# How can I supply power to my Electroluminescent Panel?



## Sinjz (Oct 10, 2005)

I recently got my hands on a Electroluminescent Panel and was wondering how I could power it. It is a 10" green panel (from a green exit sign).

According to the back of this thing, it has an 'AC Input Rating' of:
120 V., 60 HZ., 10A.,
0.50 Watt maxiumum

It has no plug, just two wires - 'AC Wiring':
120 VAC Input
Black Lead - 120 VAC
White Lead - Neutral

Any clue as to how I can power this up? Can I just use a 12 V power block? Maybe a two or three alkalines battery pack or something? :thinking:

:help:


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## Ken_McE (Oct 10, 2005)

>I recently got my hands on a Electroluminescent Panel and was 
>wondering how I could power it. It is a 10" green panel (from a 
>green exit sign).

Hey, I've got one of those.

>According to the back of this thing, it has an 'AC Input Rating' of:
>120 V., 60 HZ., 10A.,
>0.50 Watt maxiumum

Yep, household current, 1/2 watt. Less power than a christmas tree light.

>It has no plug, just two wires - 'AC Wiring':
>120 VAC Input
>Black Lead - 120 VAC
>White Lead - Neutral

You give it a plug. Connect one side to the black, one to the white. Plug in, there she goes. If you were doing a fixed installation you could match up the leads to the color of the wire in the wall, If you're giving it an extension cord type lead don't worry about it. It'll run either way.

>Any clue as to how I can power this up? Can I just use a 12 V power block?

For mechanical connections, yes. For your power supply, no. It needs AC.

>Maybe a two or three alkalines battery pack or something? 

If you want it to be portable you will have to get it an inverter to convert your DC battery feed to AC for the panel. They do make them.


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## Sinjz (Oct 10, 2005)

I just gotta double check that I read this right. I can just wire this up with any plug and then plug it directly into the wall socket? The fatter prong would be ground (neutral) right? Cool! That means I can plug it into my APC battery backup and if power goes, I'd still have a few hours of light, right?

Can the same thing be done with those white Electroluminescent panels? I lways thought they required an inverter of some sort to work....

Thanks! :thumbsup:


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## billw (Oct 10, 2005)

Sinjz said:


> I just gotta double check that I read this right. I can just wire this up with any plug and then plug it directly into the wall socket?



Yes.



> Cool! That means I can plug it into my APC battery backup and if power goes, I'd still have a few hours of light, right?



Yes; EL panels do require AC, but an inverter-based battery backup should
provide that just fine (I don't know how efficient they are at low loads, though.
I doubt you'll get 10x the duration out of 1/10 the load...)
And you'd get "glow" - I'm not sure you can call the output of a EL panel
"LIGHT"; they're pretty dim.

BillW


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## Ken_McE (Oct 11, 2005)

>I can just wire this up with any plug 

Yes

>and then plug it directly into the wall socket? 

Yes, that's the 120 V it refers to on the label. I'm assuming you live somewhere like the US where the houshold current is 120 volt, 60 cycle.

>The fatter prong would be ground (neutral) right? Cool! 

I don't know which is which. I hate those ^%%!! polarized plugs. Give me a third pin any day.

>That means I can plug it into my APC battery backup 
>and if power goes, I'd still have a few hours of light, 
>right?

My experience is that EL products are useless for area lighting. You'll be able to judge for yourself as soon as you get yours up and running. They do a good job of lighting themselves. If you want efficiency I would suggest you connect lighting that will run directly off the dc battery. LEDs come to mind. The inverter will use up a certain amount of power in doing the conversion.

>Can the same thing be done with those white Electroluminescent panels? 

The different colors are all basically the same.

>I always thought they required an inverter of some sort to work....

All the EL products run off AC. Any EL item is basically a capacitor. To run one from a battery you put an inverter inbetween them to convert the DC into AC for the unit. All inverters are not identical. Some are more powerfull than others. The harder you drive an EL item, the brighter it will glow, but the faster it will wear out. 

Because you have a unit that was designed to be an emergency exit sign, it probably runs itself fairly gently so it can run continously for years and years and years without maintenance while still illuminating the sign. Some inverters are adjustable so you can set them on low to run a small EL load or high to run a big EL load (or you can set the small load on high and enjoy it while it lasts)


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## Sinjz (Oct 12, 2005)

Thanks for the info guys. I'll see how bright this thing really is some time this weekend, when I get to swing by a hardware store for a plug.


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## monkk (Dec 25, 2005)

The household current in the US is only 60Hz, in the UK I beleive it is 50 Hz. At these low frequencies, electroluminescent wire, tape, panels, etc are pretty dim. There are drivers available for el wire that would power the panel at about 2000 Hz. MUCH MUCH MUCH brighter. As pointed out earlier, the brighter it is, the faster it will wear out, so it depends on which is the more important factor, brightness or longevity. Companies like NeonString.com and CoolNeon.com supply such drivers. 

monkk


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