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by Taniwha 1918 days ago
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)
1 comments
neltnerb 1918 days ago
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

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