T4B related questions????

Just a quickish one ive tryed the metas & searches but cant see the wood for the trees if ya no what I mean,
just tryin to find out whats the best LDR to go for in a T4B, I read that the original was a clarex or whatever & is no longer made & to go for a Silonex NSL5910, that one also doesnt seem to be available,anyone no of the best one to look for ??

I made myself a LA2A about five years ago from a web page and for a T4 I used a small plastic box a neon bulb & a LDR I just had lying around I then upgraded to a bit of white EL panel from RS, now I read the EL panel was green, is that right ? im wondering will the white or green panels would sound the same.

I love the sound of my LA my LDR works great but im wondering if im missing out it seems people go to great trouble to test the LDRs for an LA, or perhaps I just got lucky.

Anyway thanks for reading........Gary O.

http://www.vacuumbrain.com/docs/t5.html

5910's are availablr from Allied Electronics, even though they are not listed in the cat.
cj

Clairex CL5M5L
are these the best choice if they can be found?
I think a friend of mine might have a contact for these.
i was thinking of buying them all and testing/matching them.
i think he can get 100 NOS.
Info much appreciated.
thanks
TS

The Clairex cells are twice the money,(6 bucks a pop) and they come in with tolerances all over the map.
The NS stuff is fairly consistent with an oddball cell coming in once in a while.
$2.20 if qty>100..

thanks CJ
this guy with the clairex units is selling them at about $2.50 for one.
with the tolerances "all over the place" seems it's a gamble even at a buck each.... right? opinion ....CJ?
Maybe we are better off commissioning a company in China or something to just build/sort for the tolerances we desire. (might be cheaper than we think ...and i bet they'd actually be thankful for us providing this opportunity) Companies spend big bucks in Research and Development and market surveys...we might even be saving them some time, trouble and money)
"behind every obstacle is ... opportunity" we have the obstacle and provide opportunity. to someone.
I've seen computer jigs for tube matching... why not LDR matching?
expanding on your matching scheme.. CJ .. at least the "way off" tolerances could be more easily eliminated. Eg: a sigle light source and a jig with say.. 20-50 LDR's... fed to a computer.
It might be a lot of trouble for us but I bet someone who is a manufacturer, computer/robotics enthusiast is already doing this. We just need to find them.
just a thought.
In closing ... should I consider the Clairex units at a buck each?
thanks
TS

Scenaria has a cell matcher scheme, have not heard the exact details, but it may involve a computer.

The problem with buying cells is that you need a referance cell that closely matches the parameters of what you want in your T4. Otherwise, if you buy a bunch of cells, what do you look for? You need a comparison cell. I gambled and used a UA re-issue T4 that sounded pretty good. Pulled out the cells, they were matched pretty close, so I made them my referance cells.

You can verify the cells with your ears also.
Some of the oddball cells can sound pretty bad.
So whatever you use, give it a listen as the final test.

As far as China, well, seems like a hassle for a two dollar part. Now if they could make an EL panel for cheaper than 30 bucks, I would be interested. But LSI makes stuff for commercial airliner cockpit lighting, so I imagine their stuff is high quality.

Even if parts cost 40 bucks, your still doing much better than $189, which is what mine came to after shipping etc.

would EL material from this website work for our t4 purposes

http://www.beingseen.com/flatlite.html

may be a different voltage rating.
This company is a relatively new company. maybe they can offer a solution if this actual material won't work.
TS

is the original electro-luminescent panel from LSI ?

or was it made by another company ?

I believe it was always made by LSI, but LSI might have changed names or bought the first company:

From: Bonnie Williams [[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2003 5:08 AM
To: CJ
Subject: RE:

The PN 37721-1 is the LSI manufacturing PN for PN 95-0015-1. The latter PN
(95-0015-1) was assigned to the design when manufactured by our NY facility.
All designs of this type were transferred to this NH based facility and
issued in-house manufacturing part numbers (PN 37721-1).

What type of information, in specific, are you looking for?

Lamp color is aviation green, CIE chromaticity coordinates of X = .205 +/-
.030, Y = .485, +/- .030. Initial brightness is 20-26 ftL typically at
115VAC/400Hz. Average time to half-brightness is 1000-1100 hours (again
typical performance using operation parameters of 115/400). Lamp uses copper
ribbon as termination material. The ribbons are left "flying" as they exit
the package material of the lamp.

If there is still needed information or assistance, please do not hesitate
to contact me.

