I need a program

[dullom]

Hi Jon, If you have time, I need a program to animate a coffin. I'm slowly figuring out how to program the Prop 1, but what will probably take me 5 days to program, will probably take you 5 min (with your hands tied). 


The program for the Prop 1 will need do do the following.

*I might have to adjust some of the actual times the solenoids are firing and pause times, but I can edit the times you put in*



1. (PIN6) Trigger PIR, and make sure there is someone there.

2. (PIN1) Activate fogger (modded with 12v relay) for 10 seconds. Then turn off activation.
    (PIN2) Turn on Cowlacious chipcorder (has a 60sec chip) for 10 seconds (at the same time as the fogger is activated).
    The chipcorder will run the entire duration of the event (approx duration of entire event should be 34 seconds from start to finish)
    I need items in #2 to start 10 seconds before the items in number #3 are activated.

3. (PIN3) Turn on 12v lighting (leds) and
    (PIN4) Activate 12v solenoid in totally random thrashing mode for 7 seconds, then pause both for 3 seconds, then totally random thrashing mode again for 7 seconds, then turn both off.

4. Pause for 3 seconds before item number #5 begins.

5. (PIN3) Turn on 12v lighting (leds) and
    (PIN5) Activate 12v solenoid for 5 seconds. Turn both items off.

6. Turn off chipcorder.

7. Reset everything for next event.

8. Wait 30 seconds before next event restarts when PIR is tripped.



Here's a description of what the prop should do when you walk up and trip the PIR.

You hear the sound, and start seeing the fog coming from inside the coffin as you get closer to the prop. By the time you get close enough to really see the coffin, you hear screaming (I'll record the sounds and time them to the events happening after the coffin is built), and the light suddenly come on inside it. The doors start thrashing, then suddenly stop, and the light goes out. Then the lights come on again and door thrashing start again, then the light goes out, and the thrashing stops again. There is a slight pause, then the light inside the coffin comes on, and at the same time, a skeleton torso that's laying in the coffin slams up at a round a 45 degree angle against an opening that's cut out the doors, exposing most of the skeleton. After a brief moment, the light goes out, and the skeleton retracts and the prop resets for the next event.

Thanks, ~Dave

[Bill P]

As Jon has said many times be more specific about your want of the program.  "I need a program" does not allow others to search for specific information.  If you need a program to run a coffin, then that is what you need to say.  If I were Jon, I would just ignore your request and never answer your query.  Good thing I'm not Jon.  Please have a little coutresy in using this forum!
Bill

[dullom]

Wow, thanks for the NICE reply. I tried to be as specific as I could. Good thing you're not Jon.  I just went off the examples that were used in the rest of the forum when asking for help. If this is the way you guys treat people that need help, than I just won't use this forum, nor EFX-TEK products.

[dullom]

Also, I though that just maybe stating "I need a program to animate a coffin" covered it. Apparently, it was because I didn't say that specifically in the title. FOR-GIVE-ME.

[Ryan C. Payne]

Wow.. This sure spun out of control really quickly... I think what Bill P was trying to say, was be more specific in the subject line of the post. Although I am not sure what the deal with suggesting that Jon ignores your request... That's just silly...

Don't write off EFX-TEK because of one person's post in the forums. Jon and John provide excellent support to go along with the excellent products they sell. Jon went as far as calling me one morning and leaving his personal cell phone number for me to call him back at my convenience just so he could listen to an idea I had and then help me solve the problem.

Anyways, just my $0.02.. It doesn't help you get your program written, but I would hate to see you abandoned EFX-TEK.

Ryan

[JonnyMac]

Okay, gang, we're all friends here so let's be easy with each other.  We all (even me) should assume that anyone who posts is attempting to be helpful -- though that's not always easy to tell when reading text messages.  Again, this is a friendly place and we're all trying to help each other.

I've written a program for you, Dave, but will ask you to forgive me if it's not quite right out of the box; it's 10:45 PM and I just got in from Day 4 (all LOOONNNG days) of Transwold; frankly, my voice is shot, my feet are throbbing, and I'm more tired than I've been in a long time (we had a good show).  All of my gear is packed for the drive back to Hollywood tomorrow so I can't test.  I think it should work, but we may need to tweak after you've got it connected to your prop.

' =========================================================================
'
'   File...... Coffin_Thrasher.BS1
'   Purpose...
'   Author.... Jon Williams, EFX-TEK (www.efx-tek.com)
'   E-mail.... jwilliams@efx-tek.com
'              Copyright (c) 2008 EFX-TEK
'              Some Rights Reserved
'              see: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/
'   Started...
'   Updated...
'
'   {$STAMP BS1}
'   {$PBASIC 1.0}
'
' =========================================================================


' -----[ Program Description ]---------------------------------------------


' -----[ Revision History ]------------------------------------------------


' -----[ I/O Definitions ]-------------------------------------------------

SYMBOL  PIR             = PIN6                  ' SETUP = DN
SYMBOL  Skeleton        = PIN5
SYMBOL  Doors           = PIN4
SYMBOL  Leds            = PIN3
SYMBOL  Cowlacious      = PIN2
SYMBOL  Fogger          = PIN1


