would have been totally gone by the time I got it!
Here in the colonies that is commonly referred to as EL wire. We use it a lot in computer case mods
Since there is confusion on an AC signal for EL wire, and it is listed as LED, it could still be an LED device with an inverter, 3 HV drive transistors, and the strip could contain a relatively high voltage series string of LED's. He never used a scope to view the drive signal to see if it was really DC. Since the "Sense" resistor has a capacitor in parallel, it would indicate it is designed to measure DC current, which EL wire will not pass. Surprised this was missed as most teardowns are spot on.
The sense resistor is purely to sense the current to the appliance being charged.
I'm pretty sure R100 means 0.1 ohms, since the letter R is typically used as if it was a decimal point (just like, for example, 4R7 would be 4.7 ohms)
Would you be able to make a video with Thevenin or Norton theorems? I have never understood it and I feel you would be the best teacher.
There was a company a little while ago doing electroluminescent paint, aimed at the chopper & lowrider scene, they were candy paints, 2-3 coat system, I'd assum the candy had the phospor in it, you applied it to either bare chrome/polished metal or could apply it over the top of metal flake paint & then you had to use their clear coat over the top, I'd assume the clear coat must have been conductive. Sounds very expensive(which custom paintjobs tend to be in the first place) for something that would most likely stop working after the first year on the show circuit.
This is so helpful thank you! -ATLR
I bought a "BLUE LED" - Flowing Charging Cable
off ANAZOM for ~$15 USD and since it came with *DOH!*
no external markings, direcions or specs., I hastilly and foolishly
plugged it into my Motorola Turbo Charger for my Droid Turbo and WOW!
She lit up beautifullyu for about two seconds before totally going eternally dark.
I heard it Clive, and it bloody hurt. Especially on a phone's piezzo electric speaker.
It hurt on my stereo too.
I dont think your phone has a piezo speaker though
+Reviews+Tutorials watching on a star tac?
Reviews+Tutorials It's flat and metallic, it's a piezzo. It's what most phones use. Because they're small and efficient.
+James Laidler Ive taken a few phones apart and the screws always kept sticking to the speaker.
I wonder why that is?
Here you go. www.geek.com/mobile/ultra-thin-waterproof-piezoelectric-speaker-promises-much-improved-mobile-audio-1263033/
I have that cable and it is amazing just to sit there and watch it...hypnotizing.
Chrysler/Dodge used electroluminescent lighting in the instrument clusters of the 1962 Chrysler New Yorker and the 66-67 Charger. Arguably the coolest instrument clusters ever.
Interesting as always. I actually skipped Techmoan's video on this, but I never skip a BigClive video.
I have a couple of questions though. In the past I bought a couple of static EL-wires that I was thinking of sewing to my jacket or backpack for extra visibility during the dark Swedish winters. The drivers are they come with are noisy, however. So my questions are basically: can you make less noisy drivers? What are the typical ranges for voltage and frequency that you need to drive these things? If you wish to connect multiple strands of different colour to the same driver, what would be the best way to do it? I've tried just running two strands in parallell and although it works just fine, one colour gets much dimmer than the other.
Perhaps it's a bit much to expect any comprehensive answer, but I'd very much appreciate anything you could tell me off the top of your head. As always, I love your content. It's the perfect mix of educational, entertaining, and meditative. :-)
Cheers!
Theoretically you could drive them with an H-bridge from a boosted supply. I'd guess 40V up to 100V and a frequency between 100Hz and 1kHz noting that the frequency and voltage would both have an effect on the intensity and you don't want to overdrive it. Normally I would expect to be able to run sections in parallel, but some colours are very dim compared to others. The brightest colour is a cyan shade.
bigclivedotcom Thanks! That's very helpful. Now I have a much better idea of what to look up. :-)
Ch00ftech (not sure if I can link here, some channels allow, others not) made a better EL wire driver. Not sure if it was any less noisy.
As for how loud they are, you really don't notice it unless you're in a room in a house. Even then, it's sort of hard to hear unless you get close to it (I usually have a fan running too, but in my living room, there's no fan, and it's not easy to hear).
Now, I have green EL wire from an amazon seller. It's great. The box requires 2 AA or AAAs, not sure which. Just like you, I wanted to put it on clothes. While I didn't do that to clothes, rather a backpack, it works great. You just have to get clear thread from either online or your a local place (I recommend local as you will be able to feel it, see it, and other stuff you might want to know about it).
