EL Wire in Car

[VaerO]

Hello,

I'm wanting to install EL Wire in my car outlining the trim on my car's doors and dash. To get an idea of what i mean take a look at this video

My car has puddle lights (Their under the side view mirrors) that turn on when you walk near the car. I was thinking i would splice the EL Wire into this circuit so it turns on when the puddle lights turn on (I want the EL Wire to turn on when the doors are opened). The puddle lights turn off as soon as the doors are closed, but i want the EL Wire to stay on for at least 30 seconds, can i put a timer on the EL Wire? I would also like to have a switch that allowed me to keep the EL Wire on, off, or on the timer.

Is any of this possible? I'm a complete noob to all of this so if none of this makes sense sorry

Thanks

 

[GreenGiant]

if you want it to stay on after the "puddle" lights are off then you will probably need to use that as a signal for the "EL wire" to turn on, and then have it monitor the signal cable until it goes low again then wait 30 seconds before turning off

Only problem with this is you are going to use power (a minute amount yes but power nonetheless) to monitor the "puddle" light wire at all times

 

[donkey]

first of all you can't connect el wire directly in, you need an inverter. I would reccomend putting a nice fuse between the inverter and the car battery.
the lights you speak of can be modifed or an alternative is to have a new RF module installed as well. then when you want the EL wire on you use its remote (you can get simple garage looking ones cheap)
As stated above I would recommend a fuse for these circuits, and also I would not recommend doing it at all unless you are pretty good at both soldering and insulating. the inverter will boost the voltage to about 200Vac at 1200hz. I don't know the amperage but this is more than enough to cause fire, death, car accidents etc if not hooked up correctly (if not insulated VAC is AC voltage so can earth out anywhere on the body of the car).
Also most EL wire designs I have seen have not been for outdoors, if this is for inside the car then this helps lower the risk, if its outside you have to reconsider the housing to help the very small amount of plastic shielding from wearing away from UV exposure, stones being flicked up by passing cars, grazes etc.

the alternative however is using LED's which you can buy in a strip from alot of places (ebay has them too) some of these units are IP65 -67 rated and can withstand a bit of rough play