Thread: Fogger Timer/Prop Timer Hack

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Hello,

I was able to hack a walmart timer using a motion sensor and relay. I have two fog machines that are set up in my yard and I didn't want them to go off all night if no one was around to see them. It would just be a waste of money for the fog juice. I took a standard motion sensor light and gutted it out so all I had left is the sensor. Power is supplied by a plug in cord and the output of the sensor is connected to another cord with female end on it. I took a standard walmart timer and hacked the Auto Control. This way the fog machine will run based on what the timer is set for. I use the motion sensor to trigger a 9 volt power supply that is connected to the relay and timmer Auto Control. When someone walks by the motion sensor it trigers the fog machine to go off and will only run at what the timmer is set for.

Rick

Here are a few pics of what I did

Halloween Forum - rick12667's Album: Halloween - Picture

Halloween Forum - rick12667's Album: Halloween - Picture

Halloween Forum - rick12667's Album: Halloween - Picture

Halloween Forum - rick12667's Album: Halloween - Picture

Got a schematic for that?

I will have to see if I still have it. A guy at my work drew it up for me and not sure if I still have it.

Thanks for your help.

Thanks for your help.

Originally Posted by Hellspawn

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

Yes, I did this hack with the intention of having various animations in the graveyard operate randomly (or continuous) if you will. For my grave grabber in particular. I wanted something simple to just plug in and turn on. This is great for that situation.

Keep in mind that these are not timers in the normal sense. They must be powered up in order to work. when you first power them up, they do not trigger right away and I am not so sure that it is going to wait exactly the amount of time you have it set for before triggering the first time.

Using these with a motion to only allow the prop to trigger in the windows where the timer is "on" would be a good application, but trying to trigger a prop and have it stay oin a certain amount of time with this as a timer is not going to work. as soon as you power these timers up, they start counting. They cannot be triggered like a regular timer board.

Here is my target fog timer taken apart and the wires desoldered.

N = Black wire

OUT = White wire

L = Green Wire

How would I wire this into motion sensors to control a MIB and a grave popper (I have 2 timers) that are wired to washing machine solenoids to release air to activate?

Here is what I did. First I wanted to be able to use the timmer function of the controler for my fog machines. I have a motion sensor hooked up to activate my fog machines. I understand that yes once the motion sensor it activated it will take a few minutes before the fog machine will kick on due to being in the timmer mode but I am OK with this. What I did was to purchase a cheap motion sensor from Fleet Farm and took the unit apart. This is what I ended up with.

Halloween Forum - rick12667's Album: Halloween - Picture

Next I purchased a mini relay from fleet farm. Here is the relay

7-9VDC/12A SPDT Relay, Mini - RadioShack.com

As you can see it is rated at 125 volts and uses 7-9 volt trimmer. As you can see from this pic I am using a basic 9 volt power source that I purchased from my local Good Will for $1.50. I have it hot glued to the back of the timmer as seen here

Halloween Forum - rick12667's Album: Halloween - Picture

Next I wired the relay as shown on the directions that came with it. If you look at your controller you will see that the center button is for the timmer function. This is what I used so I could control how long and and how often the fog would go off. Turn over your controller and on the back you will see two large soder points that the button is soder onto the board. This is were you will soder on your wires from the relay to the control as seen in this pic.

Halloween Forum - rick12667's Album: Halloween - Picture

Once done connect your 9 volt power supply to the cord coming from your motion sensor. When the motion sensor is activated it will supply power to the 9 volt power supply which will trigger your controler. Hope this helps, any questions let me know.

My timer is solid state, no relays.