Thread: triggering lights, sound, fog

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OK, I'm going to re-hash this topic.
What I need is someone to TELL me how to do this. Point me to what it is that I need to buy....

I want to 'automate' my haunt a little more this year.

I plan on having a room that, when people walk in... I want sound and a light to come on. A bright light and Loud sound. This can come on and stay on... i.e. when they step on a mat... then go off when they step off the mat. But, I guess I don't want it too brief if they step right off the mat either. So, maybe a timer would be needed ?

Then, another room I want to trigger lights, sound and a fog machine to come on. This should play through a 'routine' and then go off......

Whats the cheapest and simplest solution for this.... ? Prop 1 ? other?
Whats a good source for the sound ?

Thanks for all your help...me and triggers have a hard time getting along !!

Well, your going to get a ton of options of people TELLING you how to do it because there are a ton of options out there....You'll need to set down and figure out what you want to do as a whole...Everything out there has strong points and weaknesses and there is no simple "this will do it" gadget....The gadgets that do try to do it all will cost you dearly and my be more than you need wasting precious $$$...That being said I'll throw out what I use for MOST of my rooms because it's got built in sound, sensor inputs,and you simply program when you want things to come on and go off...They work great for most simple scares...Good luck...ZR

Fright Ideas, Control the Fear

Zombie's right there are a lot of ways to do what you want and a lot of opinons on which is the best.

For your first room I think the cheapest would be to use a standard motion sensor flood light screw in two plug adapters or connect it to a power strip. plug your lights and some amplified computer speakers in to the power strip. Connect a cheap CD player to the speaker but plug it into a different outlet. Set the CD player to loop your sound trac and let it run, the motion sensor will turn on the speaker giving you sound and the lights at the same time. The problem with this set up is that motion sensors have a limited number of options for the on time, test (a few seconds) then usually 1 min, 5 min, 10 min. and there is no delay after it shuts off.

for the second room you will need some type of event timer/controler like zombie pointed out.
there are many different types. Some come with built in sound option but as you add options and featurs the price goes up.

These are one of the cheapest I've seen but don't have sound, so you'll have to try the CD computer speaker route or perhaps a sound chip.

Timer Boards Timer-Based Boards
Progmable boards Haunted House Boards
Sound Chip boards Cowlacious Audio Products

Last year I bought a Pico Boo 105, it has two programable outlets and sound capabilities, very easy to use but not exactly cheap. However it play an ambient soundtrack all the time then when triggered the second effect sound and event is set off. So as you approach a room you will hear musice, screams, or what ever...then when its triggered different sound will be played along with an event like lights or a pop up prop if you want. The unit does not come with the trigger or speakers. picoBoo FI-105 : Fright Ideas, Control the Fear

Yeah- I use the 105's mostly...I also agree they aren't cheap but when you figure in everything it does in one convenient little box, it's not too bad....I mean, once it's programed, you just plug it in and after calibrating a couple minutes, it's good to go...ZR

Give this place a good look--

Products that SCARE at Prices that don't!!!

Looks like great stuff there for event timing.

Dan

scareisburg... I have thought about the motion sensor... I'll have to try that. It should work fine in that room because the sound is just a constant, so looping it would work fine. Thanks

The second room... well I will take a look at the options you guys gave me and see what I come up with. I don't plan on doing any really big projects like the 3 axis, so this year I will try my hand at the timers and such..

Thanks!!!

I've had geat luck with the uMP3 module fom Rouge Robotics. A tiny little boad with a stereo output that plays .WAV or .MP3 files fom an SD memory card, and can do seamless loop playback, at 16 bit 48K for better tha CD quality. they are about $100.00, but I've used them in many pro haunts and themed attractions with no breakdowns or problems for over two years now. As for trigering lights etc., I made an inexpensive, 6 output simple prop controller with 2 programable sequences. Sequence B runs all the time in a loop (you can leave it blank if you want nothing running at first). Then when triggered, sequence A kicks in, then goes back to the sequence B loop when A is finished. If interested, contact me, but I'm not technicly alowed to "sell" these on the forum as I am a pro prop designer.

Bill Ehrsam.

mindshaft..... sounds interesting ! I'll check into that ! Thanks for the help.

markgoodson, yea I was aware of that little hitch.... I don't have one yet but hopefully I can get one.

Found that out the hard way myself. Damn cheep fogger!

Bill Ehrsam.