Grinning Gertrude Witch Prop From Spirit HELP

Do her eye's blink but no sound ? Or is she just mute but looks like she should be talking ? I think the eye's maybe tied to the speaker so I suppose if there is no sound there may not be and lights either. Umm did you put batteries in her head is the switch on ? I just took my apart last night to redo all the movement, the cheap'o motion sensor (photo transistor) is pretty sketchy I replaced mine with a switch that is activated when she turns her head it's way more reliable. Course is I paid anywhere close to full price I would return it for another one, rather than try to fix it.

hey grep...

her eyes blink when there is motion (which i just realized doesn't work if she's in the dark, which is total crap!) and her head moves side to side, but there is no sound. I'd really not like to take her back...but..looks like I might if I can't figure her out!

Well the PCB is in her head, the easiest thing would be if one of the wires leading from the PCB to the speaker in her chest has become disconnected but that may be a long shot. Yeah the photo transistor works based on seeing a interruption in light so if its in the dark it won't work. I would probably take it back, I got mine as a floor model with a broken piece in the mechanics so I paid $50 so I was willing to put up with allot for that price.

yeah, guess she's gonna have to go back on Saturday

id take her back sooner than later, theres no guarantee they will have a replacement left in stock.. mabey call ahead and see if they can put one on hold for you.

this is coming from experience

Well, I'll take my chances on Saturday...and if they don't have any left...then I plan to ***** at them until he gives me partial money back or something!

I would download some cool witchy phrases and laughter and play it on an mp3 player and hide it somewhere near her or in her dress. Not sure how to make that motion activated, though. As far as making her motion activated in the dark, point a spotlight at her motion sensor but on the other side of the ToTs walkway. When kids walk through the path of the light, they will set off the motion sensor.

Jess-o-Lantern said:

I would download some cool witchy phrases and laughter and play it on an mp3 player and hide it somewhere near her or in her dress. Not sure how to make that motion activated, though. As far as making her motion activated in the dark, point a spotlight at her motion sensor but on the other side of the ToTs walkway. When kids walk through the path of the light, they will set off the motion sensor.

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Yeah I actually just bought another spot light today for that very reason! hehe

Got a new Gertrude! Yay!

I just purchased the same Witch. Did you notice that your replacement Witch's sensor to be more realiable? The one I just purchased does not activate if I wave my have within inches of the sensor or walk by it, but if I turn the room's light off and either turn them on or hit the Witch with a beam of light from at flashlight, it works every time.

I just purchased the same Witch. Did you notice that your replacement Witch's sensor to be more realiable? The one I just purchased does not activate if I wave my have within inches of the sensor or walk by it, but if I turn the room's light off and either turn them on or hit the Witch with a beam of light from at flashlight, it works every time.

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This is typical for the Gemmy motion sensors. They are light sensitive resistors instead of Passive Infrared Sensors. They do this to keep the cost down - a PIR is at least $25 while a CDS Cell is only about 25 Cents. Besides the cost the two different sensors they work differently, the CDS (or light sensitive resistor) changes it's resistance value with different light levels, the PIR motion sensors are basically low resolution infrared cameras that detect moving heat patterns.

There are a lot of people on this site that have solved this problem by placing a small spot light on the other side of the path to illuminate the prop, then as people pass by looking at the prop they break the light path and set off the prop.

I was playing with the sensor last night and took the rubber cap off with the two pin holes. It seemed to be more sensitive that way. Would it be wise to increase the size of those holes or cut out an area of the rubber cap to expose the sensor to more light?