[tarpleyg]

The more I ponder this, the more I think it'll be easier and just as effective to make a pressure switch. Where the wolf is located, I can easily run a wire to the sidewalk and attach to a foot-activated mat.

 

[Jerseyscare]

I bow to all of you on this Post.
I love reading these post, though I may only understand every 3rd word.
I'd like to think each time I learn something (because I do), BUT I have yet to try to do even the easiest rewiring hack.
Jerseyscare

 

[J-Man]

I bow to all of you on this Post.
I love reading these post, though I may only understand every 3rd word.
I'd like to think each time I learn something (because I do), BUT I have yet to try to do even the easiest rewiring hack.
Jerseyscare

Don't be afraid to give it a try, reading is great and the best way to prepare but hands on is the best way to learn. You may surprise yourself!

 

[tarpleyg]

Don't be afraid to give it a try, reading is great and the best way to prepare but hands on is the best way to learn. You may surprise yourself!

Just don't blow up, electrocute, or otherwise maim yourself ;-O

 

[tarpleyg]

Ok, so remember me telling you that the Try Me didn't turn off the howl? I was wrong. At least on the one I grabbed to buy. They had 3 out on the floor. The one we played with would not turn off for love nor money...I swear. I don't recall testing the one I bought until we got home and I removed the switch right away.

So, now I have a pressure switch that turns it on like a champ and promptly turns it off if you step on it again. Talk about frustrating.

So, how do I make lemonade here? Any ideas?

 

[David_AVD]

In that case what you need is a simple prop controller. The four banger (with a single relay and no mp3 board) should do it and is probably the cheapest / simplest option.

 

[Splaash]

So here's what I did.
I purchased a cheap harbor freight driveway alarm which uses a pir sensor and receiver box that's has a chime and flashes some leds when pir is triggered.

I open the receiver box soldered two wires off the led connections. These wires went to a transistor that I wired in place of the piezo element in the HD howling dog prop.

So I place the pir sensor at my desire location, pir sensor gets tripped sends signal to receiver box. Box lights up led which send voltage through the wires to transistor, which actives the prop. Down and dirty home made pir activated prop.

Keep in mind that circuit is looking for very small change in voltage to trigger the prop. The piezoelectric elements creates this with sound or vibrations. I'm using the transistor basically as a switch that causes a change in voltage for circuit to sense.

 

[Kensington Graves]

How does the sound sensor work? If you're up for a little hacking, you can probably tie you pressure switch into the sensor line.

Here's the other thing: based on its behavior, the "try me" line either has a toggle switch or there's a microcontroller at the end of the line that's telling the prop to turn on and off with a button press. I'd say it's the latter of the two. See what happens if you bypass the "try me" button by splicing the wires on that line together, that may give us a clue about it's "thinking".

 

[tarpleyg]

How does the sound sensor work? If you're up for a little hacking, you can probably tie you pressure switch into the sensor line.

Here's the other thing: based on its behavior, the "try me" line either has a toggle switch or there's a microcontroller at the end of the line that's telling the prop to turn on and off with a button press. I'd say it's the latter of the two. See what happens if you bypass the "try me" button by splicing the wires on that line together, that may give us a clue about it's "thinking".

It's not a toggle. Just a press and release button. Once you let off it, the switch reopens by itself. Bypassing that may work but I'll have to dig into the head and I'm not sure how accessible everything is. But, it was put together so it'll come apart, right?

The other option which I am working on now is the controller and relay that David_AVD suggested. I think that can be done fairly easily as long as I can find cheap parts. Also, one thing that would allow me to do if I want is boost the howl if I add an MP3 card and attach a larger speaker. I need to learn how to do this crap anyway and this may force my hand.

 

[J-Man]

How does the sound sensor work? If you're up for a little hacking, you can probably tie you pressure switch into the sensor line.

Here's the other thing: based on its behavior, the "try me" line either has a toggle switch or there's a microcontroller at the end of the line that's telling the prop to turn on and off with a button press. I'd say it's the latter of the two. See what happens if you bypass the "try me" button by splicing the wires on that line together, that may give us a clue about it's "thinking".

Typically "try me" buttons wait for a change in state, so splicing the wires together will activate the sequence, run it to the end and then shut off. It won't activate again until the wires are separated and re-connected. You can test this by simply pressing and holding the try me button without releasing it.

 

[Scary Papa]

Ok tarpleyg, here is my 2 cents for a very simple solution to your problem. Just use a driveway alert to change the prop from a sound activated one to a motion activated prop. I have done this with all of my sound activated props (I have several) and it works great on every one. You just glue the speaker from the driveway alert receiver over the sound sensor of the prop. In reality the prop is still sound activated but the PIR in the driveway alert triggers the driveway alert receiver speaker that that in turn triggers the prop. So I guess it is sort of a fake motion sensor . But it works like a motion sensor. It takes about an hour to hack the driveway alert to do this but it is very simple and works great. All you have to do is remove the speaker from the driveway alert receiver and extend the speaker with additional wiring. The extra wire will need to be long enough to reach from wherever you place the driveway alert receiver to the speaker where you attach it to the prop. By putting a 5 or 10 ohm resistor in the line from the driveway alert receiver to the speaker you do not hear the driveway alert chime but it still triggers the prop. Actually, I just did this with a skeleton cat that my wife bought from Home Depot. It is very similer to the Howling Wolf in that the can meows and the mouth moves when it is triggered. The driveway alerts I buy are from Harbor Freight and cost between $10 and $12 on sale. Hope this helps you a little.

