Forums > Technical Discussion > Misc. Electroglo questions: LEDs, Prices and Choices.

Posted: 22nd Jul 2003
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...

--Luke

Posted: 22nd Jul 2003
$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.

Posted: 22nd Jul 2003
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'!

Laugh Often, Smile Much, Post lolcats Always

Posted: 22nd Jul 2003
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?

Posted: 22nd Jul 2003
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 ]

Posted: 22nd Jul 2003
*Bump* I really just need to know the answer to the battery question

Posted: 23rd Jul 2003
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

So much fire, so little body hair...

Posted: 23rd Jul 2003
can't you connect with a quicklink and a type a coupling to the swivel mounted on top of the electroglow?

Q:What's the difference between the Great Highland Bagpipes and the Northumbrian Pipes?
A:The Great Highland Pipes burn longer.

Posted: 24th Jul 2003
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)

Posted: 24th Jul 2003
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,

So much fire, so little body hair...

Posted: 24th Jul 2003
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.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourself, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous and talented? Who are you NOT to be?

Posted: 24th Jul 2003
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

When a man lies, he murders some part of the world.

Posted: 24th Jul 2003
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

Posted: 28th Jul 2003
Tell us when they arrive, and how much you like/regret them.

--Luke

Posted: 28th Jul 2003
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.

Posted: 28th Jul 2003
They are going to looooooong sessions..... you must have fantastic stamina.

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

Enjoy them


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I mine

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

So much fire, so little body hair...

Posted: 28th Jul 2003

quote:

---

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

---

Sorry, can you rephrase that? I don't really understand.

Posted: 29th Jul 2003

quote:

---

40 Batteries / 4 (2 in each poi) = 10 'sessions' of glow

---

Loooooooooooong sessions

So much fire, so little body hair...

Posted: 29th Jul 2003
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?

Posted: 29th Jul 2003
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.

So much fire, so little body hair...

Posted: 29th Jul 2003
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.

Posted: 29th Jul 2003
They arrived just now, I'll spin for a few hours tonight and give my impressions.

Posted: 30th Jul 2003
...Why didn't you tell me this BEFORE I bought mine?

Posted: 30th Jul 2003
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

Come faeries, take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the mountains like a flame.

- W B Yeats

Posted: 30th Jul 2003
How are the cords things on those?

Posted: 30th Jul 2003
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.

Posted: 30th Jul 2003
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.

Posted: 30th Jul 2003
Malcom, any chance you'll lower the price on the LEDs as well?

Posted: 30th Jul 2003
I'm going to order a pair tomarrow. I'd like to know a few things first though. What am I going to need to conect my own chains too the electroglows? Can the finger loops that come with it be removed easily removed without doing so much damage to the orginal chords or should I just order a pair? And what kind of chain should I look for?
Sorry about all the questions, I've just never built much of anything before.

Posted: 30th Jul 2003
I highly suggest purchasing these:

https://www.homeofpoi.com/shop/details.asp?prodid=715&cat=555&path=50,555

I ordered those as well as 6 feet of extra ball chain, because I knew I'd want to adjust the length. It's quite easy to cut the ball chain with a pair of pliars to replace the chain, but bending out the little ball-holder is the hard part. The D-Link at the end of it is quite easy to attach to the Electroglo holding (The place where the original rope attaches to the Electroglo) and fits quite snugly and perfectly.

The Electroglos are quite a bit longer than I had expected, so make sure to carefully plan how long you want your chain to be considering the Electroglos are about 30% longer than a glowstick, as well as 2 or 3 times larger in diameter.

You can easily remove the finger loops without damaging them or the plastic ring that they come on, but I wouldn't bother, they are not only ugly, but the plastic won't work for fire poi I'd think. I highly recommend ordering what I linked to earlier and using them with your Electroglos, the weighting is perfect and the chains match the poi.