Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Arduino-Controlled Halloween Props”.
Animated halloween props are a lot of fun, but the props that you buy at the store have some major limitations. One problem is that each prop is activated by its own sensor, so it’s difficult to get them to work together in unison. Another problem is that the built-in motion – sensors aren’t very effective. Most of them use light sensors that don’t work very well in the dark.
So i worked out a system that lets you control all your animated, halloween props, with a single microcontroller. This lets you exactly choreograph how and when each prop will turn on it. Also lets you use external sensors that you can customize for your setup. There are many different kinds of animated, halloween props and they can all be hacked, but in this project i’m going to focus on battery powered props that have a test button. These props have a button somewhere on the package that lets you activate the programmed animation. By connecting to the terminals of this button, you can control the prop with an external circuit, such as an arduino so start by.
Removing the switch from its housing then use a multimeter to measure the relative voltage between the terminals of the switch to help keep track of which terminal was positive and which terminal was negative. I colored the sides of the button with red and black markers to simulate the button being pressed we’re going to connect a transistor across the terminals of the switch for an npn transistor connect the collector to the positive terminal of the switch and connect the emitter to The negative terminal then also connect the emitter to the ground, pin on the arduino and connect the base of the transistor to a digital pin with a 1k resistor when the digital pin is set to high. The prop should play its animation repeat this same process.
To add, as many additional props as you want now, all you have to do is hook up some kind of a sensor. You can use a motion sensor, a pressure plate, a proximity sensor or anything else. Now you have animated halloween props that you can program to do exactly what you want them to do, thanks for watching and check back next week for more diy hacks and how to’s you .