Misc. Electroglo questions: LEDs, Prices and Choices.

For 58 dollars + 7.50 shipping I can get myself a single-LED 7" Electroglo Poi set. I was wondering if I purchased more LEDs could I simply add more inside the chamber to produce a brighter glow?

I emailed a retailer asking about them, and this is how he responded with what I could buy:

1. $70Aud - short poi - approx. 4" 1 LED per pair
2. $90Aud - longer poi - approx. 7" 1 LED per pair
3. $140Aud - longer poi - approx. 7" 2 LED per pair

Those prices are actually $45.50, $58.50, and $91.00. I'm wondering if I could simply save the 30-ish dollars by ordering the longer poi with 1 LED, and adding another LED to it. Here's a laundry list of my questions:

*Is it worth it to add another LED? Is the effect that much more vibrant?

*Will adding two different colored LEDs produce a pretty effect, or just one ugly muddled color?

*Will any LED do?

*Would I have to daisy chain the two LEDs somehow?

I know I'm asking a lot, but I'm notoriously cautious before purchasing anything above 50 dollars. I want my poi tools to excel past my abilities so I can grow in to them, I'd be disappointed if I had to spend another 60 dollars to correct a past mistake.

Thanks for the help, feel free to answer any or all of the questions, or just throw in some input.

Damn the weak Australian dollar. Curse your strong [American?] dollar.

There are some very pretty pics on this site of electroglos with different colours in each end of the tube of an electroglo.

Can you justify @$100 on a toy?

One day I will - I was very close during the 4 month fireban...

$100, no, $65, yes. I'm fairly new to poi but learning more quickly than I could ever imagine. Every sunday I go to the beach with a bunch of friends and we do poi together, have a bonfire, listen to music and stuff... I'm spending money for glowsticks constantly every week, very soon it will add up to more than the cost of Electroglo. So in my own convoluted way, I'm saving money. Or something.

By the way, I heard from someone that they purchased 20 LEDs for 9 dollars... is that possibly accurate? I was expecting 6-ish dollars each, let alone one for cheaper than a glowstick.

Millenium, matey, from what poking i've done to my electroglos, i'm happy to say that although squeezing a second led unit into the opposing end of an electroglo's clear acrylic tube will do little to enhance the overall intensity of the light, but it will provide a nice morphing effect if two complimentary colours are used. red-green or blue-red is nice at full batteries. also, i have overloaded mine to 6V each and they are *brite* as! CR2016 Batteries are the key!

keep on a'rockin'!

Thanks a lot, I guess I'll get a single LED unit and squeeze a second one in there if necessary. Where do you buy your LEDs, and if I search for LEDs other than the official ones for Electroglo, are there any ones I need to look for in perticular?

Just kidding, I lied, I still have questions

Instead of replacing the LEDs to renew my bright glow, do you just replace the CR2016 lithium battery? Are they easy to replace, and how long do they typically last? Will the life of the light be an issue, or just the life of the battery?

Edit: How easy would it be to take them off the crappy chains they come on and put my own stainless steel ball chain on there?

Edit 2: Will 3 volt CR2016 glow nicely? I can get 20 of those for $8.50.

[ 23. July 2003, 05:19: Message edited by: MillenniuM ]

*Bump* I really just need to know the answer to the battery question

With the CR2016's you need to use two in each unit. Giving you 6v and a brighter glow..... unfortunately it may shorten the life of your leds.

Rub here for a visual guide on how to attach ballchain

can't you connect with a quicklink and a type a coupling to the swivel mounted on top of the electroglow?

