Photo luminescent panels

Chuck731 · Post by **Chuck731** » Mon Feb 15, 2016 9:13 pm

can anyone point me to a tutorial on choosing and installing photo-luminescent panels?

Thanks in advance

brt · Post by **brt** » Tue Feb 16, 2016 12:15 pm

Just google photo luminescent panels tutorial. That should pop up a bunch.

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Tue Feb 16, 2016 9:13 pm

Any particular reason to choose that type of lighting?

Granted, its a very even and uniform type of light but its not that bright, requires high voltage, and has a shorter lifespan than LEDs.

Chuck731 · Post by **Chuck731** » Wed Feb 17, 2016 10:39 pm

I want to use electroluminescent panels to light the cockpit instrument panels of the millennium falcon. The instrument light are for status indication, not illumination, so they should be fairly subdued and without glare. LEDs or LED powered fiber optics are too bright.

DaveVan · Post by **DaveVan** » Thu Feb 18, 2016 12:03 am

Madman Lighting wrote:Any particular reason to choose that type of lighting?

Granted, its a very even and uniform type of light but its not that bright, requires high voltage, and has a shorter lifespan than LEDs.

What lifespan do they have....I had plans to use some....thx

Tchail · Post by **Tchail** » Thu Feb 18, 2016 12:30 am

I don't know about a tutorial, but Adafruit sells EL panels and tape.

https://www.adafruit.com/category/50

Basically you need an inverter to drive the panel. They usually off a source that's betwwn 3V to 6V depending on the area of EL panel/tape you're trying to drive.

Best of luck!

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Thu Feb 18, 2016 1:42 pm

DaveVan wrote:
Madman Lighting wrote:Any particular reason to choose that type of lighting?

Granted, its a very even and uniform type of light but its not that bright, requires high voltage, and has a shorter lifespan than LEDs.
What lifespan do they have....I had plans to use some....thx

Typically about 80 hours IIRC

brt · Post by **brt** » Thu Feb 18, 2016 5:57 pm

80 hours? Go with LEDs and use a trim pot to lower the brightness of the LEDs and / or find something to diffuse the LEDs.

Chuck731 · Post by **Chuck731** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 1:52 pm

Kylwell wrote:
DaveVan wrote:
Madman Lighting wrote:Any particular reason to choose that type of lighting?

Granted, its a very even and uniform type of light but its not that bright, requires high voltage, and has a shorter lifespan than LEDs.
What lifespan do they have....I had plans to use some....thx
Typically about 80 hours IIRC

They advertise 10,000 hours. Nothing compare to 150,000 hours advertised for some LEDs, but more than will likely be used during the lifetime of most models.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 2:11 pm

IIRC 80 is their half life or when they get to 50% luminosity.

Or @ least the ones I was looking @ a few years back.

Paulbo · Post by **Paulbo** » Sat Feb 20, 2016 4:26 pm

Somewhere I read that the stuff from Miller Engineering ( www.microstru.com ) has around a 400 hour half-life. Useless IMHO.

As noted earlier, add pots to your LEDs to reduce the brightness. If that's still not enough, you can put a filter between the LEDs and the surface.

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Sat Feb 20, 2016 5:49 pm

That lifespan sounds about right to me.

When I started Madman Lighting I looked at all the available lighting sources and LEDs beat everything hands down for what I wanted to do, and in the 10 years since, they've just gotten better, by a lot.

10,000 hours is typical for LEDs and I'm sure its better than that now if you look. The way to make an LED last a long time is to keep it cool. Heat kills silicon devices of any kind. I under-drive mine just a little bit, so there's no chance of over drive and it increases lifetime. My DS9 model is 100% LED lit and it still shines, after 11 years now.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Sat Feb 20, 2016 6:00 pm

Or, as it just dawned on me, are you wanting glow-in-the-dark panels? Photoluminescence covers materials they glow after being exposed to light. Electoluminescence are materials that glow when electricity is applied.

Chuck731 · Post by **Chuck731** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 7:49 am

Kylwell wrote:Or, as it just dawned on me, are you wanting glow-in-the-dark panels? Photoluminescence covers materials they glow after being exposed to light. Electoluminescence are materials that glow when electricity is applied.

No, I am talking about electrically powered luminescent panels, not the ones that glows for a while after being in the light. Sorry about the confusion.