Regards,

Bonnie Williams
Purchasing
Luminescent Systems Inc.
4 Lucent Drive
Lebanon, NH 03766-1439
USA
PH: 603-643-7766, ext. 3185
Fax: 603-643-5947
E-mail: [email protected]

Sold Individually
EL sheet stock no. price each
1+ 5+ 25+
60x50mm high brightness
blue-green 267-8706 £5.14 £4.48 £4.22
white 267-8728 £5.14 £4.48 £4.22
blue 267-8734 £5.14 £4.48 £4.22
yellow-green 267-8740 £5.14 £4.48 £4.22
orange 267-8756 £5.14 £4.48 £4.22
red 267-8762 £5.14 £4.48 £4.22

The above is from the RS site, I currently use a piece of the white I dont no how similar this to the original & mines white not green but it seems to work well as does my neon bulb I have a switch on my LA for neon or EL panel, im gonna try a piece of the yellow green EL it arrived in the post today.

Cheers ...... Gary O.

Tryed the yellow/green EL panel doesnt seem to make much difference iv made a recording of some midi sounds & drums & a verse of a song I sung then I record it back in via sonar on the PC & then I can see as well as hear what difference the component changes have made if any, I tried several different spec cells, best one I seem to have to hand at the moment is a norps 10 from RS, dont no how this compares to a real T4B im gonna borrow the vactrol thingy from a Art Levelar that I have, see how that meaures up.

Cheers.....Gary O.

ToobieSnack & gary o

Been there and done that. Listem to CJ.

ToobieSnack;
Please build audio gear and not fancy test systems.
I do not listen to LDR test systems. Focus!
Life is too short to take a tangent like that!
Listen to CJ find a cell you like the sound of
and buy the cheaper ones and sort them in the dark.
Have fun it will drive you nuts!

Gary o;
The sheet EL panels need leads and conductive epoxy is the way to go.
BUT you must seal the panel with a material that is not
hydroscopic as water vapor (mosture) will ruin the EL panel
after some time.
When you can buy the real panel for about $27 why waste your time?

shoot, for that matter, $89 off the jblpro site is hard to beat for the whole unit...

ju

Sorry Adrian dont quite understand what your saying do you mean the RS EL panels are no good?, there only 5 pounds in UK cheap enough. Iv had my EL panel for 5 years its in small plastic box have connected with solder tags also in the box is a neon bulb which seems to work very well, tho I have no real T4B to compare, like CJ said if you aint got a ref what do you listen for so iv been just changing cells & light sources & listening & recording to see what I like the sound of.
So far white & green ELs sound the same.... good & so does the neon & my best cell so far is a norp 10, but I would like to get hold of some CM5910 cells to try.

Thanks............ Gary O.

I can drop a cell in the mail if you want.
PM addy.
cj

Hi CJ,

I have carefully read your instructions about DIY T4. I wonder if the cap is used to adjust signal amplitude on EL panel. I computed some Pspice simulation (I used Pacel EL panel spécification), and I found that this cap do not have any effect on low frequencies, but the bigger this cap is, the bigger the signal is on EL panel... Any idea about that ?

I found case at RadioSpares (ref : 582029) or Farnell (Newark ref : 301760 + 301784). I will order Pacel EL Panel (Farnell : 141926) and LDR at Allied Electronic.

Anyway, I have finished the french traduction, and the current draft is available at http://lbedat.free.fr. Thank CJ !

I have some questions about Ron et Roff test. How do you choose the LED current for testing Ron and Roff ? Do you use a reference cell ? I believe that Roff LED current must be near zero, but I have no idea about the Ron LED current tunning...

Best regards,

Laurent.

The cap was added a bit later, it keeps the EL panel from getting saturated with bass, so they use it to tweak the frequency response that the compressor is triggered from.

Yes, I have a ref cell. I bought a T4 fron Universal Audio, and as luck would have it, the LDR's were matched pretty good and had good sound characteristics. So I am using those two cells as my referance. But you can read the Ron and off specs and get a general idea of where your cells sit in relation to the tolerance window. You would need a light meter of some kind to set a more scientific standard than the one that I used!

I was so jazzed up when I found that I could buy the original panel from the LA2 that I would have killed my dead gradmother for the extra ten bucks I needed to do the job right. The alarm clock people kind of piss me off, because here, I have spelled it all out, but still.....! I guess you can lead a horse to water, as they say. Now I know what Klett is talkin about. But maybe it's purley money, so if some poor person can not afford it, I should shut up I guess, so sorry!'

So take advantage of my hard work :grin: , get on the phone, bite the bullet and order four panels, rip your buddies to pay for yours. That's how we used to smoke for free, get it?
:green:

I agree with you 25 Euro for original EL Panel is not expensive, but I have sent a request to European LSI seller, and he told me that LSI panel p/n 37721-1 are no more producted. I'm searching alternative source...

have you ordered LSI panel recently ?

Yes, a few months back.

Call and ask for Bonny.

You have to fax in orders, which sucks.

They have to make those for UA, so they should be around for years.
UA will sell you a panel also.

Bend over time. Maybe 40?

I will try to order directly from LSI US. Thank for your advice !

I will also try Pacel EL panel (Pacel El panels are also designed for airplane lights, http://www.pacel.co.uk/).