Relay for triggering fog machine help

3397 Views 8 Replies 6 Participants Last post by Mr_Chicken, Sep 21, 2009

madmangt

Discussion Starter · Sep 21, 2009

I am a total electrical newbie, but I am looking to setup my fog machine so that it is triggered by simply supplying current to a socket in surge strip. I have a standard push button momentary switch that I will be hooking up to a surge strip to turn on a couple lights, and I also want that to turn on a fogger. I would assume this could be accomplished by hacking the remote that comes with the fog machine. Hope I am making sense there...

Anyway, I believe that I would need some sort of relay to accomplish that... correct?

If so, could someone point me to what kind of relay, where to purchase, and a quick brief on how to wire it up?

Thanks so much for your help folks!

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coasterbp

· #2 · Sep 21, 2009

Funny you should ask, as I literally just got finished posting a thread about doing this in the General Halloween sub-forum. Here's the link:

http://www.halloweenforum.com/general-halloween/82136-f-x-constant-fog-mach-timer.html

Now, keep in mind that this is for a Lite F/X Constant Fog machine. If you aren't using this same exact fogger, you will need to figure out what wires the switch is wired to in your remote. Once you figure that out, you should be able to follow the same directions in that other thread to achieve your result.

-=coasterbp

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tanliwod

· #3 · Sep 21, 2009

Rather than use a relay, couldn't the momentary contact switch simply be a heavy duty DPDT (double pole, double throw) with one isolated side of the switch controlling the power strip and the other side of the switch wired to the contact points inside the fog machine's remote button? Whether using a relay or an isolated switch or some other solution, I would be very careful to keep the circuits from getting mixed up, and insulate them very well, otherwise the fog machine, or worse yet, you, could end up fried.

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scareisburg

· #4 · Sep 21, 2009

some info from the tutorial section http://www.halloweenforum.com/tutorials-step-step/79991-fogger-timer-prop-timer-hack.html

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Diabolik

· #5 · Sep 21, 2009

scareisburg said:
some info from the tutorial section http://www.halloweenforum.com/tutorials-step-step/79991-fogger-timer-prop-timer-hack.html

Yes, I did a good bit of work on these timers. On the ones I worked on, the timer was doing nothing more than switching the neutral leg of the circuit. If you want it directly into a switched outlet, you will likely need a 110 volt relay to do the job. If your timer is like one of the ones on the tutorial, I can help you with the wiring.

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madmangt

Discussion Starter · #6 · Sep 21, 2009

tanliwod said:
Rather than use a relay, couldn't the momentary contact switch simply be a heavy duty DPDT (double pole, double throw) with one isolated side of the switch controlling the power strip and the other side of the switch wired to the contact points inside the fog machine's remote button?

Hmmmm good question. Now that I think about it, isn't the current running to the on/off remote of the fogger just the same as a the surge strip? Could this just also be wired to the momentary button? Smarter minds please help!

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Diabolik

· #7 · Sep 21, 2009

madmangt said:
Hmmmm good question. Now that I think about it, isn't the current running to the on/off remote of the fogger just the same as a the surge strip? Could this just also be wired to the momentary button? Smarter minds please help!

you could accomplish this using a DPDT switch if you keep your fogger isolated. Again, the fogger will likely be requiring you to only switch the nuetral leg. You just won't use the 110 leg of the fogger's circuit.

the fogger remote is only pulling enough current to run it's pump, that is all. Should be under 25 watts.