I'm not sure, but I know you can "easily remove the existing cords and attach a quick link to them" as quoted from a representative of Juggleart (The makers of Electroglo Poi)

Mark1, yes you could attach this way if you only want one LED in your poi. If you want to add a second LED to the other end of the poi you are going to have to modify the end to reattach chains/cords. Hence my modification,

your brightness is affected most by how the light is diffracted, on the electro glow staff i brought it is done with a phosphorus coating, now the problem with that is with age it flakes and doesnt glow as bright.

if you want to make your own (easier to do with poi than staff) you want some polycarbonate tubing its strong as you get that from a place that specialises in plastics you local hardware store wont have it (unless you have super kick ass hardware stores)

i found that by wrapping sandpaper around the small piece of wood and scratching the inside of the polycarbonate tube made it glow much brighter. you can also get different intensity leds go to your local electronics store they will have the different bits you need. you can get high intensity leds that give off heaps of light but dont stare at them when they are on they will damn your retina.

two leds does give a nice effect if you choose the right colours, the problem is the different colours tend to cancel each other out in hte middle and make the staff appear less bright.

any led will do but a cheap one wont be very bright.

you dont have to daisy chain two leds but then you need two switches.

you can make your own at a much much cheaper price but the hard bit is working out how to attach the bits on. if you are just making them for yourself its easy and the switch can just be twisting two wires together if your making them to sell (i was looking into it) its way way harder to find a neat way of doing it.

I'm used to the normal I LED in the poi.

I still think it looks good, it is also a lot cheaper as well.

It looks great with a black light nearby, but I suppose I can't tell ya which is better that is up to you to decide.

XF

Thanks to everyone for your help, I ordered a pair of green Electroglo poi and 40 CR2016 batteries (I got all 40 batteries, new, Panasonic, in blister packages, for 7 dollars!). The electroglos, with shipping, were $58.50 USD, quite cheap as compared with their listed price (They cut me a deal since I was quite helpful with time and money conversions). 40 Batteries / 4 (2 in each poi) = 10 'sessions' of glow, meaning I should get 80-120 hours of bright glow... that's more than enough for quite a few months.

Thanks, once I get my poi I should start making some decent poi videos, assuming I learn some more moves and transitions

Tell us when they arrive, and how much you like/regret them.

Will-do, should be in sometime during the week, I'm hoping wednesday but thursday or friday is more likely. I'll try to make a video of my extremely limited poi skills as well.

They are going to looooooong sessions..... you must have fantastic stamina.

You get 6-9 hours out of a set of batteries

Enjoy them



I mine

[ 29. July 2003, 15:26: Message edited by: Zoltar ]

Ah... by 'sessions' I meant amount of time I could go without replacing the battery, not a single session. Although I have been known to do 6 hours of poi without sitting down before, local mountain parties get you in that mood sometimes

By the way, will replacing the batteries be fairly self explanatory?

Hehe......al clear now.

To change batteries all you need is a very small (jewellers) screwdriver. Undo the screw on the back of the LED unit and flip open the lid (careful not to lose the screw). Tha batteries can be a bit tight to get out at times. I tend to pull them out with needle nose pliers rather than trying to shatter fingernails. Then just slip in the new ones and close the lid.

Bada bing, bada boom nice and bright again.

Would a watch tool work? (Not sure if that's a jeweler's screwdriver or not)

It's a very thin metal tool, a pointed piece of one end and a two-toothed piece on the other side.

They arrived just now, I'll spin for a few hours tonight and give my impressions.

We are clearing out our old stock of electroglo equipment save 44% off normal price.
1 month warranty only. Only limited stock and colours.
See specials

...Why didn't you tell me this BEFORE I bought mine?

I was just naughty and ordered myslef some even though I am poor Forgot to specify what colour. What colour do you guys recommend for ultimate effect - red, blue or green. I like all 3 colours Decisions, decisions

How are the cords things on those?

The cords pretty much suck, I immediatly took them off and put my own on them.

I spun them last night for quite a while. They are weighted nicely, they leave pretty trails, and they have enough mass so that your circles stay circles even at slow speeds. My only issue is that the light isn't completely even throughout the whole tube, and you can see the lightsource at a few angles, which is pretty distracting. The endcaps are overly bulky, I'm going to work on replacing them with something smaller and hopefully something black (I don't want a big white thing showing when I spin).

My only question: How do you add another LED at the opposite end of the Electroglo (the end where it attaches to your chain)? I can't seem to open it up from there, and if I want to add another color that's the only way I can think of doing it.

Why are you clearing out the electroglo, Malcolm? New stock coming in from elsewhere, or are you going to discontinue seeling them? Or something else perhaps?

Just wondering.