The lamp versions I've taken apart used a high voltage filament based on the same flexible PCB and phosphor gel. It was pairs of parallel LEDs wired as a long series string for use with simple linear current regulator chips on rectified mains.
Yeah, and they're working on shrinking them so much that you can make screens out of it. Like actual LED screens, not OLED, not some liquid crystal coating, but every subpixel is a little LED. It will be amazing once that becomes affordable since it will have true blacks but little to no burn in.
there are also some 3V 300mm long versions available, which might be nice for wearable stuff because they don't require a voltage converter. Oh and they do actually make them in different colors too. I searched for "Filament Lamp Parts"
i have tried posting the link four times now but it always got deleted sorry. It is one of the first 20 items when searching "filament lamp parts" at least in my browser.
Thank you Mike!!! These had been missing from my random returns but as soon as you search for one and hit the target, Ali-Express offers all kinds of additional listings. I'm quite liking the 130mm and 330mm options for garden lights. At 3V with 2200K white, red, green, and blue available, they present lots of nice options.
That is pretty cool. Even if it were a bit chunkier, addressable LED spaghetti would be cool AF. I know they already have ones based on large strips, but that looks almost impossibly thin for a super flexible led based light.
I bought so many EL wires for projects I haven't even started yet, but these things seem like a much brighter option I should look into, so thanks for sharing!
I learned just as someone told me that e l wire really is only for inside use. I tried to go and put on my car on the outside in less than one year actually was less than a couple months it actually faded to the point where it's almost unusable the wire still work but for some reason it just didn't hold up being outside. the only thing that would work close to e l wire would be fiber optics with laser wire but other than that yeah I'm thinking this led thing is probably going to be the way to go.
I have a PC case made from a 1939 Philco radio cabinet. I had a CRAZY idea of doing a pseudo neon style sign reading out "PHILCO", but I had no idea what material to use... Now I do!
@@hassiaschbi im aware of the stuff, but EL requires higher voltage AC, and has the issue of fading. Slightly underdriven LEDs will last practically forever.
Great to see you posting. Your PoV on almost anything is interesting. I’d put you in the same league as Clive or AvE. The topic doesn’t matter. The mind behind the camera is fascinating.
@@TheFool2cool I wouldn't put anyone down; each has his own style and niche. Clive doesn't display his true depth of knowledge as his subjects are consumer electronics, rather than industrial stuff Mike works on...
The product research and development is the "Liquidleds Company" located in Taiwan. In 2018, in Germany, there was a Chinese pirated company that faked Liquidleds' products for manufacturing in China.
Looks awesome! I'm really surprised by how robust it seems to be. So much better technology than the electroluminescent ones. And because it's white, I guess you can get different colours by pulling some transparent/translucent coloured tubing over it, or maybe even clear heatshrink that had paint poured through it beforehand.
I keep expecting black and red to touch and the power supply to go bang. I'm glad they didn't. Thank you for showing us this, and the way it looks up close.
@@XenapZ EL Wire is definitely good for that because is very resistant, but think of an individual addressable RGB led like this filament in an EL Wire casing. That would open up many new possibilities.
@@tomf3150 TRON of TRON: Legacy. Either or. The EL strips you can buy that look like the ones used in Legacy don't come in many colors and don't look as good in my opinion. Gotta see what else comes out.
I wonder if there'll ever be an RGB or RGBW version of this style of filament. I'd also be curious to see how a double sided variant would change the brightness contrast around the filament, if it'd even out or if it'd alternate between four discrete sections due to the edges perpendicular to the LEDs. Also a bit curious as to how different silicone mixtures would affect diffusion properties, such as if a 'frosted'-esque effect is possible. Combine all this, find a mini glass tube, or plastic tube of high optical quality, and it'd generate a good miniature for neon signs; glass/plastic only for the visual effect of a tube, plus for rigidity properties. I'd be curious how scalable this would be to achieve a similar effect at 1:1 scale neon replacement; I know there's a style of this that Clive regularly shows off, but I'm talking scaling up this exact style of filament. I also wonder what the backbone of this filament actually is. You said flexible PCB, but looking at it, is it not possible that it's literally just the conductor and LEDs with no board material encapsulated within the silicone; i.e. the silicone is a replacement for a typical board, making the silicone itself the 'flexible PCB' material? With how refined modern manufacturing is, I could see this as an entirely viable solution, a PCB-less LED strip, then fed through the center of a silicone extruder. This would also make the tab ends easier to deal with, various lengths easier to deal with, and explain the lack of being able to chop it into smaller lengths, plus it'd be a cost-cutting measure due to less materials and less processing. I wonder how scalable this manufacturing methodology and design philosophy would be to produce an addressable RGB/RGBW strip, especially considering the filament splits positive and negative by ends and not parallel lines like a typical LED strip would have.
