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As much fun as the 1.0 hoodie was, realized could take it up a notch by adding a
That way it would flash along with the beat when you wear it to a concert or on stage.
We stock a 6v and a 12v. To drive one length of EL Wire you need to use the 6V.
high-brightness-aqua-electroluminescent-el-wire-2-5-meters +
el-wire-6v-sound-activated-pocket-inverter + a 4x AA Battery Pack
Before soldering anything, it's a good idea to make sure the circuit works with alligator clips.
From Left : EL Wire adapter to sound activated inverter to 4xAA battery pack.
The dashed white lines on the inverter go to the RED lead on the battery pack.
Then I cut some heat shrink tubing. Important to slide this on the wire BEFORE you solder it.
At this point realized I needed to strip the ends of the battery pack a bit more to get a good connection.
Attempted to do it 'old school' by rolling a boxcutter along the wire. Then found out it was Stranded Core and gave up to go find the excellent set of Hakko wire strippers.
If your wire is solid core you can get away with rolling it under a boxcutter, stranded core you end up cutting through half the strands & won't work.
Once you have the insulation cut, for stranded core, roll it off with your two fingers. This will twist the wire to make it easier to solder.
Tin both the leads
If I have very fine wire, rather than trying to horizontally solder them,
I will sometimes twist them together with needle nose & then solder that connection. Especially for clothing which will have more movement and torque on the joint.
Slide the heat shrink back over & apply light heat with a lighter or heat gun in smooth back & forth motions.
Don't hold the heat source in one spot or you may get smoke & eventually possibly fire.
Also the tube will only shrink so much, so use the right guage.
Success !
**Footnotes**
The hoodie being modded is a BetaBrand Reversible Disco Hoodie from San Fransisco.
For larger (non-hoodie) projects, If you want to drive 3+ meters of EL Wire, you would need to use
el-wire-12v-sound-activated-pocket-inverter + an x8 AA Battery Pack.
For the x8 you would have to cut off the barrel jack adapter & strip the leads a bit.