Help...any electronics wizards out there that know EL sheet?

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jvasilatos
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Help...any electronics wizards out there that know EL sheet?

Post by jvasilatos »

Okay, I thought I was so close...

I bought this lightsheet:
http://www.nitestar.com/SSTIE/e-clec-te ... 543312.jpg

And this wire kit:
http://www.nitestar.com/SSTIE/e-clec-te ... 159504.jpg

... to create lighting panels inside the cockpit of my studio scale TIE... of which there is not a lot of room within the cockpit for more than 2 AAA 1.5 volt batteries (the rest of the space is for the pilot and cockpit panels). I already have the power source installed, which also powers the two LED engine lights, and I had two extra loose wires standing by to connect to the lightsheet power supply electonic module that requires 2 AAA 1.5 volt batteries:

http://www.nitestar.com/SSTIE/POWER_SUPPLY.jpg

However, attaching the extra wires to the power supply that then leads to the lightsheet cancels everything out... nothing lights up. When they are detached, the LED engine lights go on again.

I don't know anything about circuitry so I am wondering what I have to do so that the 2 batteries can power the two LED engine lights as well as the EL power supply and the lightsheet. I thought I had all the right components, but I think the power supply circuit element for the lightsheet is causing the problem, but without it the sheet won't light. And I don't want to have to choose between one or the other (engine lights vs. cockpit panel lights when there is enough power for both.)

Everything was designed to run off one switch and one self-contained power source, now I am not sure how I can overcome this last hurdle getting the lightsheet and LEDs to run without cancelling out each other (but which work fine seperately...)

Any advice?

JV
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FIRESPRAY
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Post by FIRESPRAY »

Assuming that the LEDs are not wired to the Lightsheet invertor and all leads to the battery pack are wired correctly, then it could well be that you don't have enough energy to power both. Try wiring the LEDs to a seperate source. I realize that space in the cockpit is at a premium, but LEDs can be powered by small disc type batteries. Just a thought. :)
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Post by Sparky »

Be sure if you hook up the inverter that it goes before the resistor for LEDs, that is the plus from the battery with nothing inline (but a switch maybe) and the negative from the battery with nothing inline (but a switch maybe).

BTW you should link to the photos not post them in line, last time I heard it dings SM for bandwidth as well as the hosting site.
Last edited by Sparky on Tue May 09, 2006 9:34 am, edited 2 times in total.
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DasPhule
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Post by DasPhule »

Images

Do not post in-line images, regardless of their size.
They count against our bandwidth, for one. Just as importantly, not everyone has a highspeed connection - and loading images only slows everything down for those on a dial-up.

Instead, use a link to direct others to your images, like:

http://www.starshipmodeler.com/masthd.gif

Posts containing inline images will be edited by the moderators.

Smilies are (generally) exempt from these rules, as they're too small (again, generally) to affect much. Those deemed too large or otherwise inappropriate, however, will be edited by the moderators.
How about a nice cup of STFU?
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Post by Sparky »

Were you able to get the inverter and LEDs to coexsist? Just wondering what the problem was:
batteries couldn't supply the power needed or
Wiring issue.
<a href="http://www.kc6sye.com/2_wheresaneatpart.jpg" target="_Sparky">Is this plastic thingy on the counter a neat part?</a> <a href="http://www.kc6sye.com/1_casting_inprogress.jpg" target="_Sparky">Let's cast it.</a>
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