SparkFun Forums

[serkismaya]

Hello,

I've been working on a project that part of it is making an EL tape reactive to an ultrasonic sensor.
For that I've bought:

EL Tape - Blue/Green (1M) - COM-10795

EL Escudo Dos - COM-10878

2x EL Inverter - Battery Pack - COM-11222 (I bought two just to have a spare one)

I'm having problems because I think I've bought the wrong inverter, I tried connecting everything, the El tape to the El escudo dos, and the inverter into the El escudo through the AC port. After about a minute (I was testing codes on arduino already), the inverter just burned itself out. Is there anyway I could repair it? What about the spare inverter that I've bought, can I do anything so it becomes compatible with the El escudo and El tape?

Thank you a lot already!

[Mee_n_Mac]

It's not clear to me that you've bought the wrong inverter. According to the data sheet for the tape, I'd expect a current draw of about 3 mA, certainly within the capabilities of the inverter. So I don't know what went wrong. Could you post a diagram of how you had everything wired up and the code you were running when the inverter died ? Also e-mail SFE tech support and tell them what happened. Also ask for spec's on that inverter; output voltage, frequency and max current and capacitance allowed.
(click to open)

CodeButtonTags.jpg

[serkismaya]

This is how I wired up:




And the code I was running is just an example code given by sparkfun at the El Escudo Dos page

Here it is:

Code: Select all

// Test sketch for El Escudo Dos
// Turn each EL channel (A-H) on in sequence and repeat
// Mike Grusin, SparkFun Electronics

void setup() {                
  // The EL channels are on pins 2 through 9
  // Initialize the pins as outputs
  pinMode(2, OUTPUT);  // channel A  
  pinMode(3, OUTPUT);  // channel B   
  pinMode(4, OUTPUT);  // channel C
  pinMode(5, OUTPUT);  // channel D    
  pinMode(6, OUTPUT);  // channel E
  pinMode(7, OUTPUT);  // channel F
  pinMode(8, OUTPUT);  // channel G
  pinMode(9, OUTPUT);  // channel H
  // We also have two status LEDs, pin 10 on the Escudo, 
  // and pin 13 on the Arduino itself
  pinMode(10, OUTPUT);     
  pinMode(13, OUTPUT);    
}

void loop() 
{
  int x,status;
  
  // Step through all eight EL channels (pins 2 through 9)
  for (x=2; x<=9; x++)
  {
    digitalWrite(x, HIGH);   // turn the EL channel on
    delay(100);              // wait for 1/10 second
    digitalWrite(x, LOW);    // turn the EL channel off

    digitalWrite(10, status);   // blink both status LEDs
    digitalWrite(13, status);
    status = !status; 
  }
}

Thanks for the attention!

[Mee_n_Mac]

Everything looks fine to me. E-mail SFE tech support and see what they say. I might also ask them if this inverter can be run w/o a load, some can't. IIRC SFE claims all their inverters are "no load safe" but who knows, perhaps they got fooled.