I want to add some EL wire to my machine to enhance the GI. I found new stuff called 'Chasing EL wire' in which the lighting in the wire has somewhat of a candycane pattern that animates, almost as if fluid is moving through the wire...
Anyways, my problem is that there is a tiny controller (with an IC) in the battery box (2 AA's at 3V). I don't want this to run on batteries in the machine so I purchased a 3V AC/DC wall wart converter. When I use this as the power source the controller doesn't work properly, it flickers off and on at random and is very unstable. I'm guessing it's because the DC power coming from the adapter is noisy and unfiltered, unlike the AA batteries. If this is the case, is there a way to stick a capacitor in the mix somewhere to clean up the power?
From what I understand (and I may be very wrong) an unregulated power supply is simply a full-wave rectifier that converts the AC current to somewhat of a pulsing DC current, and I figure a capacitor could filter this if used properly. My knowledge on how to do this is limited.
Any advice? Does this sound correct or am I way off the mark here?
-Brian