PICsters,

Every so often someone on the list inquires about EL inverters.
I have 100 available for $6 each plus shipping.  At this
price it is cheaper to buy them than to build your own! Usual prices
for such inverters are from $12 and up at places like Digi-Key.
I will sell these in any quantity from 5 to 100, first-come
first-served. The last time I offered these on the PIC list I
sold about 120.


These modules that take +5 v and convert it to the required AC voltage.
Three pin device: +5/Gnd/Inverter out. I have used these myself,
and they work great.

Label on each unit (all are brand new) is NEL-D32-50 8L07

Dimensions are:   w=.825"  l=1.65"  h=1"  black plastic case.
Lead spacing is .5" and 1.4"

Bottom view:

------------------------
|                  HV  |
|                  *   |
|   +5                 |
|   *              *   |
|                  Gnd |
------------------------

Easily disassembles. Can be reverse engineered with ease, as
it is not potted.

Always use a decent bypass cap between +5 and Gnd connection!


If anyone is interested, contact me *OFF-LIST* at tom_mcgahee@sigmis.com
(please note the underscore in tom_mcgahee. It sometimes looks like
a space when the mail reader displays the address underlined)
Please, do NOT send replies to the PIC list!

Please send me your e-mail address and ALSO your regular
snail-mail address so I can get back to you with what the
full price is with shipping included.


You might want to know what voltage/frequency these things output,
and whether or not you need different types of inverters for
different sized panels. My understanding is that the larger
panels require more total current than smaller panels. I have
about ten different types of EL backlight panels here, ranging
from the usual Optrex 2x16 parts up to the 4x40 parts. The
EL inverter described below seems to drive them all quite well,
and the current *drawn* by the module is a function of the panel
area as far as I can see. I have no spec sheets for this device,
unfortunately, but my testing seems to indicate that this
particular inverter is capable of driving all the standard
EL backlights found in the usual LCD modules.

A quick test with an EL backlight .8"x4" (3.2 square inches
of area) resulted in a bright blue light, with the inverter
consuming 40 ma at 5V. The output of the inverter was observed
on an oscilloscope under these load conditions, and the waveform
was a slightly distorted sine wave in shape, with a peak voltage
of 135 volts and a frequency of 1.4Khz

No-load input current was 24 ma at 5V. I successfully drove
three of the above EL backlights in parallel from the inverter,
and input current increased to 85 ma at 5 v. Display was still
a bright blue, but slightly diminished in brightness. So the
module appears capable of driving about 10 square inches of EL
backlighting at full brightness. I think it is safe to say that
this inverter module will adequately drive the backlight panel
of any reasonably sized LCD display.


Hope this helps.
Fr. Tom McGahee