[dorkbotsea-blabber] Anyone worked with EL-wire inverters and Triacs?

[Wim Lewis]

Hmm, so you're switching the output of the inverter? How come you're not 
switching the input, which seems easier?

Triacs/SCRs have this thing where they'll turn on if the dv/dt across the 
body terminals is too high --- IIRC, what happens is that there' enough 
capacitance between the body and the gate that a fast dv/dt induces enough 
gate current to turn it on --- but anyway, the max dv/dt is usually on the 
data sheet.

> I do not have a scope to see if the inverter goes to 0 or not.  I am
> assuming it does not cross 0, or stay there long enough for the triac to
> shut down.

The EL wire is 100% capacitive, as I understand it, so the average
current has to be 0. You're probably right that the current doesn't
cross 0 slowly enough.

You could maybe use a FET instead of a triac?