It's Friday, and we're back with another round of new products for you. We have a wide selection of new stuff, so sit back and enjoy.
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The ELastoLite product line is made of a lot of little parts. To better understand how they all work and how to connect everything together, check out the assembly video below, or the hook-up guide.
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Hopefully the video (and the hookup guide) will give you a better idea of how all the parts go together! Now let's look at the products for this week.
ELastoLite is a line of EL panels that are designed to be integrated into clothing, or applications where you need a flexible light source. The product line consists of two different inverters (the INV133 and INV135), various connectors and wiring, and five colors of EL panels in two sizes (3x5" and 2x2").
This week we also have a new (minor) revision of the SIK. The new revision now includes a small screwdriver for attaching the RedBoard to the baseplate, and has a white breadboard instead of the red. We had a lot of feedback saying that the red was harder to read. Other than that, it's the same SIK we've been shipping for the past few months. For a limited time, we have the older SIK on sale! If you don't know what the SIK is, but like the random arrangement of parts above, check out this video.
Dagu has come out with a new version of the Wild Thumper Controller and it's now called the T'Rex Motor Controller. Like the older version, it still has an Arduino compatible ATMega328, headers for a bunch of servos, and plenty of power. The new version adds some new cool features like an Android app (when using a bluetooth module), accelerometer for bump detection, and better efficiency. Check out the video above for a demonstration.
We also have a new servo from Hitec this week. The HS-755HB is a 1/4 scale servo, which is between the standard and giant size. If you need a lot of power, but the giant is too big for you, check this one out.
We also have a couple new revisions of our tool kits this week. Both the Intermediate (US) and Intermediate (EU) have new versions that include safety glasses, but no longer include the flux pens. Bummer, right? It turns out shipping restrictions prohibit us from including them, sad face. We're still evaluating various flux pens that don't have strict shipping regulations, but we haven't found anything just yet, so stay tuned.
Sometimes you don't need a lot of power, and coin cell batteries are small and easy to integrate. We have a new rechargeable lithium coin cell battery that mounts right to your PCB. This LIR2477 battery is rated for 3.6V @ 160mAh and comes standard with two PTH pins tacked on to the top and bottom so a coin cell holder is not required.
Lastly, we are now selling the white breadboard that goes into the new version of the SIK. It's self-adhesive and just about the right size for those smaller projects.
That's all I have for this week. Thanks for reading and watching and see you next week with more new products!
Clever girl...
Jurassic Spark? I smell a cease and desist from Universal :-)
Fair Use is your friend.
Aww man! I like the red breadboard more, it had a Sparkfun authenticity to it!
I'm with you. Red was Sparkfunish cool.
Is there any way to integrate the ElastoLite panels into a arduino project? Having a fixed inverter is OK if all you want to do is have it turn on and off with a manual button...I am thinking along the lines of the EL Sequencer or EL Escudo boards.
Edit: Doh! - didn't see the thread above mine... a day late and a dollar short...
Any plans to add more OEM style inverters for more permanent and non-portable installations?
How about adding an area dimension for what your existing inverters will drive, so they might be used with the flat EL products? I don't see this information in the data sheets.
I would guess you don't need to use their inverters. It's nice that they include what I'm assuming is a lipo battery, but EL wire is EL wire. You should be able to use any inverter you can find on the internets.
Yes, should hold true... EL is EL, no matter what the form it comes in. It would to nice to have surface area specs of wire vs sheet so you could mix and match the inverters from one EL form to another more easily...
Not at the moment, though the idea of something like the EL Sequencer only beefier is always in the back of my mind.
The EL Sequencer is a very cool product, I'd love to see more like it! Maybe more channels could be added to a beefier version too.
I was thinking of the Sequencer being used with ElastoLite when I asked about how much area your existing inverters would drive... that's what was behind the question.
If you send me the (free?) product I'll make a demo of these panels and El Escudo Dos!
Pearce's voice makes me sleeeepy. :). Very detailed tutorial though.
I'll be over with a copy of goodnight moon tonight.
Can we start a Kickstarter where a reading of "Good Night Moon" by you as one of the prize levels?! I'd totally back that.
ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz
Sweet. I'll pick your brain regarding one of my project while I listen, until I fall... asl...... eee..... p.
Is the Elastolite logo intended as removable from this product line? That is to say, is it possible to have/use a blank elastolite panel? Thanks.
Sorry, should clarify. That is the back, the front area is face down on the hard backing to protect it during shipping. You won't see the label through the lamp.
(The last picture in the hookup guide shows what the front looks like.)
Great to see more EL products added to the lineup... you could never have too many!!
That makes more sense, thanks very much.
Dagu calls it the "T'REX robot controller", and people should not confuse it with the Pololu TReX motor controllers: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/retired/8900 http://www.pololu.com/category/96/pololu-trex-dual-motor-controllers
The link for both inverters go to the 135. You should check the descriptions in both inverters pages as well, as they both say they do 8sq in, but I thought the video said only the small of the two does 8, and the other one more
Links are fixed.
So the inv135 works for 8 square inches or less and the inv133 works for 8 square inches or more (up to about 20).
Were the 20 winners of the RedBoards ever chosen?
If you're talking about the analogy contest, you can find the list of winners here
can you cut the ElastoLite panels? (you might have showed this in the video... I can't watch it right now).
No, it's sealed to make it washable when used in clothing, so cutting would ruin that. If you want to make a different shape, I recommend masking the lamp with a thicker (read as opaque as possible) piece of fabric cut to the specific shape.
EDIT: Alright, I got a little flak for this. We haven't tried cutting it. My thoughts are that it would work, just wouldn't be waterproof defeating the purpose of the lamp. In addition, the likelihood of you shocking yourself goes up. So the manufacturers stance is this is not a product that can be trimmed. From my standpoint, it will work, just not well.
Yeah I've gotten some nice shocks from the ends of el wire. I can imagine having a much bigger area (the edge of the panel) could definitely be... shocking!
The page for the ELastoLite Hookup Guide give a certificate error FYI :)
Either they fixed that quickly or there's something else going on; I'm not seeing any trouble with it.
Cert is from COMODO CA Limited, valid for *.sparkfun.com until mid-May 2015.
[I'm in Firefox 25 on Win 7.]
Maybe it was because I was running IE on XP at work - I'm on Chrome on W7 at home and it's fine now