It's pretty strong. Not insanely strong where it won't come off, but it's good. I wear the backpack while I snowboard in the winter (and it probably gets pretty beat up as I fall a lot snowboarding as last season was only my third year and I'm forcing myself to learn new stuff a lot). I also wear it when I ride my bike, which is in fall, spring, and summer. I don't fall on my bike very often, so it's more movement that stresses the thread. It took forever to put on the backpack (and I planned it out in MS paint very quickly), but it works great at night. The thread is a little frayed now, but it's been through a lot of biking and a season of snowboarding. It'll work fine for what you need. Also, you might even get some compliments on your EL wire stuff (not even kidding, people were starting to recognize me as the guy with the green glowing backpack, hah).
Anyways, if you go read ch00ftech's website, I'm sure you'll find his improved EL wire driver.
xDylan25x
Thanks for the tip! I'll look it up.
I've done some preliminary experiments with the EL-wire I got and it works great.
The small drivers it came with (2xAA box with a small driver) gives me a headache though. Even when I'm outside and the drivers are tucked into the bottom of my backpack.
Hence I'm looking into quieter alternatives.
My idea is to use two colours - one for the right side and another for the left. When using separate drivers both look about equally bright, but when I simply tried connecting them in parallel to a single driver, one colour got much dimmer. Perhaps the easiest way is just to use one driver per colour, or perhaps a slightly beefier driver.
Anyway, like Clive said, it's relatively cheap and it has a limited lifetime, so when the darkness once again descends on my commute, I'll probably get more to play around with. :-)
I had no idea about this; found it very interesting. You seem to have had a lot of experience with it Clive.
One question though- what I gathered is that you've been involved with theatre productions, don't know if that was as a am-dram cast member or job contract, but how did you deal with the hum made from the high voltage we could hear? It surely must have been a problem in such a situation for obvious reasons and you can't exactly cover the illuminations can you.
The inverter noise is too low to be heard in the sort of theatrical presentation that is using illuminated costumes.
Not for the performers I should imagine. I though you meant that the stuff was on the sets rather than the costumes. Can it be made into large panels at all?
There used to be a company selling it in huge wide rolls. But I'm not sure if they are still about.
Could the transistors be switching the ground, leaving the AC on the central (common) wire? That might explain how they use transistors to switch an AC load.
16:17 R basically means "comma" so it's 0,100 ohms. For example 4R7 would be 4,7 ohms
I believe the 1d transistor is a mmbta42 npn.
I have a couple of these flowing light USB cables, and a fake one that has a twisted fibre optic linked to a flashing LED.
Oregon Scientific used Electro-Luminescent lighting in a lot of their alarm clocks and weather stations, I have an old Oregon Scientific clock radio and also a weather station, I'm quite sure both of them use EL lighting because they both make noticeable whistling noises when the display backlights are in use, I don't know how many modern LCD clocks with backlights use EL lighting now. I've also heard people talk about Indiglo lighting in LCD backlights, is that the same thing as Electro-Luminescent technology under a different name, or is it completely different. I think some early laptops from the 80s and possibly early 90s may have used EL backlighting.
I believe the series of Timex 'Indiglo' series of clocks and watches used EL for the backlights as well.
Which pins of the microcontroller were the power and ground connections? If they were pins 4 and 8 then it could well be an Atmel ATTINY24A. Pins 1 and 8 it could be a PIC.
There are a load of microcontrollers that use the same pinout as the PIC12's. They are often found in Chinese gadgets with no markings on the chip.
First to say how great of a video this is.
I wonder if you made a more standard capacitor with these materials could you make something that visually shows flashes of light whenever the cap discharges?
Hey Big Clive, have you tested or do you know how voltage tolerant these cables are? I would LOVE to use them on my phones and devices but a few of them are qualcomm quickcharge 2.0 devices (and I know a few other companies are starting to do the same) so when it detects say my Galaxy S6 Edge or Note 5 running at less than 50% capacity the quick charger will step up to I believe 9v DC. (Or 9.2v perhaps which would put it more in line with other lipo chargers I've seen?) Would this additional power (it's not lowering the amperage proportionally afaik) fry the circuitry or potentially be dangerous on the output/phone end? Or is there a tolerance range on the circuitry that could handle it since it's increasing the voltage anyway for the EL wire? (Like how a 3v Xbox 360, Xbox One or Wii (etc.) controller are all fine with a 4.2v 14500 and a blank?)
Clive, Could you do a full video on OLEDs?
