Thread: Fogger Timer/Prop Timer Hack

Tweet

The fitcos have black adjustment knobs, & the pic of the one you used the timer button is yellow & fog (manual) is green,
Fitcos is green timer button & manual (does not say fog) & is yellow , fitcos also has an oval circle around each of the button names.......
i see them on EBay & stores for $10-$15 regularly - ie ;looks like this one.....
FOG SMOKE MACHINE REMOTE TIMER CONTROL DJ PARTY SUPPLY - eBay (item 140333416125 end time Sep-13-09 06:25:25 PDT)

NOT blow stuff up....??!!?!! ah, now ya taking the fun stuff out.....LOL

Ok, I had some time to work on this tonight and I have got it pretty much figured out now for both timers only after making a mistake and blowing one up in my face. Oh well, you've got to take one for the team now and then.

Here is the type 1 (Forum) brand fog timer. I've added a 110 volt 10 amp relay to the schematic since I am unsure of the rating of this timers internal relay. I figure 10 amps is more than enough for just about any prop.




Here is the type 2 timer. I got this one from Wal Mart, have seen them at Target, and I think even Michaels. Notice the wiring colors are slightly different on these ones. a couple of notes about these timers...
1) they are solid state (no onboard relays)
2) they are only rated at 25 watts (so a relay is a must)
3) they are designed to control a resistance load. I could not get the timer to work with a C7 bulb. Only a small motor or a 25 watt bulb made it work. I did not have an extra relay handy to see if that alone would suffice. I am sure a small bulb could be added if more load is required.




Hopefully this will help with some of the other timers out there.

Hi this is my first post and let me start by saying thanks for doing the R&D. The wiring is not a problem for me but my question is that of application. Im making a pneumatic spider triggered by motion sensor that outputs 110v. if I slit the output through 2 of these timers i could effectively control 2 separately timed events from the one trigger. Is this right? Example: Trigger from motion sensor turns on light effect for 20 seconds through one timer and activates pneumatic prop for 10 seconds on the other? Thanks again!

Bummer about blowing one up, hope you weren't injured.

I think you lost me on the relay though. Did you wire something into that board you pictured or do you have a separate relay that isn't pictured? Note: I've never messed with wiring in a relay. One of the main reasons I went the DMX route. Looked like too much brainwork. I am a blonde at times

Originally Posted by robzilla69

Hi this is my first post and let me start by saying thanks for doing the R&D. The wiring is not a problem for me but my question is that of application. Im making a pneumatic spider triggered by motion sensor that outputs 110v. if I slit the output through 2 of these timers i could effectively control 2 separately timed events from the one trigger. Is this right? Example: Trigger from motion sensor turns on light effect for 20 seconds through one timer and activates pneumatic prop for 10 seconds on the other? Thanks again!

Robzilla, I understand exactly what you are saying. the answer is no. A fog timer will not activate when first powered up. It will count off whatever time interval (between cycles) that you have it set at before it fires the first time. They are better for running a prop to turn on and off by itself at set intervals (like my grave grabber) which it is perfect for. I hope this helps you ?

Originally Posted by Terra

Bummer about blowing one up, hope you weren't injured.

I think you lost me on the relay though. Did you wire something into that board you pictured or do you have a separate relay that isn't pictured? Note: I've never messed with wiring in a relay. One of the main reasons I went the DMX route. Looked like too much brainwork. I am a blonde at times

Terra, I used this relay...125VAC/10A DPDT Plug-In Relay - RadioShack.com nothing fancy. If you are interested in doing this setup, I can add the relay terminal numbers to the drawing if that will help. Which timer are you planning on using ? Oh, and no, I did not add the realy to the board. Just wired it in to the circuit using wire. You actually do not have to do anything inside the timer outside of verifying that your timer matches one of these examples.

Oh, excellent. Sounds easy enough then.

I'm not sure which timer I have but I've bookmarked this thread for if/when I can get around to doing this before Halloween. I was going to use it to run my peeper tombstone.

Originally Posted by Terra

Oh, excellent. Sounds easy enough then.

I'm not sure which timer I have but I've bookmarked this thread for if/when I can get around to doing this before Halloween. I was going to use it to run my peeper tombstone.

Sweet ! just look me up when you get to it and I'll gladly help you out.

[QUOTE=Diabolik;723365]Robzilla, I understand exactly what you are saying. the answer is no. A fog timer will not activate when first powered up. It will count off whatever time interval (between cycles) that you have it set at before it fires the first time. They are better for running a prop to turn on and off by itself at set intervals (like my grave grabber) which it is perfect for. I hope this helps you ?



Bummer well guess im still looking for a cheep 110v variable timer. Thanks

what about adding a motion sensor to it for only 1 prop like a pneumatic pop up so it goes on for a set time but cannot be retriggered until it resets? How would this get tied in with the diagrams you have supplied. thanks in advance

So, is this timer hack designed to just run a prop continuously? or can it be triggered and then ran?

if its the latter,

Anyone thought about wiring two timers in series? (or is it parralel?)

it would be great if you wanted a delay before the prop goes off...

ex: trigger prop > wait 15 seconds > prop activates > runs for 6 seconds > prop resets and cannot be triggered again for 50 seconds.

you couldnt have the delay before the prop activates with just a single timer, but if you added a second timer, you could.

any reason why that couldnt be done?

hell, walmart, target, kmart all have good timers that are left over after halloween, I found several last year at walmart for 2.50 each.. now I wish I would have bought more than 2 *doh /facepalm