' -----[ Constants ]-------------------------------------------------------

SYMBOL  IsOn            = 1                     ' for active-high in/out
SYMBOL  IsOff           = 0

SYMBOL  IsUp            = 1
SYMBOL  IsDown          = 0


' -----[ Variables ]-------------------------------------------------------

SYMBOL  delay           = B2                    ' thrashing delay
SYMBOL  idx             = B3                    ' loop controller

SYMBOL  timer           = W4
SYMBOL  lottery         = W5                    ' random number


' -----[ Initialization ]--------------------------------------------------

Reset:
  PINS = %00000000                              ' clear all outputs
  DIRS = %00111111                              ' make P0-P5 outputs

  PAUSE 30000                                   ' reset delay
  timer = 0                                     ' clear debounce timer


' -----[ Program Code ]----------------------------------------------------

Main:
  RANDOM lottery                                ' stire random value
  PAUSE 5                                       ' loop pad
  timer = timer + 5 * PIR                       ' update timer
  IF timer < 200 THEN Main                      ' wait for 0.2 sec input

  Fogger = IsOn
  Cowlacious = IsOn
  PAUSE 10000

  FOR idx = 1 TO 2
    Leds = IsOn
    GOSUB Thrash_It
    Leds = IsOff
    PAUSE 3000
  NEXT

  Leds = IsOn
  Skeleton = IsUp
  PAUSE 5000

  Leds = IsOff
  Skeleton = IsDown
  Cowlacious = IsOff

  GOTO Reset                                    ' reset everything


' -----[ Subroutines ]-----------------------------------------------------

Thrash_It:
  timer = 0

Thrash_Again:
  Doors = 1 - Doors                             ' toggle output
  RANDOM lottery                                ' restir
  delay = lottery // 201 + 50                   ' 50 to 250 milliseconds
  PAUSE delay
  timer = timer + delay
  IF timer < 7000 THEN Thrash_Again
    Doors = IsOff
    RETURN


' -------------------------------------------------------------------------


' -----[ User Data ]-------------------------------------------------------

[dullom]

Thank you very much for writing the program Jon.


As far as the comments, I'm new to this forum and I "tried" to follow certain rules I've already discovered seem to be a pet peeve of yours, like not saying "Newbie needing help here", or mispelling your name. I just needed some help, asked politely, and was in no rush whatsoever. I assumed you were just finishing from Vegas, and may not have even seen my request for help for days, so it was a request that was at your convience to do, when and if you got around to it.


I'm glad the show here in Vegas went well. I'm sure it was awesome. I tried to get a pass, but couldn't. I would have loved to come check it out, but since I'm not a vendor or buyer I couldn't. I actually work in the convention industry here (I&D for Freeman, and GES), but didn't work that show, otherwise, I might have been able to hang around after we got it set up. If I had, I would have asked you in person about how to do some of the programming, and avoided the less than helpful comments from "Bill" altogether. I thought they were quite rude.

Like I said, thank you again for the help. I really do appreciate it. ~Dave

[JonnyMac]

So you're here in Las Vegas?  Wow, that is too bad that you couldn't make it into the show.  Yesterday was a bit of a slow day and we did lots of custom programming for those that wanted it.

As far as comments, there are two of us that own/operate EFX-TEK and we have the only say in what goes; and we don't ignore anyone.  To be quite candid, we picked up a lot of new customers -- some of them quite large accounts -- because the company they used in the past couldn't be bothered to provide after-sales (sometimes even pre-sales) support. 

In the future, if you'll put the kind of prop you want assistance with in the subject line of your thread that will be helpful for those doing searches.  Good luck with your project, and please keep posting whenever you have a question; the public exchange of information helps us all.

[dullom]

Yep, I live here in Sin City. The conventions here are ginormus. This city wouldn't be where it is without them. I bet you did pick up a few large accounts. So far from what I've seen and read, your products and service support are top notch!

I ran the program you made for me on the Prop1 trainer, and it seemed to work fine. I'll do some real time testing as soon as I get the coffin finished, and electronics installed. I have no doubts it's going to work just fine! I'll post a video of the finished product (in the completed projects section of course). Thanks again for your help. ~Dave

[Bill P]

To dullom (Dave) and All Members of EFXTEK:

I am truly sorry for the total misunderstanding of my comment.  I just meant to say that information in the subject line must be accurate  so others can search for programs quickly.  I don't know why I said Jon should ignore programs. (A__ H___)

In the future, I will write my posts in a word processor and edit the information before posting.

Please accept my sincere apologies.  I meant no harm and would hate to think that I created some unrest in such a great and helpful forum where all members share a similar interest and strive to help each other, especially Jon and John. 

In the future, I will refrain from posting any type of  comment that can be misconscrewed and  cause turmoil.

Yours,

Bill P

[Lynn]

So, would I need 2 relays for the motor on the lockers ?  I was going to use a cam setup that would open and close them  so I wouldn't need to reverse this motor, right ?

But would I need 2 on each actuator ?  One to raise the actuator and one to close it ?  ( or extend it and retract it )

What specs would this require ?

[JonnyMac]

If you want to control a DC motor -- and have direction control -- then yes, you need two relays.  One relay will set direction, the other will activate it.  You need to spec the contacts to handle the current that the motor will draw.