EL Wire Powered Ethernet Patch Cables
Forget the days of trying to locate the correct cables in patch rooms like the one pictured above. Using power over ethernet (POE), this hacker laced a standard patch cable with Electroluminescent wire (abbreviated as EL wire) allowing him to locate any cable instantly. EL wire is a thin copper wire coated in phosphorus which glow when current is applied to them. El wire is used in various applications vehicle, safety, emergency lighting, structure decoration etc but it’s far more entertaining when put to use in case mods and making custom daft punk suits as seen below.
How El Wire Works:
El wire is made with five major components and there are few minor components. It is made with a solid copper wire core coated with phosphor which is spiral wounded by a very fine wire. This fine wire stays separated from the copper core and a PVC sleeve is surrounded around the sandwich of the copper core. The area between the copper core and the fine wire applied with the electrical current. The wire can be used as the capacitor with 1 NF of capacitance per foot and can be charged rapidly.
See our other post about sewing EL wire into clothing. The light is emitted through this wire as the capacitor is discharged; it makes the phosphor coat excited and the phosphor then emit light. Another component used in the making of the El wire is the resonant oscillator which can generate the high voltage signal of the driver. This makes el wire highly efficient, allowing it to be driven by AA batteries for many hours.
How to Make DIY EL Wire Patch Cables:
[update] Sorry, video appears to be down now.
June 14th, 2009
where is the video ???
June 14th, 2009
Sorry, it got removed shortly after we posted this.