Regarding an RGB/RGBW variant, it would certainly be doable but at a much lower brightness, and these are already rather dull to begin with. 'white' LEDs of this type are simply blue LEDs with a yellowish phosphor that they shine through, changing the spectrum into a relatively balanced white; in order to make it a color, that phosphor would be replaced with clear silicone (or a milky one for the 'frosted' effect). Phosphorescent white LEDs are much more efficient than RGB white, or to say it another way, given the same size diodes and same voltage/current sources, the RGB strips would be notably dimmer due to the lack of phosphors. (In addition they would require 4 wires in full series or 2 wires in full series + 2 wires in series/parallel - further complicating the already cramped space inside the thin strands)
This seems like something someone desperately wanted to make, but had no idea what to use it for. I'm sure it has used, but I have no idea what it is. Aside from artsy projects like casting it in resin in a pretty shape (we already had EL wire for that though.)
Would make great mood-lighting in my big conversion van. Just cut a groove into the wood trim, and clear epoxy the filament into it. I need about 30 to 40 feet of this that can run in the 12 to 15 DVC range.
I knew of these, didn't know it was that flexible. That's very interesting. I was under the impression that it had the "consistency" of a bread tie, but that's very flexible. Neat.
I really want to embroider with this! (by couching it - i.e. laying it on top and securing it with another thread - I don't think it would survive actually being pulled through fabric with a needle)
Some ways better, some ways worse. You can still see the individual LEDs in persistence of vision artifacts where you quickly move your eyes past them. EL wire is a more solid appearance but is not as flexible as these. I'm not sure if RGB COB (chip-on-board) LEDs are common yet but they'll definitely start showing up soon if they haven't already. You can already get COB LED strips in adjustable white and I've seen red, blue, and green ones individually, but haven't yet seen any that are fully RGB.
how durable is it? I've worked with el-wire in the past, on a costume, and after flexing it a lot throughout a night, the phosphor coating on the core wire was cracking and flaking off. (it was still fully contained within the outer clear tube insulation, but it was still failing.
The actual incandescent bulbs need either a vacuum or an oxygen free gas mix. But the LED imitations do not. If the difference in appearance isn't too obvious, then the power usage and heat of the incandescent should be.
If they manufactured this in different colors that could be really amazing - brighter and probably longer lasting than EL wire. Alas, probably not much of a market for that...
Are they able to be powered from one end like EL wire? It appears that there is a positive and a negative rail inside the string, or am I seeing something else?
Yep looks like a normal p/n connection but still wouldnt mind it tbh. Yes EL wire was the good thing that you can just cut place and forget about it but this looks way brighter.
Does anyone know if the colored versions of this are colored die's or just a tinted jacket over the same color leds within? (which is all EL wire is doing - which is why some of the colors are so dim in EL - with that blue light EL emits naturally, there's not much light available in the color bands of the tinted jackets they put over the wire to bleed through.
I haven’t seen colored LED filaments (though I haven’t looked at all!), but I’d assume they’re like discrete LEDs: a “native” color LED die for monochromatic (single-wavelength) colors, or blue LED with colored phosphors for polychromatic colors including whites, pinks, and pastels. It really wouldn’t make much sense to make white light and then try to filter it to a color. In any case, if the silicone is transparent, it’s using color dies, since in these things, any phosphors are mixed in the silicone, rather than being underneath it. If the silicone is opaque or translucent, it could have phosphors, or could just be inert diffuser.
@@comedyhunter yeah, tried to edit but got a "can't do that, Dave..." from RU-vid It was to be a leading single quote instead of an L. And drop the single quotes in the actual search...
