Glow in the dark Vinyl...

It's very cool stuff. I used it when i was building show and prototype cars for dashboards and stuff. Give it some volts and it lights up well, and is very thin. But $$$$$. THere is a VERY reflective adhesive backed material, like you see on trucks in the red/white pattern, and I remember the Racers Group porsches used it, but it is huge money as well.
 
If you are referring to the lighted type they are electroluminescent polymers that are driven by a DC/AC inverter in most cases. I've got some of the stuff although it is pricey. Comes in many colors, blue and green being very bright due to efficiency and not using an intermediate fluorophore to shift the output wavelength dramatically.

You'll find it a number of places, but make sure you match impedance of the driver with the panels - I fried the inverter in car #43 at the past 13hr enduro which caused the car driver some headache on the qualifying grid. Smoke and bad smells are not what you want before a night qualifying.

R
 
You'll find it a number of places, but make sure you match impedance of the driver with the panels - [/b]
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So...I'm sitting here with an ohm-meter...one probe jammed in my mouth...the other someplace 'uncomfortable'. What voltage do these things run at, so I can calculate my 'impedance' ?
 
"THere is a VERY reflective adhesive backed material, like you see on trucks in the red/white pattern, and I remember the Racers Group porsches used it, but it is huge money as well."

Be careful where you use it: "Metallic (reflective) numbers and class letters are prohibited." GCR 17.5.2.
 
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We use ScotchLite panels for our numbers. It's a common reflective - not glow-in-the-dark or photoluminescent - vinyl film, used on street signs. It's not awful expensive and is readily available in up to 24" width. I order it in cut pieces from a place that has an eBay store.

K
 
ok, I spent a lot of time looking stuff up...

The ScotchLite stuff looks like you can find it for as low as about $10.00 - $15.00 a yard.

The electroluminescent stuff is friggen way awsome!!! Sent out some e-mails to a few companies to get some costs, and brainstorm about a few ideas...

I still think that someone has to sell glow in the dark material... you see it on "fire Escape" stickers and what not. I can also find tape, but I want sheets to possibly use as a background for a "touring car" style number plate. I can't find anything on the net. If anyone can help please do!!!

Thank you all for the current input, I learned a lot of new cool stuff!!!

Raymond "I will probably do Kirk's idea, as it is affordable, but I will dream of the electroluminescent stuff" Blethen
 
Ray: I used to use the stuff you are looking for when I was in the Army. We used two one-inch stirps as 'cats eyes' on the camo helmet band around the back of our helmets. But our stuff came into the supply room in rolls one inch wide.

Have you tried the 3-M website?
 
Ray: Look at www(dot)glowinc(dot)com - Glow in the dark paint! In colors, no less! Sit down when you look at the price, though.
 
Back in my sign shop days, we experimented with some glow stuff in response to a top-secret marketing inquiry from a friend-of-a-customer in England. We never found anything that met the requirements (ie. actually glowed bright and long enough that anyone could really see it).

K

PS - turned out that the project was one of Branson's balloon stunts. He wanted graphics that would have been visible from the ground at night but I don't think it ever happened, with the technology of the time.
 
Back in my sign shop days, .......PS - turned out that the project was one of Branson's balloon stunts. He wanted graphics that would have been visible from the ground at night but I don't think it ever happened, with the technology of the time.
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Kirk, I love how your posts often start out with, "Back in my _____ days.." Is there a field you haven't worked in??? Junior high teacher, signmaker, policy analyist, race car builder... good stuff, and interesting post. I like this thread better than the BMW thread "April...SIR". ;)
 
So...I'm sitting here with an ohm-meter...one probe jammed in my mouth...the other someplace 'uncomfortable'. What voltage do these things run at, so I can calculate my 'impedance' ?
[/b]
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Judging by the capacitive discharge of your ass, I'd say somewhere between "Tazer" and "electric chair".

:blink:
 
... Is there a field you haven't worked in???[/b]
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That's actually pretty much it, except for the six studious years it took for me to get my bachelor's degree. The joke when I was in art school was that, as a designer, I was a great engineer. The engineers I worked with in my internship (previous major) thought i spent way too much time making things pretty.

The trick is to not be REALLY good at anything.

K
 
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