Thread: Let's mod this cheap prop!

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After seeing the WalGreens skeleton thread, I figured I'd stop by and get one after work today. Then I saw the pricetag, woof! I'm a cheapskate to begin with, but I'm also on a student budget.

But, all was not lost; while perusing Walgreen's other stuff, I saw this little zip-line ghost (click to enlarge):


I've seen these for years (we've even had a few long ago), and I've always written them off as hokey, but with my new desire to make my own props, I immediately thought "pseudo-Axworthy!" For $10, I picked it up.

There are limitations inherent to this thing, but the only one I'm stumped on is that it's sound-activated, which I didn't notice until I got it home, so there's my first question: Anyone out there know whether or not there is an easy way to make it run continuously? Here is a picture of the guts (click to enlarge):

The bottom disc with two blue wires is the speaker, I assume the top disc with two white wires is the microphone that detects sound and activates the unit.

Does anyone know whether I could keep it running continuously by simply detaching the two white wires from the mic and twisting them together? (I'm loathe to just do it because I don't have the equipment to solder them back on if I'm incorrect).

For testing purposes, if you're concerned about not being able to re-solder the wires, couldn't you just wrap a short length of bare wire across the terminals in a figure eight pattern to complete the connection?

I tried crossing the wires on the sensor on a different prop and it didn't work in the end I actually took a mini vibrating motor like you would find in a old pager and spliced it into the battery wires and it kept it going all night long and didn't even here the motor running the only down fall was that the batteries didn't last as long

I tore off the cover and I have fitted a foam skull over the case leaving a hole in the back to hear the sound. Going to add fabric and corpse the skull over the weekend.

Originally Posted by Kelly_A

For testing purposes, if you're concerned about not being able to re-solder the wires, couldn't you just wrap a short length of bare wire across the terminals in a figure eight pattern to complete the connection?

Now why didn't I think of that

Originally Posted by James B.

I tore off the cover and I have fitted a foam skull over the case leaving a hole in the back to hear the sound. Going to add fabric and corpse the skull over the weekend.

Yeah, I hollowed out a styro skull using a Dremel last night; I'll be lucky if I didn't give myself mesothelioma.

Well, I can't get a good idea of whether bypassing the mic will work or not. I put a wire between the contacts and powered the unit on, and it stopped after its set time while the wire was still in contact. I then put the wire against the two contacts while it was inactive, and it powered on, but stopped after its set time. Then, I touched my wire against just the left contact, and it powered on, ran, then shut off. Last, I placed the wire against just the right contact, same story: powered on, ran for a minute or two, then shut off.
So, I can't tell if I'm activating it because of contact with the wires, or if its just extremely sensitive.

Here is a prop showing a mod to it.
Flying candelabra using $8 flicker candelabra & $10 Flying Ghost from Walgreens 2011

I took the plunge and snipped the wires halfway down to splice them together (no soldering required to fix that). Didn't work. With the white wires spliced together, it stops running after its regular interval. When I pulled them apart, it activated for its regular interval again. When it stopped running while the wires were apart, I touched them together and it started running again, but then stopped. I guess there's no way to bypass the sound activation.

Follow the white wires back into the prop. It sounds like the mic sends a signal down the wire to an actual "switch" on the board. When you touch the wires together it interprets the voltage spike as a "sound" but since it stays continuous after that it doesn't work. You may have to jump something on the board. Make a "loop" with mini alligator clips or something so you can complete the circuit. If it's too small you probably have to solder to even be able to test it.

Originally Posted by Xane

Follow the white wires back into the prop. It sounds like the mic sends a signal down the wire to an actual "switch" on the board. When you touch the wires together it interprets the voltage spike as a "sound" but since it stays continuous after that it doesn't work. You may have to jump something on the board. Make a "loop" with mini alligator clips or something so you can complete the circuit. If it's too small you probably have to solder to even be able to test it.

I don't know the first thing about circuit boards. The white wires go down to the bottom of the board, donno what they're attached to. I guess I'll have to rely on the ToTs and ambient noise to keep it going.

I'll post pics when I finish the new ghost to mount on it, until then if anyone comes up with a way to bypass the mic, I'll keep an eye on this thread.