Hey Clive, it shouldn't matter if they're using transistors because it's still an ac waveform, just with a dc offset, and because it's a capacitor the dc shouldn't matter
H H electronics used to use it to illuminate the front of their guitar and pa amplifiers back in the 1970's
Very nice video again! Although I wonder what would happen if this would be used with 'Fast Charging' where 9V is used. Although I have a feeling it might fall back to 5V and slow down charge.
I don't think any active lead could deal with the higher charge voltages unless they were designed for that system.
I bought one and got it to work at 9v, the cable got quite a bit brighter for a few minutes and died.
+bigclivedotcom it only worked (samsung fast charger) for a few seconds before dying.
Great!!! Something thats reviewed by Techmoan gets teardowned by Clive. Couldn't be better. Thats how i imagine the youtube heaven.
Wow, I thought it was going to be an LED strip Controlled by Christmas light circuitry, not a different tech. The sound reminds me of the CRT static noise. I wonder if there is high voltage. That would probably affect charging speed though.
Clive I was thinking can't you find out how the voltage is being 'spiked' and maybe if the unknown components ARE transistors by connecting a multimeter ? not sure how I would do it myself so.....
Ooh! I like the animation in that strip.
Chrysler Corporation used that for dash lighting in the early 60s, 60 and 61 for sure I'm not sure when they stopped. Is there any circuitry at the other end? Or are they just shorted there?
They would have to be open to provide a voltage difference for the device to charge, otherwise it would be just short circuit current going through the wires doing nothing else. Think it's a capacitor.
I have a Chrysler 'Golden Tone' car radio with vacuum tubes from this era. The numbers on the dial scale glow green, but the dial pointer which seems to be none other than a small painted piece of metal rod glows RED! A step-up power supply is used for the electroluminescent items on the dashboard.
It's also known as E.L. Wire, I was looking at applications for this technology on you tube a while ago, some guy painted his car so the panels lit up at night.
The el wire I have, all the electronics, the inverter is potted in black resin, it's a 12 volt one and the high pitched squeal isn't so bad.
Off topic question, but this seems like a good place to ask. I was recently doing laundry and I was folding a t shirt that I just got out of the dyer. Well it must have had a lot of static on it because it came into contact with the wire of the left earphone and I heard a static noise out of the earbud. Since then the left side is dead, no noise at all. How likely is it that the static killed the left earphone? Is this even possible since the wire is insulated?
Such a great video! I love your videos
How long do these cables last before they stop lighting up?
I've had one for about four years; still seems fine. I rarely use it though so it gets very little wear. No moisture issues though.
***** i cant spell for fuck i dont care if i cant spell i dont give a fuck about everything kill me now
☢ SNICKERS 5+2 GRATIS ☢ ģ3 gty
O
3 weeks mine broke at the USB where the wires go into it. nice wire and you could tell by the lights how charged my phone was.
Why not try to make some EL wire with your glow powder. Solid core wire stripped to the copper, coated in glow epoxy, thin layer. Then a fine wire wrap all over the dried outside, for durability heat-shrink tubing
Hey bigclivedotcom I had an idea. When the transformer driver transistor is sinking the primary of the transformer might it also be sinking the output? If at the same time the base of the output transistor were connected to ground then a current could flow up the collector diode. This would explain why the transformer is driven by the controller (synchronously) and not a self contained oscillator. What do you think?
I recall that the egress routes in the bunkers had the walls painted with "glow-in-the-dark" paint on the walls. The floors had a "greenish" stripe for exiting and a different color for a different purpose. It wasn't powered: its purpose. I thought that it was really cool. But, I am unaware of the cost. It was the early 1980s.
Probably based on zinc sulfide pigment. These days the choice might be strontium aluminate.
I have some of these, the ones I have really do not let very much current make it to the phone, do they all have that flaw?
YEY!!! Request is granted!!! yey! we love you! wohoooooo!
is the ac being biased above 0v so the transistor can switch the full wave then capacitor coupling to remove the dc?
very good successes your videos , and you know about Wireless Charging for cell
Would this work with one of those fancy quick chargers? These supply 12V, 9V and 5V depending on the battery charge.
Also I don't think that those thin wires are enough to carry high currents used by modern smartphones...
The higher voltage would damage these cables.
I have a green USB cable, it is pretty great, I really like the effect.
how much amps does it let through ?
+Maico on my blue foxnovo one I can get up to 1.5 Amps when charging my power bank
Jeremy F sounds alright to me :) Before Clive uploaded his video I already ordered a cheap one ~ 3 USD on ebay so hope it will behave once it has arrived :)
***** be warned though, a friend of mine had one as well and it stopped working quickly (it wouldn't charge anymore).. Also: which one did you get?
