el-wire has two electrodes, one in the core and one usually spiraling around the outside, I think in this case the spiraling one is shared with one electrode and the EL glowy stuff as weft and the other electrode as warp - when you light them both up a bit of EL stuff glows
Now usually it take a 100v AC signal to drive EL-wire and it will give you a nasty shock if you're not careful I'd be a bit leary about using this fabric (plus because it's multiplexed I'd guess they're probably driving it with more than 100v to get any brightness)
Yeah... I've worked with some smart fabrics and I wouldn't touch them knowing the voltages this kind of stuff requires to work.
I'm sure it can be done safely, but those folks touching it were all wearing gloves. I agree!
And if a single wire in the fiber breaks the entire line is gone, though this is hardly perfect with stationary stuff it seems a lot easier to happen in a fabric...
But still extremely cool. I just hesitate to wear clothes that I have to plug into a wall outlet :-D
Now usually it take a 100v AC signal to drive EL-wire and it will give you a nasty shock if you're not careful I'd be a bit leary about using this fabric (plus because it's multiplexed I'd guess they're probably driving it with more than 100v to get any brightness)