Thread: Trying to design the perfect haunt controller

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My husband and I are bored electrical/computer engineers and are going to design our own haunt controller, complete with relays on board, sound capability and a easy gui ( won't have to write code) to program it from a serial port. We are just starting this project and are doing it for fun, to keep our engineering skills up to date. If it is successfull we may try to sell it later ( probably next year ) at a low cost.

My question is what features do people want to see on the "perfect" haunt controller.

The features of the PicoBoo boxes are pretty good, just a little expensive. Do you plan on having it be a stand alone controller with internal memory like those or are you talking more like a micro controller or servo controller where the software (like VSA) tells the controller what to do?

I think it would be tough to beat what VSA has going on. It works very well. Only downfall is the price.

I think I would be most interested in a stand alone controller with similar features to the PicoBoo with a lower price tag.

We wanted to have dual functions. A toggle switch to put it into a mode where it could be controlled by vsa or programmed on a pc with a custom user interface ( my specialty...been writing ui's for control systems for over 10 years ). That would be the beauty of this...it will be flexible. I've seen the picoboo and agree on the price.

Mode 1: For the user interface...we are looking for functionality like picoboo's only with a software controlled programming interface. The hardware switches would be in a visual interface on the computer instead of having to press buttons. It would be easy to do, no code required.

Mode 2: We are not trying to recreate VSA ( No way ) we just want our board to be able to interface with it if that is desired.

I like idea. If you can get the cost down to $50 or lower, I think it would be great ($40 would be better!). PicoBoo's relays will work with any voltage, which is a huge plus. I think the cheapest picoboo box is like $70 with no sound. While it's not insanely expensive, it's adds up when building multiple animated props.

Do you plan on having servo controls as well? I'm not sure how you could manually control a servo independant of a PC, without adding to the price significantly.

Just as an example of a servo controlling program, check out www.ez-robot.com. DJ Sures makes a robot controller called the EZB and an open source GUI called EZ-Builder. Both are very simple to use even for beginners. You might find some ideas you could incorporate into the prop controller. If you plan on implimenting servo controls.

features needed:

DMX
interface to mp3 playback
interface to pirs

The ability to program it centrally (from one PC), but execute locally or remotely would be great.

At least 4 relays.

12 -24VDC power capability.

Dry contact/PIR trigger control.

Is your sound control going to be on-board or porting through? If on board, it would be nice to be able to load in high quality WAV files; maybe have a SD card slot? How about amplification? At least 20w. Also an ambient sound loop ability would be cool.

Bundle it with a fat 3 amp power supply and Audacity sound editor.

That's my wish list Santa!

4 relays

MP3 Sound

5 min total record time

Ambient routine with sound

On board amp

8 routines, cycle or random

12/24V option via power supply

Programmed via computer or keybang method with "lockable" channels

I agree,,,, basic PicoBoo functionality, more reasonably priced for us home haunters.... computer interface, the simpler the better.