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Trouble shooting my El wire

topic posted Wed, April 2, 2008 - 1:24 PM by  Mr.Powers
My EL Wire setup that I had put on my trike temporarily with zip ties stopped working when I flipped it back wards on a hill.
people.tribe.net/59656aad-...275b985109

I didn't have the battery box fastened down real good and I wonder when I flipped if the wire broke where the zip tie was. Since I didn't have the battery box supported with the zip ties It was dangling from the EL wire and zip tie location( if that makes sense). I don't think it's the power supply because it still has a glowing red led light.

This is what I was running...
www.elbestbuy.com/shle2.html

But, wouldn't their be some glow if it was broken before the point it was broken? Since this is my first experience3 with EL wire I have no clue how it works as I bought pre fabed as in link above. (plug and play)
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Mr.Powers
offline Mr.Powers
Texas
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  • Re: Trouble shooting my El wire

    Thu, April 3, 2008 - 3:54 PM
    It's most likely shorted.

    If EL gets pinched it can crush the internal layers and short out at the place it is crimped. This will overload the inverter and blank out the entire segment. (the inverter may still seem to be working) If you are lucky you can uncrimp the crushed spot by squeezing the sides with pliers. This can identify a short, but the damage area must be cut out and spliced to keep it from shorting again.

    Most EL wire will have it's life shortened by any repeated stress to a small section, so for best results an entire length should be supported and protected from repeated strong flexing. Large radius bends are your friend.
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