What hardware will I need?

[ryagl]

Hi I am brand new to the advanced techniques used to animate props.  I will prob. be on here often, so please forgive me in advance for asking so many questions.  I am going to make an electric chair and animate a prop.  I will either use a pneumatic prop or a wiper motor to move the prop.  I will have sound to make the prop scream.  I will use a fog machine and lighting.  I will use a sensor to active the sequence.  Here's what I think I need, and please let me know if I am wrong. 

Prop-1
AP-8 for audio
PIR sensor for activation

Here's where the newbee in me comes in play.  I don't know what else I might need.  I'm not sure what to use for either the pneumatic or the motor but from what I read I need to use a standard relay or the RC-4 Board.   Can anyone tell me the difference between these and how they work with the prop-1.  One other question and I think I'm done for right now.  If I use a wiper motor to move my prop it is normally powered by a simple battery charger.   How do I bipass this and use it with the prop-1. 

Thank you

Ryan

[menehune]

I am assuming you have no experience so I will try to list everything you may need.

-First, you will need a computer to load the programs into the prop. 
-I recommend you get the Prop1 trainer kit since it will include the prop power supply, serial cable, serial adaptor and a prop trainer which may help you during programming and testing. 
-If your computer does not have a serial port (DB9 port) you will need to get a USB to serial adaptor.  You will also need a USB cable. Both of these are also available from the EFX online store.
-You will also need extension cables to connect the PIR,  RC-4 and AP-8 boards to the prop controller.  If you have the wires, pins and crimpers, you could make the wires yourself also.
-You will also need the RC4 board (if you want to use it).  The RC4 board comes without relays, so you will need up to 4 AC relays for the RC4 board.  If you don't want to use the RC4 board you can wire your own relays to the prop.
-You will need a beefy power supply to run the wiper motor.  Do you know how much current the motor draws?  Some wiper motors draw 5amps or more at 12V with a prop attached.
-The AP-8 board will require a speaker.
-You may want to purchase a few spare ULN 2803 or ULN 2003 chips as spares if you "let the smoke out" during prototyping and testing.

The RC4 is the bare board without the solid state relays.  If you get the AC relays (the Crydom D2W203F available in the online store), they will not work for switching DC motors.  You can either use the crydom SSR to switch the AC input to your motor power supply on/off; you can get a DC version of the crydom relay or you can hook up a standard relay yourself.  Wiring a relay yourself will require soldering wires to the relay-you may or may not have a solder iron, the time or the technical data to hook the relay up yourself.

The standard relay will allow you to instantly turn your wiper motor on/off, using the RC4 will allow you to turn the power to your wiper motor power supply on/off.  Depending upon the supply, there may be an undesirable delay between the power being removed and the motor rotation stopping.  That delay is caused by the filter capacitors in the supply discharging and still supplying power to the wiper motor.

I'm not too familiar with pneumatics, but there is probably a solonoid that needs to be connected to the prop.  The solonoid acts as an on/off switch, sort of like how a residential electric lawn irrigation valve controls the water flow to your sprinklers.

I have no experience with the AP-8 board as well.  Some people have used a small 20W speaker for small locations, others have used small amplified computer speakers, I think I read that one person even tried hooking an AP-8 up to a home stereo system for some really loud sounds.

[BigRez]

Well, you got plenty of time until halloween, so that's a good start.  ;)

This is probably the wrong board for this topic and it may be moved, but to add to what menehune provided...

The AP-8 is a good choice for sound, but I believe it's not in stock at this time.  You could go with other alternatives or wait for the AP-8 (or AP-16?) to come in.  The AP-8 connects to the prop-1.

A fog machine is a little different beast.  It needs to be always on to keep the unit hot, but then the contact switch is used to send the burst of fog.  This often requires a modification to the fog machine's control switch or to make a custom switch.  There are many different ways to do this so you'll have to post the details of your fogger.  Could be done off the RC-4 or a relay on the prop-1 depending on that info.

If you're going with a pneumatic cylinder, you'll probably want a solenoid valve to drive the cylinder. (There are other ways, but I like the solenoid best.)  These come in various options, including AC and DC power options, and are often much smaller than other approaches. I like the DC options so I can connect them directly to the prop-1.  An AC solenoid valve could be connected to an RC-4 or a relay off the prop-1.  (Note: The RC-4 is a neat and easy way to switch AC devices. You could always get appropriate relays and wire them up to the prop-1, but the RC-4 make this so much easier and cleaner.)

You should also plan the events you want to occur.  There are memory (and other) limits to the prop-1 which may make the prop-2 (or prop-sx) a better choice.  I'm using the prop-1 for my electric chair (in work) and it will be fine for what I want to do, but planning ahead of time is always a good thing.

Hope this helps a little,

[livinlowe]

Hello, and welcome to your new obsession!

Check out this post in Completed Projects:

http://www.efx-tek.com/php/smf/index.php?topic=85.0

Efx-Tek made a prop very similar to what your describing. Perhaps Jon can post a video of it in action, just so you can see what a little magic from a microcontoller can do!

[JonnyMac]

There's nothing I can add to the good advice already given, except to say that it's never too early to get started learning to program the Prop-1.  It's pretty simple and the more you practice, the better you'll get.  You might want to treat yourself to a starter kit for Christmas and just start there.

[ryagl]

Thanks for all your input.  Things are slowly starting to make a bit of sense.  As far as the Crydom D2W203F used for ac, will I need one for each ac motor that I will be using. 

Thanks

[BigRez]

The RC-4 allows for one to four of the Crydom relays.  Each relay could control one AC line, so you'd probably want to control each motor individually. Yes, one per motor.