EL Sequencer

The EL Sequencer is a ATmega based control board that allows the user to program any sequence of blink, on/off, even PWM pulsing of EL wire.

Electroluminescent wire is this really neat, flexible cord that emits a florescent light. Some times referred to as 'cool neon' because the cord does not heat up. The kicker is that EL wire runs on high voltage AC - about 125V at 425Hz. While EL wire requires very little power, you can't use normal transistors to turn on/off a string of it. So we created the EL Sequencer that uses TRIACs to control up to 8 channels.

What do I use this for? Checkout the demo video. You can have a lot of fun with EL! The demo video shows 8 strands of about 12" lengths of EL. The length of wire is arbitrary - you can have 100ft wires, it doesn't matter! Your inverter must be matched with the length of EL wire but it's not exact. I'm pretty sure we've got a 5-15ft rated inverter driving 12" segments. The inverter may not like it, but it works.

No really, what do I use this for? Oh! Oh, an example. Ok, checkout our tutorial on the Heartbeat Straight Jacket. It's a combination of EL wire and some fancy 2.4GHz wireless control. All built into a straight jacket for Burning Man.

Note: The schematic shows an ATmega168, but we are currently using the ATmega328.

Features

• ATmega328
• Board can be powered from USB or LiPo
• Switch chooses source and acts as on/off
• Compatible with Arduino (8MHz LilyPad)
• On-board 8MHz external resonator
• TRIAC part #: Z0103MN
• 8 TRIACs can handle up to 600V
• Control 8 channels of EL
• Runs on 3.7V LiPo
• Footprint for connection to FTDI Basic for downloading code
• Footprint for connection to Nordic nRF24L01 2.4GHz wireless module

Documents

• Schematic
• TRIAC Datasheet
• Example Code
• Jacob's Ladder Project
• Bildr Tutorial