Thread: Anybody using Arduino microcontrollers in their props?

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I've wanted to buy an Arduino microcontroller for some time just to play around with it. I don't have any specific plans for one (yet) but there's so much you can do with one of thes things, and they are pretty inexpensive. I finally pulled the trigger and ordered one yesterday but will have to wait about a week for it to be delivered (First Class US Mail). Has anybody here used an Arduino for something Halloween-related and care to share their projects/stories?

For those of you who don't know what an Arduino is, see here:
http://www.arduino.cc/
http://www.arduino.cc/playground/

Go over to Instructables.com and search for Arduino Halloween - you'll come up with quite a few hits. I have an Arduino, but I haven't done much with it. I'll be interested in what you come up with.

I've been looking into getting an Arduino also. There's a lot of stuff out there. So far, I've just used PIC's programmed with C. It's a lot more involved and it would be nice to have something easier.

The last PIC thing I did with one was to control a cannon. It receives a signal from the PC running VSA through a digital output on a SV203 servo controller board to set off a sound board, lights, and fog machine automatically. That way, I don't have to do all the sound and timings in VSA, plus I save a lot of channels. On my list to do is to add code to make sure the fog machine is hot before it fires. My goal is to have 4 made by Halloween.

I'm thinking about using one in my organ and hooking up plunger solenoids to some of the keys. I'll put a program in the Arduino to "play" a key sequence on the board, or maybe just randomly press the keys. I had no luck last year coming up with a good cam system for the keys, so I think solenoids might be a better way to go for me with this particular organ.

On second thought, maybe I won't do that... Looks like you have to do a bit of work to control a solenoid with an Arduino, requiring a lot of extra circuitry:

http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Lea...lenoidTutorial

A lot of stuff on that schematic isn't really necessary. All you really need is that bypass diode (D1) across the solenoid and the transistor (Q1) to switch the power. Depending on the power requirements of your solenoids, you can probably also get away with a pretty cheap MOSFET. The one in that schematic is pretty beefy.

Do you have a solenoid picked out yet?

No, I was just brain storming on what I could use the Arduino for, lol.

I just got one of these. I'm trying to make a more detailed version of the GHOST STEPS prop. I want to include the ability to activate different items as the "feet walk by".

FYI, the ULN28xx series of darlington arrays are fairly useful. Most of the parts have the snubber diode built in. This is what I use on the LED and Switch outputs on my Medusa DMX board, so haunters can use relays and (small) solenoids without external electronics.

I haven't played with the Arduino yet, but you're right; they're pretty inexpensive, and there's a lot of support for them, both hardware and source code. From what I've heard, the language is a variant of C.

- Hook

I saw this video a while ago and it convinced me to use an Arduino:
Talking Skeleton with Arduino

Here was another good video on why Ardunios are good for servo controllers:
Arduino and Servo Controllers