On Sep 3, 8:23 am, steamer wrote:
--Looking for a variable frequency drive, A/C but I don't need a
huge one. The application is to drive something other than a huge motor (I'm
fooling around with frequency-controlled color change of electroluminescent
wire) so something that can drive a small motor is all I need. Anyone got a
recommendation?
--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : A steaming pile of
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : obscure information...
www.nmpproducts.com
---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---
If you are just hacking around and don't need to build this as
finished box. Then I think the easiest way to get there is to:
1) Get this or other software like it ---
http://new.epanorama.net/software-pu.php?id=24
It's an audio oscillator program for your PC that outputs sine waves
from the audio output of your sound card. I have not tried this
program but only did a search for "oscillator program" on Google. I'm
sure there are plenty of these out there however.
2) hook the audio out of your PC to a stereo or any audio amp (all you
need is one channel - everyone's got an old stereo lying around -
right?)
3) Hook an old transformer (like 110V to 12V or 6V) up to the speaker
output of the amplifier. Connect the 12V side to the amp the and 110V
side will be your output. Note that the frequency response of any old
ac transformer will be fine for this purpose. It's not golden ears
audio. I have used these transformers for real audio in a pinch (old
TV repair days) and they work fine at much higher frequencies than
people realize.
You can dial the frequency on you PC and adjust the amplitude with the
amplifier's volume knob. Note that you can get some pretty high
voltages this way. At full amp volume, you might get 40 VAC at the
speaker outs, then after 12x on the backwards transformer, that can be
500V. The EL wire might need only a 100V or so, so start with the
volume down. it would also be a good to affix a multimeter to the
output so you can constantly monitor the output, but you might need a
better than junker meter to read the correct voltage at higher
frequencies than 60Hz.
This might be a bit a involved, but if you've got this stuff around.
It will be free and very adjustable.