Jeremy F
Thanks I don't expect a whole lot from it for its price of 2,88 euros, I just was curious if people saying these cables limit current alot were right. Its this one www.ebay.nl/itm/262334397319?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
That sound! god, it must have been right at the edge. between 18k and 20k hz, it was awful! I'm impressed your mic even picked it up.
I had a few of those E.L. "chasing" USB power/data cables that would chase faster as the device it was charging would use more current.
BUT, the H.F. H.V. to drive the 3 E.L. strands inside of the sheath of the cable MUST have capacitively coupled a BUNCH of noise onto the power/data wires inside there also. Many devices that contained a microcontroller that I would plug that cable into would either lock-up, or start to operate very jerky and slow... even my Samsumg phone would be affected by it.
I had bought a bunch of them because I found them on clearance for a dollar at a local store... no WONDER they were only a buck, everyone else had already figured out that they negatively affected just about anything you plugged it into. Yep, ALL of the cables i had bought did it too, it wasn't just a fluke with one of them... 🤨
i kinda want something like this for like a computer case mod or something, it is a cool effect
I've got this cable a couple of weeks after I saw this video.
About a year on, and it's gone completely dull, the pattern is no longer visible, etc.
If they found a way to make this sort of cable more durable, it would be really good though.
Hmm. I'm not sure the phrase "happy accident" is correct. I think perhaps using 3 wires etc was a kind of "wear leveling" kind of thing. If you run high voltage along the different paths for less time than the same path for longer then you'll get a more "even" wear over the same material?
That'd be my guess. It's cheaper and easier to test that than trying some kind of complex timing thingy. It might also be some kind of animation attempt.
I only understand a minor amount of heat dissipation stuff in metals etc but I can see the spacing of three wires being a positive thing in regards to trying to lengthen the time the phosphorescence stuff lasts. i.e it seems more like a logical thing to try than not.
You always find the cool stuff!
you can buy these leads on amazon uk and they are birghter
Interesting to hear it is not very bright. I was kinda tempted to buy one of these but I charge my phone at night generally and who needs more light at night to keep us awake? Though what I really want is a dim light on the phone end so I can find it in the dark.
I have one of these and its glowing in the dark after I pull it out of the wall. Is it just a capacitor giving the last of its juice or is there more going on ?
I got one of these for an iPad, I just needed a cheap cable and it fit the bill. Ultimately I liked it better then the original one, because I easily knew about how charged it was.
I'd like to order one from Aliexpress (they cost like 4$/each?) but what about data and charging speeds? Can it keep up with 2A charging or its just fancy-looking chinese cable (very low charging speed)
I can certainly confirm the "problems of water ingress" where EL wire is concerned - I used to own a boat, and it seemed a great safety idea to put red EL cable around the escape hatches, so they would be clearly visible in case of emergency. Quite a "sophisticated" set-up, whereby removing any fire extinguisher from its cradle actuated a reed switch, that in turn provided 12v power to the EL controllers (3, for 3 hatches). The cost wasn't that great, but the cabling effort was, and after spending hours getting it all fitted just right (including ensuring the wire was inside waterproof PVC tubing), the end result was a disappointment, with "significant failures" after a measly 3 months.
I wonder how this would behave with quick charge. I.e. 9v or 12v
I bought that kind of charger today in replacement of my old one that broke. Does it last long?
Does this waste/use much more power to charge a phone?
would it be worth using?
I have one of these and wondered how it worked and now I know, but mine doesn't make any noise. Wondering about the AC wave, is there any chance of introducing any current into the data lines that run through the same track?
+homie789 In the one I took apart the data lines were well screened.
Well thanks for the quick reply and the info
I removed 1 of those transistors and I messed around with it and it appears to sarrey current bolth ways sort of like a small fet with a built in diode
I got a cheap one like this from ebay for $3. It seems to not like chargers with more than 1.4 amps. Whenever the amperage goes above that, it stops lighting up at all. I wonder what causes it.
the white cable with green lighting is the best. I've tried all colours. 25% arrived dead, charged phone but no luminescence
ooh, the EPS Power transfer conduit form Techmoan indeed, haven't bought one myself though, I seem to be on a USB cable breaking spree, or they're all just crap and thin-wired these days...
Pretty cool the way those work, like you say I think the one Techmoan had was a bit brighter, but it's still basically the same thing, could be useful as a prop in something sci-fi-ish though... :)