newbie need help

[tntkain]

I am building my first pneumatic prop and am looking for advice on what electronic equipment I need to do everything I want . I am building a crypt. I want the lid to open slowly, as the lid opens I want fog to start and lights to flash and i want it to sound like scraping stone. when the lid is fully open I want the fog to stop. Next a body will pop up and its arms will extend and I want a scream. Then everything will reverse back into the crypt and the lid will close, again making the scraping sound. I also want ambient music to play the entire time. What would be the best controller to use and what other extras would I need to have to tun all that stuff. Thanks for all your help

[bsnut]

Wellcome to the forums. If you want to do something easy then I, will use the Prop1 to handle the pneumatics, the lights, the fog machine control and AP16+ for the sound. This sounds like this is going be like MIB. Jon has done a basic program already for a MIB, that uses a EZ3 add on board, which lets you control the timing with potentiometers that are mounted on the EZ3 board.

Do you have any more details on what you want to do?

[JackMan]

Well first a little friendly advice, if this is your first pneumatic project, it's gonna be fairly complicated. Not saying you don't have the ability but by the sound of your post you may want to start out with something a little more simplified. Have you built any props without pneumatics?

[livinlowe]

If your fog machine runs on 120V you will need a RC-4, or, if you want to plan ahead, a FC-4. The FC-4 will let you fade 120V lights. It's something alot of people do, but not necessary. Welcome to a new addiction! ;D

[tntkain]

Well first a little friendly advice, if this is your first pneumatic project, it's gonna be fairly complicated. Not saying you don't have the ability but by the sound of your post you may want to start out with something a little more simplified. Have you built any props without pneumatics?

It is not my first prop,just my first one with pneumatics. I have a lot figured out, just not the controllers. I was originally go to buy a boo box, but my wife heard about here on the Halloween  forum and people seem pleased with the equipment here, and the price is better, so I thought I would research here. I actually have a lot of this one built, just haveto figure out the electronics

[bsnut]

Do you want something easy to program or do you want to learn the coding needed to program prop1 (basic stamp 1) or the prop2 (basic stamp 2)? Writing a program takes time and even more time if you never wrote PBasic code before.

If you want start out with a controller that doesn't require you to learn the code, then the EZ8 is for you. Their is a video on YouTube were Jon was showing someone how easy it is to program the EZ8.

Now, if you want to learn the code then I will suggested you to use the prop1, which has 8 I/O. The prop2 is little more powerful then the prop2 and has 16 I/O on it.

Just remember that each device (valves, lights and triggers) require one I/O pin and this will tell you what controller to use.

[BigRez]

This post probably belongs elsewhere since you're not really talking about programming - you're asking which hardware to control the prop.  If you get a programmable controller from EFX-TEK and have questions about programming it, then post that question  here.

people seem pleased with the equipment here, and the price is better

Absolutely!  The products are very nice and reasonably priced and you won't find better service and support anywhere.

For a controller, either the Prop-1 or EZ8 should do fine. (I'm a cheapo so I always try the prop-1 first.)  Kinda have to guage how much activity (programming) will be required because the EZ8 (and Prop-2/Prop-sx) provide so much more space for progarmming activities and connections.

The lid opening speed can be achived using a regulator on the air line going into and out of the cylinder.  This will require an output on the controller, one for the lid and one for the body.

To control the fog machine, you can go with either a 120vAC relay, an RC-4, or FC-4.  The RC-4 is a very nice package and I've got a couple, but again since I'm a cheapo, for one connection I'd probably go with a $5 relay.  As Shawn noted, the FC-4 will allow you to fade 120v lights if that's something you may want to do.

For sound, you have many options. The AP-16 is available and connects nicely to the EFX-TEK controllers.  There are plenty of other options, including simple sound recorders to MP3 players and old cassette decks. The connection depends on what you're gonna use.

Since it's not your first prop, I assume you already know about needing some sort of trigger (mat, PIR, remote switch, etc.) and that'll connect to the controller.