LM3915 EL Wire VU Meter , Bluetooth speaker

Hey ,

Just in the process of finishing a simple EL project .

The setup consist of a rockbox1 Bluetooth speaker green , white and blue ultra bright EL wire and the EL switching which is the same circuit as the EL sequencer SF sell but I made it on copper strip board and used though hole components , the OPTO/Triac is the same but a DIP8 and I substituted the second triac with a 1A/600V TO92

The audio output from the inbuild amplifier drives the speaker and feeds the LM3915 , that then drives the leds in the OPTO/triacs .

These are two videos , first was the main prototype with standard blue 2.3mm EL wire , second is the main one with the ultra bright EL with 6/2/2 green,blue,white .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lkrJvLAW_s&list=UUvjDVNxRU2DInDMQQw_iYJA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgJDhg5OHkg&list=UUvjDVNxRU2DInDMQQw_iYJA

IMG_0676[1] by TwirlyWhirly555, on Flickr

IMG_0666[1] by TwirlyWhirly555, on Flickr

IMG_0671[1] by TwirlyWhirly555, on Flickr

IMG_0673[1] by TwirlyWhirly555, on Flickr

IMG_0674[1] by TwirlyWhirly555, on Flickr

nice. Reminds me of oldschool cordwood construction techniques

Very nice. I saw when you put the first vid up on YT. Lots and lots of work goes into making all those connections!

Thanks , It worked out better than I expected , till one piece of wire needed to be replaced :/

Yeah I may try and get some PCBs made instead as even with the DIP and TO92 packages its still fairly small

Turned my second speaker onto a EL VU meter too , abit messy currently .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXEpjVwk0E4&list=UUvjDVNxRU2DInDMQQw_iYJA

IMG_0730[1] by TwirlyWhirly555, on Flickr

IMG_0738[1] by TwirlyWhirly555, on Flickr

IMG_0737[1] by TwirlyWhirly555, on Flickr

IMG_0729[1] by TwirlyWhirly555, on Flickr

how are you switching the high voltage? I'm assuming an optocoupler and a triac?

I think it is possible to control each EL wire directly with a triac output optocoupler as the current draw is small.

djQUAN said:

how are you switching the high voltage? I'm assuming an optocoupler and a triac?

I think it is possible to control each EL wire directly with a triac output optocoupler as the current draw is small.

Click to expand...

Exactly that : D , The EL wire is controlled via a Opto Triac that then controls a discreet Triac for more robustness . the last picture shows the set of 10 Opto Triac / Triac pairs with the LM3915 driving the leds in the Opto triacs in tern driving the wire while keeping it isolated from the low voltage LM3915 / Audio .

The EL controller circuit if from sparkfun , I just swapped out parts and combined it with a LM3915