Wednesday, May 14, 2008

DIY EL BackLit Photo Frame.



Electroluminescent(EL) technology always uses in the backlit of small LCD. From wikipedia:

Electroluminescence is the result of radiative recombination of electrons and holes in a material (usually a semiconductor). The excited electrons release their energy as photons - light


Anyway, it is good for lighting.

I got the EL panel in a local store which should be powder phosphor-based electroluminescent panel. It is a 3.5" x 4.6" white light panel.



It included an adapter for converting 12VDC to AC for the EL panel.

Let's see how we can make use of this EL lamp.


1. Use for slice viewing


2. Put a Post-It on it, and you can see a growing Post-It in the dark.


3. For home lighting, illuminate your Toys.

4. A BackLit Photo Frame

Step 1 -
To make a DIY backLit photo frame, you can get a large photo frame in store or you can make one yourself. Here we are:


Step 2 -
Glue the panel in the back cover of the photo frame. You can see there is about 1.5 inch space between the photo glass panel and the back cover. We like to have some distances apart the EL panel and the glass to diffuse the strong illumination of the EL.



Step 3 -
Power Up.



It looks alot better on my desk, sorry for my poor photo skill. Let's see the photo frame in action in the below youtube video. Enjoy It.

Anyone who want to get this EL panel (3.5" x 4.6"), We can order it for you. It is only US$15, and $5 for shipping to US and Canada. For payment, We use paypal. Please contact us: order@bitartist.org

3 comments:

Kash said...

Hey that's really cool man, I think I'm going to give it a try, I just wish I could find a bigger panel to make a huge backlit photo

missnae said...

Hi! I'm thinking of making one of these myself and have a quick question - did you use a normal photo print or have a photo printed on transparency? I'm wondering whether the lightbox effect would work on standard ohoto paper?

Bitartist said...

it is standard photo, but i think transparency may look better:)