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Written by Jason Owens
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Sunday, 01 July 2007 |
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Page 1 of 2
Thanks to Directron for the product sample.
Also known as Glowire, EL Cable is a hot commodity these days in case modding. It can add style and flash to any case as well as offset and enhance any modifications. The EL Cable on the spot today is part of Sunbeam’s Neon Wire Collection and was sent over by Directron.
The kit comes complete with everything needed to get it up and running, and is pretty much ready to install straight out of the box. It comes in a rather small plastic package that is covered in pictures with ideas for how to use the wire. One rather odd portion of the packaging occurs on the rear, where a picture listing no less than eleven different colors of Glowire is directly above text stating “We currently supply EL Cable (Glowire) in 5 colors.”
Specifications:
- Molex connector to connect into your PC's power supply
- Two output lines from inverter to EL cable
- One 1.5m section of 2.3mm EL cable
- 2 inverters available
- Kit #1: 12V plain inverter w/4 molex connector and 2 output lines and connectors
- Kit #2: 12V inverter w/4 molex connector and 2 output lines and connectors, with on/off/sound control setting, adjustable sensitivity knob
Features:
- The kits are supplied with everything connected ready to plug in, no soldering required
- Provides 360 of illumination
- It can be cut to any length and the cuttings can be re-used
- It is safe and gives off no heat, cool-light
- User programmable animation
- Not fragile
- Personalize & beautify your computer
- Designed by you
- Easy to install
- Flexibility allows any shape bending angles
- Low voltage
When opening the package there are two twist tie wrapped bundles. One contains the inverter, molex connector, and plug for the EL cable itself. The second is a circular bundle containing the EL wire and the plug to connect it to the inverter. One thing that was conspicuously missing form the package is the double sided tape that is listed on the Directron website. I do not know whether this was just left out of my particular inverter accidentally or is not actually present in the package, but it's not a big deal.
The inverter is a hard plastic box with the lead from the molex connector coming in one side and two connections for EL wire on the opposite. The inverter has two mounting points which can be used to either screw or bolt the inverter box to a surface. Inside the inverter box was something that I found interesting. If you were hoping to pull the inverter out of the box and mount it in some sort of custom housing, then you're decidedly out of luck. The inverter is locked into the housing by means of some sort of black resin or epoxy that is very hard and covers the entire inside of the unit.
The EL cable is about 2 meters long, with 1.5 meters of that being actual Glowire. The rest is wiring that is attached to the connector. The two wires are connected and then covered with heatshrink, and this is the only part of the wiring that's not absolutely flexible.
The wire is connected to the inverter using a small two pin connector that interfaces and then locks down on the connector from the inverter. I was a little disappointed in the way the connector works, because it's very easy to not latch it and have the wire pull free from the inverter. This is easily remedied, however, by making sure to physically engage the snap. The inverter also has a second connector, to be used if additional Glowire is purchased. The actual connector that would allow the reuse of any cuttings from the Glowire is not included.
Installation is very simple, all that's necessary is to plug in the molex connector and then connect the Glowire and away you go. The inverter is nearly silent and its whine is only audible when you hold it up to your ear. On top of that the EL wiring has an almost nonexistent heat output. The wiring never warmed above room temperature during the time I used it. The color is bright but is not quite a true blue. It's a bit closer to aqua than I would have liked for a blue EL wire kit, but nevertheless it's not a showstopper. When it comes to modding, the potential of EL wiring is almost as limitless as to what your imagination will allow. Here are four simple yet interesting mods that show off the light output of the wiring.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 20 July 2007 )
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