Who doesn't love the soft glow of electroluminescence? This EL panel is a flexible plastic sheet which contains a phosphor layer and lights up with a neon-like glow when the proper voltage is applied. It's a lot like the ever-popular EL wire except, well, it's a panel. Panels are particularly well suited for backlighting LCDs as well as illuminated signage.
These can be driven with any of the EL inverters and sequencers that we carry and come in a variety of bright colors (check below for other colors). This particular panel is 10cm square and illuminates white. It is attached to a 20cm cable which is terminated with a JST PH connector.
Note: These panels can be cut to any shape! Regular scissors work fine to cut this EL panel but after you've cut the panel you should seal the exposed edges with some tape or epoxy to avoid shorting the panel or shocking yourself.
If it requires power, you need to know how much, what all the pins do, and how to hook it up. You may need to reference datasheets, schematics, and know the ins and outs of electronics.
Skill Level: Rookie - You may be required to know a bit more about the component, such as orientation, or how to hook it up, in addition to power requirements. You will need to understand polarized components.
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We welcome your comments and suggestions below. However, if you are looking for solutions to technical questions please see our Technical Assistance page.
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I purchased this lovely little EL panel to add a backlight to my RC aircraft transmitter's display. I worked like a charm, minus having to deal with interference generated across the 72mhz spectrum. Not too much of an issue though, as I just shielded as much of the area as I could. That seemed to silence most of the noise.
The only thing I dislike about it is that it only has one set of inputs, so the cuttings are pretty much wasted.
After constructing a high voltage oscillator of the appropriate frequency I cut the device to shape. It was necessary to make a 90deg angle bend in the connector to conform to the surface of the part I had to fit it to. A slight short rapidly caused the entire conductive surface near the connector to arc and vaporize. I was never able to establish a reasonable way to reattach the electrodes to the device so I wound up not using either of them.
Surprised the connector didn't fit any of my el wire inverter connectors but thankfully I had extras lying around so a few slices later... bob's your uncle!
It was my first el panel experiment. It will take some very expensive practice to get precise shapes, so it will be cheaper to mask it instead. White panel looks good..
I've had no problem with the actual use of these panels-- they're bright, cut easily, and work perfectly in my projects. But the strain relief tore out in the first one I ordered, while placed on the curve of a prop. I've mounted the second one differently to keep it flatter, but am still concerned anything less than completely flat will make it fail eventually
Works as advertised, but this thing isn't very bright. Phone screens are way brighter. Also, not sure why it's advertised as white, because this panel is blue all day.
What's the light output of one of these panels? I'm wondering if it's enough to be used as a night light.
How much EL wire is a single panel equivalent to?
Question...when these are trimmed to different sizes, would all sizes emit the same amount of light per area? I am working on replacing light bulbs in LCD car gauges, and I will need to make several panels, all different sizes. I need them to all be the same brightness.
What is safe temperature for that? I want to decorate my Rostock Max v2 printer with theese, and temp is over 50 celsius at the bottom, but less than 65
Could you vacuum form these and have them still work
Would you be able to tint these with a film of some sort? Like a yellow film to turn it yellow?
I imagine it would work well enough. If you try it, let us know how it goes!
Ok then! Will try this out soon!
any idea where I can find a larger size panel that works with the EL Escudo Dos -- and its headers? I've been searching in vain through other companies. Thanks!
It works whith 12v???
It will if you use the 12V Inverter in the products below.
I wonder if these are bright enough to be used as an arcade marquee backlight? It would require a few of these, but they can be cut to fit the marquee and it would allow for crazy-thin arcade marquee wall plates.
Can Sparkfun source bigger versions of these EL panels?
Are they UL approved?
I wonder if this is bright enough to be used as lighting for a Thing-o-Matic printer.
They would not be bright enough for that. Sorry. You might try these, https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12014 The power supply in a thing o matic is easy enough to pull some 12V power lines from
A newbie question - are these (or any of the EL products) dimmable, or are they just off/on?
You can see Sparkfun's EL Sequencer doing PWM here:
http://www.vimeo.com/4754275
You can't PWM EL directly, but you can use triacs to control EL.