Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Keeping Multiple Electroluminescent Wires Bright With An Arduino

I recently helped a student with a nice, provocative installation with kitschy religious imagery that used EL wires to simulate a neon sign. She had a border, made by a yellow wire, framing three words in orange, each made by its own wire. She wanted the border to stay lit while the words blinked on and off. If you've ever worked with EL wires you will know that if they have the same power source, such as an Arduino (with El Escudo Dos controller) the more wires that are lit at once the dimmer they all get, since the voltage is shared. She really should have done the words with one wire but she