Thread: Breakbeam for a Prop-1; it CAN be done!

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Hi all,

I just wanted to share this with the masses that use the Prop-1 but have been similarly frustrated by the inability to use a breakbeam with it.

With a Prop-2 making one is a simple matter of using a capacitor, a CDS cell and the RCTime command in the code for the Prop. Sadly, due to it's limited abilities, the Prop-1 does not support this command.

After a lot of help and talking and such with my friend Steve, and some input from JonnyMac at EFX-TEK, I've finally found a way to do it!

I hacked a solar patio light. I replaced the LED with a pair of wires and hooked those to the white and black pins of the Prop-1.

Fire a laser at the CDS cell and the LED stays off. Break the beam and it turns on. By replacing the LED with wires to the Prop-1, it sees the power to what used to be the LED as it's HIGH/LOW signal from any other trigger. Voila! A breakbeam for the Prop-1 that doesn't even require any special code! As far as the Prop-1 is concerned, this is just an on/off trigger.

A few words form EXF-TEK on this:

- the Prop-1 can handle up to 5V IN on the white pin
- Anything above 1.5V on the white pin is seen by the Prop-1 as "1" (versus "0" for off)
- it's important to hook up the wires + to white, - to black. Do not use the red pin for this.

After some quick tests on the Prop-1 trainer just triggering an LED to flash, the response is as quick as any other simple trigger and works reliably in the normal ambient light of my office, so under haunt lighting conditions it should work fine. I also plan to hide mine back in the shaodows to stay out of the path of any TOT's flashlights just in case.

I hope this proves as useful to others as it has to me. If you're interested, shoot me a PM and I'll send you the link to the how-to. It's on another group so I'm not sure if it's cool to plug them here directly. But mods, if you're cool with it let me know and I'll go ahead and post the link.

Happy haunting.

I have been doing it for the last two years, with this.

Evilusions

I actually sell them with the 3 pin servo connector already soldered onto the correct terminals.

Obviously more expensive, but I don't like to hack anything or build circuits.

Yeah, I'm definitely a fan of the FrankenMacGuyver approach. Though mostly only as it pertains to things that are low/battery powered.

That's a pretty sweet toy though. I didn't know it existed until now.

Rob,
I'd say that would cost me about $15 bucks if I had to buy the pointer, and the light (and i have both, so there!)

That's an AWESOME low buck approach.

Seriously... this trigger cost me about $7 to make. $4 for a cat toy laser pointer, and $2.50 for the solar light at a yard sale (2 in a set for $5 actually).

I could have gotten an even cheaper pointer, but this one was easier to hack for the small laser module inside which I can easily wire to a wall wart for constant power. Well, at least so long as the diode will hold out. That I havent' a clue yet.

With some shopping around and judicious use of your local Freecycle list, this could be done for maybe $3 a trigger. To this end, I'm picking up a 10-pack of lights from a Freecycler tonight (that's 10 FREE solar lights!). They got them for $10 on clearance at Target last summer but never used them. So, they can be had very cheap if you catch them at the right time. Check your garden center now! LOL!

Obviously not quite so slick as Brian's toy above, but for a cheap-bum home haunter like me, or just those on a tight budget, this has a lot of potential I think.

my favorite is still this one FrightProps - Halloween Props, Pneumatic Props, Animated Props, Halloween Accessories


sadly i don't have the time for this year but for next year i am working on a 555 circuit to use a garage door break beam, it's a missing pulse detector so it works even in daylight and won't be triggered by flashlights, strobes, etc

RCTIME is to the BS2 what POT is to the BS1. I have made beam-breaks for the Prop-1 with nothing more than a capacitor (0.01 uF) and a CdS photocell. Easy-peezy -- just put the photocell where you'd normally have the resistor in the POT circuit.

Dear Easy,
Please provide a simple illustration.

Love,
Peezy

edit - to remind Jon he owes me a beer, based on this:
QTI sensor thread

re-edit -
I checked my tab and it seems I still owe Jon about a case or two.