Forums > Technical Discussion > Electro Luminescent wire for poi cord?

Posted: 11th Aug 2010
Interesting concept there... My only issues would be with connection strength, both electrically and physically.

Depending on the poi that you're spinning, you can be pulling quite a bit of centripetal force... This makes it paramount that you have a decent connection between your poi and the cords. If one spins off, and catches someone in the head (or the crown jewels), then it's safe to say that they're going to try and hurt you. Twice.

So the first thing would be ensuring that you can get a good, strong connection going that's not going to break or come apart easily. The second thing that would worry me is the power pack and the electric connections to the cords. How were you thinking about getting these to light up? You'd have to run a wire from each to a battery pack (most EL runs at about 10 volts, i believe), so that's got to be factored in. There's the weight of the power pack if you're going to be spinning with them as well, and the repeated spinning and twisting can weaken the connections as well.

Sure, you're not going to feel anything under 60 volts if it does come loose, but if you're dealing with fuel and there's the potential to make sparks.... Could end badly.

The last thing that came to me as I was typing this is the actual wires themselves. What are they made of? If you're spinning with fire, then are they going to melt/stretch/distort? If you're spinning with LED poi, that should be fine, but the material itself may not have a heat rating high enough to withstand flame... And of course, the fuel as well - will it dissolve/erode/weaken the structure of the wire?

All things to consider.

Something I did think of as I was writing this was a bit of fibre optic tubing. Think of the fibre optic ornaments that you get at the dollar shop or whatever, where you can see the light in the cords. If you could somehow wind that through a standard chain, maybe weave or plait it into the links, then it has the potential to look very cool. Plus, they could run off a low voltage LED (cold operation as well) and a smaller battery than a 10 volt powerpack. Could be worth looking into.

Posted: 11th Aug 2010
You could use the battery pack/light as a handle maybe

The only luck is bad luck.

Shut up before I stall my poi up your ass

Posted: 12th Aug 2010
well i am only thinking of doing it with led poi fire is out o the question the only thing i am having difficulty trying to work out is how to loop the wire back on itself to attach the poi to it and i have no idea what it is made of i was just browsin around at things earlier and thought it would look amazing but the fiber optic tubing that is a awesome idea and would actually allow me to loop it back but may cause a problem attaching it to the poi but a swivel may fix that problem but not certain yet will have to research further and thanks for all the info and thanks again for any future info all

"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able, and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" - Epicurus

Posted: 12th Aug 2010
If you wanted to cinch it back onto itself in a loop like they do with steel cables, sorta like this:


Non-Https Image Link


Of course, that depends on how strong the material is, and I'd almost be inclined to do multiple loops and more than one clamp if you're going to hold it.

Posted: 21st Aug 2010
I've seen this done by feeding it down a length of PVC tubing, the PVC tube takes the load rather than the EL wire.

Remember though EL wires is not designed to be 'worked' it's designed for a static installation, it would probably work fine as long as you avoided anything that will cause it to bend lots like Hyperloops etc.

If you look inside the EL wire you'll see why, they generally have 3 - 5 very fine wires spiral wrapped around the length of it, if some or all of these break it will lesson or stop the glow...

One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.
- A.A. Milne

Don't join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects!
- Anon (I think)

Posted: 9th Sep 2010
Charlie is right, there's no way EL wire will support weight. Even with the tubing, these are going to be VERY delicate and probably not going to last more then a few runs, any sort of bending will ruin the wire. Oh, and good luck with the swivel issues. To be honest, it seems like an expensive and not particularly worthwhile endeavor.

Posted: 10th Sep 2010
I had a play with this a while back, running it parallel to a chain. The effect was just about visible but not enough to be worth the hassle IMHO. If you really really want the effect, get some glowclubs and spin them.

Working hard to be a wandering hippie layabout. Ten years down, five to go!

Posted: 16th Sep 2010
i tryed something like this and it cracked the el wire making the rest the wire not work after the crack