PS I posted info on these driveway alerts a couple of years ago but in reviewing the post I actually didn't put a true tutorial on how to do it as this was simply an "out of the box" way to use the driveway alert. I now modify the alert somewhat by removing the speaker from the receiver case, adding a 5 or 10 ohm resister to the speaker wire, and extending the speaker from the case to the prop. Here is the link to the tutorial.

http://www.halloweenforum.com/tutor...tep/151394-quick-easy-way-make-sound-activated-props-work-motion-activated.html

 

[tarpleyg]

In that case what you need is a simple prop controller. The four banger (with a single relay and no mp3 board) should do it and is probably the cheapest / simplest option.

Hi David,

Here's a pic of its guts. I think at this point I am going to follow your suggestion and use an Arduino and a relay to trigger it with the pressure sensor. The only problem I have right now is how to delay the Arduino's action if triggered again to keep the prop from stopping when another person steps on the mat. I am thinking of removing the little sound activation sensor and using those wires to connect to the relay which will close the switch (relay) and complete the circuit, correct?

 

[J-Man]

Hi David,

Here's a pic of its guts. I think at this point I am going to follow your suggestion and use an Arduino and a relay to trigger it with the pressure sensor. The only problem I have right now is how to delay the Arduino's action if triggered again to keep the prop from stopping when another person steps on the mat.

That's the whole point of using a programmable controller. A properly coded program will prevent the prop from being retriggered until it's ready again. You can also program a post delay so when the prop sequence is over, a preset amount of time must elapse before anyone can trigger the prop again.

 

[Ghost of Spookie]

Ok tarpleyg, here is my 2 cents for a very simple solution to your problem. Just use a driveway alert to change the prop from a sound activated one to a motion activated prop. I have done this with all of my sound activated props (I have several) and it works great on every one. You just glue the speaker from the driveway alert receiver over the sound sensor of the prop. In reality the prop is still sound activated but the PIR in the driveway alert triggers the driveway alert receiver speaker that that in turn triggers the prop. So I guess it is sort of a fake motion sensor . But it works like a motion sensor. It takes about an hour to hack the driveway alert to do this but it is very simple and works great. All you have to do is remove the speaker from the driveway alert receiver and extend the speaker with additional wiring. The extra wire will need to be long enough to reach from wherever you place the driveway alert receiver to the speaker where you attach it to the prop. By putting a 5 or 10 ohm resistor in the line from the driveway alert receiver to the speaker you do not hear the driveway alert chime but it still triggers the prop. Actually, I just did this with a skeleton cat that my wife bought from Home Depot. It is very similer to the Howling Wolf in that the can meows and the mouth moves when it is triggered. The driveway alerts I buy are from Harbor Freight and cost between $10 and $12 on sale. Hope this helps you a little.

PS I posted info on these driveway alerts a couple of years ago but in reviewing the post I actually didn't put a true tutorial on how to do it as this was simply an "out of the box" way to use the driveway alert. I now modify the alert somewhat by removing the speaker from the receiver case, adding a 5 or 10 ohm resister to the speaker wire, and extending the speaker from the case to the prop. I will try to get this done tonight and put a link here.

Scary Papa, I'm looking forward to any tutorial you put together illustrating this. Photos of the guts would be very helpful. I have a number of the driveway alarms sitting on a shelf I'd love to do this with. I have the vulture from this year I could do something like this to it. Sadly all my dogs and cats are mute. But at least they don't bother the neighbors

 

[tarpleyg]

Interesting development. Since my controller and other stuff isn't here yet, I figured I play around with this.

Those two yellow wires are the sound sensor. I removed the sensor and if you touch the wires together, it howls. If you touch them again, it still stays on.

So, I figured problem solved. Works great if I solder longer wires on and touch them together...until I put the damn thing back together then it quits working. Tried like 3 times. No crushed wired or anything. I think that little controller board is flaking out on me.

Oh well, I make take this opportunity and completely revamp him with barks, growls, and a better howl and a bigger speaker.

Did I mention I hate microelectronics?

 

[J-Man]

Lesson #1 in electronics, never short 2 wires together just to see what happens. You just found out what the result usually is.

 

[tarpleyg]

Lesson #1 in electronics, never short 2 wires together just to see what happens. You just found out what the result usually is.

Well, technically, it's not a short. It's just bypassing the switch (sound sensor) to completely the circuit. One thing I just now noticed is my batteries are pretty run down...sitting at just over 3VDC and it should be over 4.5. Probably has something to do with the problem. Funny thing is I just put fresh ones in when I bought it. I guess that jaw action draws a lot of power.

 

[J-Man]

Well, technically, it's not a short. It's just bypassing the switch (sound sensor) to completely the circuit. One thing I just now noticed is my batteries are pretty run down...sitting at just over 3VDC and it should be over 4.5. Probably has something to do with the problem. Funny thing is I just put fresh ones in when I bought it. I guess that jaw action draws a lot of power.

Whenever you connect two wires that aren't normally connected, it's a short. Not all shorts are a bad thing, but without knowing the circuit schematic, it's a risky move. The sound sensor is not necessarily just a "switch". Hopefully it's just your batteries.

 

[Kensington Graves]

I foresee this turning into a Pimp My Home Depot Prop thread. Now that it's torn apart, the real fun can begin.

It looks like the "sound sensor" is just an electret microphone, which means there are some on board electronics to get that signal to the controller. And motor action would be my next question, but I don't see anything that doesn't look like it couldn't be replaced with your own microcontroller.

 

[tarpleyg]

You betcha! I AM going to need some help once I get all my components in, especially with programming the Arduino.