EL Cuttable Panel in RGB? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: Falcon69
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2016, 01:12:16 am
content: As the title says. I bought a piece of cuttable 'RED' Electro-luminescent panel off eBay a few months ago, and it works well, however, I'd like to find some of the same stuff that I can change the color of. I tried using some LED's in my project, however when they light up through my dark panel, instead of lighting up the entire area, all you see is light where the LED is. It's not very neat looking and does not light up the selected area as a EL panel does. I've tried diffused LED's, but with the same result. I think a cuttable EL Panel or tape is the only way to go here.Anyone know where I can find some, or even know if it exists.....yet?I've been seeing alot of stuff about EL Paint that changes colors based on the voltage supplied, however, I think it's all BS.http://www.litcoat.com/paramagnetic-paint

author: Photon939
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2016, 06:50:16 pm
content: I have heard of EL stuff that can change color, but usually that's only from colors next to eachother in the visible spectrum (ex green to blue, red to yellow etc), RGB EL in a single element doesn't exist AFAIK. RGB subpixel type arrays could get you full color but would probably be rather complex to drive.As to your light issue, sounds like you just need a better diffuser or different RGB LED. Different types of LEDs also have different beam patterns. (standard 5mm vs straw hat type etc) RGB LEDs in SMD packages like 5050 tend to have very wide beam patterns and spread their light pretty evenly as long as you can have some distance from the led to the final surface.

author: Falcon69
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2016, 08:21:00 pm
content: The WS28** chips won't work either, you still see a brighter area where the LED is.They do make flexible OLED displays, but, they are way too expensive right now.I will try again, maybe I can get some of this plastichttp://www.tapplastics.com/product/plastics/plastic_sheets_rolls/led_ligh_panel/598Not sure this works, I will have to try it. I could have some stickers made with the logo and stuff, then apply the stickers onto the plastic sheet, paint the plastic with some paint that doesn't allow light to pass through, peel stickers up, then have the lights behind it. User selectable colors. The only problem is, I was hoping for the whole thing to be black. May have to change the panel to white, as that is the color of the plastic, Unless I can find some translucent black that can go over the top of the white diffused plastic, that way, you only see what is lit up behind it. Kinda like those indicator lights in your car. You don't know it has a check engine light, until it lights up.

author: Photon939
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2016, 08:26:14 pm
content: Have you looked at smoked acrylic sheets? A thin layer of opaque white plastic behind it may produce a nice effect.

author: Buriedcode
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2016, 08:41:47 pm
content: Unless you require something very thin, or flexible or a bizarre shape, I would suggest a lightguide edge-lit by RGB LED's. You can get a very uniform illumination, and they can be fairly thin (3mm), and provided the LED's aren't molded into the lightguide itself, you can use any colour (including RGB of course) you want. I've only used EL panels once, and whilst I quite liked the unique haze/glow they produced, it was quite faint and required a custom driver circuit. That was because it had to be curved, and it worked out rather well.

author: Falcon69
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2016, 08:47:17 pm
content: edge light will not work in this case. The panel I am trying to make has different colors of letters/logos throughout the panel, and they each will need to be configured with a different color, as well as some of them user select-able for color desired.Putting smoke in front of the white diffuser panel...won't that make the light (colors or not) to dim to see? It would need to be very dark, almost black smoke acrylic to work. Must be acrylic, as that is what my cheap 40w chinese laser cuts.

author: Photon939
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2016, 08:49:52 pm
content: It will attenuate the light for sure, but unless you need the output to be super bright you should still get plenty of light through with decent RGB leds to illuminate text/logos

author: Falcon69
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2016, 10:03:25 pm
content: Went down to Tap Plastics today and checked out Tthe Acrylic diffuser panels.They won't work either unless the LED's are placed like 1" behind it. I don't have that space. The Led's will be pretty close, like 1/16" away. You still see the 'DOT' of the LED light. Back to the drawing board.