Thread: What if you could design your own prop controller?

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Over the past 2 yrs I have struggled to create some of my own prop controllers because I could not find a simple solution to what I needed available anywhere. From joining this forum I read posts all the time where others are struggling with similar problems. So...I have been kicking around the idea of trying to produce some controller products and selling them - so can any of you give me ideas of what they wish was available on the market? I am talking about relatively simple controllers for lighting, motor control, audio etc. with some kind of trigger(s). If you have ideas I would love to hear them and also give me a ball park price of what you would expect to pay for your ideas - THANKS!

That's a loaded question, alright. There are various needs out there such as one-shot, repeated triggering, sound triggering, lighting control etc. Designing a stand-alone controller to handle a wide array of devices can lead to a very complex controller.
Speaking for myself, the most versatile controller I have is the UDT II IR from Terror By Design. It has controls for delay-before-on, on time, and delay-after-on and is activated by an IR sensor. I've actually been able to trigger up to five different effects from this one device. The only thing I would change on it would be to add a second relay. Sometimes I need to dry-trigger one prop while using a voltage trigger on another. Unfortunately, TBD is no longer in business. Let me give this more thought - there's a lot of possibilities.

yep - no one controller can meet everyone's needs. My assumption is there are a group of controllers that together could meet the requirements of most home haunters. Please let me know if you think of something on your "wish" list.

What kind of controller would I need to make sure all my stuff gets done in time for Oct 31st?

=)

ha! I can only help with realistic ideas

I did design my own prop control system

It can pretty much do anything I can imagine, and each time someone comes up with something it cant do then it evolves to include that feature as well.

I'd like reasonably priced lighting control (I don't even mind manual, I don't need a Leprechaun board!), and triggers for props.

In all reality a simple board consisting of ON-OFF-DIMMER for every channel, then a few buttons labeled FOG, so we could trigger the foggers from the panel would be completely sufficient for me.

EDIT: On second thought, you might be better off just writing tutorials on how we could build what we need. lol This gets around the "That won't work for mine" problem entirely!

if the goal is to have a controller to meet many needs on a budget i think a modular system would be needed, maybe with the main board able to handle enough for a Small home haunt like 1 prop with a trigger a few lights with dimmers and a fog machine. then maybe a few different style daughter boards maybe 1 would have 4 lights with dimmers and 1 would handle 4 props with triggers. the main board should have an on-board power supply IMHO this would probably limit the amount of daughter boards per main board so i would consider making the main boards linkable to handle the larger haunts

I built my own prop controllers this year but they probably wouldn't work for everyone. They were specific to my applications. That's the problem. A one size fits all controller tends to be complex and expensive.

mybe a 1 size fits all board but only populated with whats needed for each owner?