Thread: Lighting!

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Hey all! Brand new to the forum here, didn't post in the "say hello" section because I wanna get right down to business!

About a month ago I had the idea to use a microcontroller to simulate lighting effects like flickering gas lamps, lights run off an old generator, etc. I found some attempts online that I found interesting, but I'm an engineering major so I want to go all out. I don't know if it will be ready for this halloween, but I've got a pretty slick design planned out and I wanted some input from you hard-core haunters out there on what you would want from a device like this.

There are a million different projects/products online for candle simulation and the like, but for a minute forget about what's available and think of what you want. What have you always wanted in the way of lighting effects for your haunt?

Basically the circuit I'm designing is completely software controlled so I could theoretically do just about any lighting effect you can think of, on the same circuit. The effect I'm going after is the generator-with-bad-gas look...the lights that appear normal, then drop down and flicker for a bit, and then come back up.

And just so I don't throw up any red flags I'm not trying to sell anything. I'm just looking for creative ideas.

We use DMX and a computer to control many of the lights in our haunt. The lights we use are LED/RGB spots and floods, a few LED UV lights and a couple of Strobes. DMX allows us to control brightness, color and flashes and set the timing of the events. We have some DMX dimmer/relay boxes that allow us to plug in 120 volt dimmable lights and dim or flicker them and set the timing for those events as well. It would be fairly easy to do the stalling generator effect with a DMX dimmer/relay box. DMX though is not very cheap so your idea is likely to be a huge hit if it can be done cheaply.

Hello & welcome to the forum, as for red flags & selling, hey if it's cost effective & a good product, we-be buy'in....LoL Sounds like we have another mad scientist-tech to add another cool gadget for haunt control fun !!

Welcome, I think that everyone here is always open to new ideas and getting new thoughts on how to improve our haunts. Although this year I have not set it up I will be doing the same as Buckaneerdude is. I will be using DMX. I bought the DMXorcist but did not have time to learn it or build the props that it will be running this year due to family issues.

Yeah, when I was in my haunt heyday a few years ago, I looked into DMX and midi show control. MIDI looked the most interesting to me in terms of flexibility, but the cost of devices is so high in both systems...it seems reserved for haunts/people with a decent sized budget to dedicate to lighting, when the cheap and tried-and-true method is pure darkness LOL.

I think there's a lot of halloween lovers in the same boat I am...I want amusement park quality effects but can't budget it in. I once haunted 300 people on $100 in one night, and the biggest lighting effect I had was a single par can with a red gel.

There are solutions SOOO close to what I'm after, but fall short one way or another. Lighting controllers are usually 1 trick ponies...all they do is emulate candles. More advanced programmable prop controllers aren't designed to interface to 120VAC lighting...

The solution I'm exploring is using an Atmel AVR microcontroller coupled with TRIACs to give me software control over 120VAC lighting. The pros: software can emulate any lighting effect, really. Cons: you gotta pull the chip out and reprogram it every time you want to change the behavior of the lights. It should be ready in a month or so, I'll update you guys when it happens. Total cost of parts should be less than $100, including the PCB.

Welcome Hector,

If you want the flexibility in you control it sounds like you do, you are going to want Midi or DMX control for sure. I work for a production lighting company in New Hampshire and have been using DMX controllers for years, if you can get yourself into a DMX dimmer and control system you'll be very happy. Best thing about it is it's industry standard stuff, you'll be able to find gear, get repairs done if needed and rent equipment from any lighting production company in your area. You can get controllers both as a console and as a computer based control as well.

Best of luck with your haunts!

Paul

I am dying to start using SOME sort of lighting control. I am doing alot with video now, and I need an easy system, to control lights to time with the video. However, I've heard show control is very expensive start up, and i'm not fond of learning difficult new programs.