Hello,
I'm working on a project that controls an electroluminescent (EL) panel from an Arduino. I've scoured some past posts for research, including this thread from the old forum: http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1221845470
The various information that I've come across eventually mention combining a triac with an optoisolator but I've never quite seen a final setup. I've put together a setup and what I'd like is for someone to confirm if my circuit is correctly isolated. Aside from an Arduino and various resistors, here are the parts I'm using:
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10800 - el panel
EL Inverter - 3v - COM-10201 - SparkFun Electronics - 3V el inverter
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9234 - triac
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/314 - 1 channel optoisolator
The attached image setup01 (not sure if the filename is visible) shows my current setup, which does work. In this setup, the Arduino directly powers the 3V Sparkfun inverter and the triac side of the circuit shares the ground with everything else. So, is this not isolated correctly? Or somewhat isolated (if that's possible)?
If it's not correct, would the other attached strategy (setup02) work? This setup splits off power from a 9V battery to power the Arduino and the inverter (instead of the inverter sourcing power direct through the Arduino). I then enter overkill mode by adding a 3.3V regulator (http://www.solarbotics.com/products/17145/) for the inverter (which can accept up to 4.2V). Or should the Arduino and inverter be powered by separate battery packs? (I figured I'd save on batteries and learn how to set up a voltage regulator this way).
Any confirmation or explanation is appreciated. I hope my attachments work out and I hope I've posted in the correct place.
Thanks!
