[malfist]

You don't use EL as a "full fledged front light", they don't have the lumen output and need a lot of support (high voltage) to produce what they do.

[asimovDev]

by hardware I meant the transformer to which the EL was connected.

[malfist]

The transformer is only there for the el. You'd drive the led from a transistor and the 12V supply (like Seth did here)