Remote circuits

[Devils Chariot]

I got one of those sound activated drop down spiders for halloween this year, and it got some good scares, some on purpose and some by chance. The noises from the sounds were triggering it all night long and killing the battery, I opened it up and it looks very simple to hack. Just cut out the mic and put in a circuit that closes (or opens) when it gets a signal from a remote control.

Now all I need is a switch that is radio/remote controlled. Anyone have some leads? Maybe some RC fans out there can point me the right direction.

Thanks for reading everyone!

[Devils Chariot]

crickets ... ... ... ... ...

[jukingeo]

Originally Posted by Devils Chariot

crickets ... ... ... ... ...

Perhaps...If you have the same drop down spider I have...then you don't have an easy solution to your problem.

For one, I left my spider as is and just 'sheilded it' from outside noise.

Going remote is a good idea, but as you see for yourself there isn't alot of room inside of the spider. A standard RC receiver is around 2" by 3" (perhaps they can make them smaller) so you would be hard pressed to find a space for it inside of the spider. I guess one option is to try to locate a really small RC receiver and attach it to the abdomen of the spider and then attach a piece of cloth around it. But this introduces two problems, one is the extra weight, and two, your batteries now have to power the receiver as well as the spider's motor. You might say, Ok, what about a separate battery for the receiver. Well, now you are back to square 1 and now you have to deal with the extra weight of both the receiver AND an extra battery.

So there isn't many options for you going remote via a transmitter.

I have thought of trying to control it remotely (recently) since I am now learning how to use a Basic Stamp microcontroller. The first thing I thought of is to modify the drop down cord by putting the wires around it. However the motor inside spools up the cord and there isn't much room to spool up wiring too. So that idea is out.

Another option I was entertaining is running the wires outside of the spider and going directly to the control circuit. However, depending on the situation, the wiring would be visible and/or can get caught up in the mechanism.

One thing I have thought of, but didn't implent is the use of an IR motion sensor or photo transistor instead of the sound activation circuit.

This will require a knowledge of electronics on your part though. But it is very possible to remove the microphone and change the circuit to respond to changes in heat (PIR) or light. Going the light route you can aim an infrared LED at the spider and then when your victim enters the area, use a standard trigger. Since most triggers now-adays are motion sensors, I figured why not install a PIR right on the spider. They do make them pretty small now and more then likely you can use the spider's existing batteries to power the sensor. You can mount the PIR right on the abdomen and paint the circuit board black. This way the spider would only appear to have a white dot on it's abdomen. The trigger would be easy as you can remove the microphone and more then likely just connect the PIR right at the trigger point.

Now this does come with a huge caveat. The PIR circuit recovers instantly. So there has to be some additional circuitry made to allow the spider to retract completely and then settle down before making the PIR active again.

So as you see, no matter what way you look at it, it is an involved project.

I personally just use my spider the way it is.

If you absolutely must have the spider drop down on the remote then I suggest going via a totally different approach. Buy a different motion activated spider and attach it to a cord. Have the pulley assembly and motor mounted on (or above) the ceiling. In this manner you have total control of the trigger circuitry involved in triggering the spider.

You can now have a pulley on a release clutch. When a victim enters the room a standard PIR sensor could tell the clutch to disengage and drop the spider. The motion sensing circuit in the spider would move it's legs and what have you.

After a short delay, have the clutch re-engage and a motor spool up the string on the spider. You will need another circuit to tell the motor to stop when the spider reaches the top.

As you can see this is much more involved than the average person thinks it is. I consider myself pretty electronic savvy too and I still have not attempted something like this.

It does sound simple, but in reality it isn't easy to pull off.

Hopefully someone does have an easier alternative in their mind that they can share, but this is all I have to offer. As I said, if you are electronically and mechanically inclined, you should be able to pull it off. It is definintely not a begginers project.

I do have a cool alternative suggestion for you though since you mentioned Radio Control. You could build or modify a larger spider (think huge tarantula here) on a small radio controlled car. You can have an actor or BTS (behind the scenes) guy control the spider when people come into the room. I found this to be WAY scary and fun. You do need to have a fairly loud background track or 'spidery' monster sounds when you deploy the spider, this is mainly to overcome the motor noises from the RC car in the spider. The choice of RC car will be a tough one because you don't want one that is too fast or too noisy. You probably have to go to a local toy store that has RC cars on display and try them out and see what is best for you. If you have a small room, you don't want too fast of a car and you really want to get one that is fairly quiet. Also, just have the spider run around in a given area. DON'T try to chase or box people in with it though...you would be inviting disaster if you do that. You can use a 'scare forward' tactic here and have the spider appear behind your guests...then they would be scared towards the exit of the room. That is always a safe bet. If you build the spider to have a low profile you can 'park it' under a legged couch or chair so it is out of site when the people come into the room.

WHEW!! That is a mouthfull!

I hope I did give you some ideas with what you can do. But I do fear you have the same spider I do and unfortunately there isn't too much that could be easily done with it. I still use my spider, but I have it in a quieter section of the house so it only triggers when people enter the room.

JG

[Devils Chariot]

Thanks JG, very thoughtful.

Your post has stimultaed some thoughts.

I had thought maybe one of those tiny rc helis you see on tv or one fo the tiny rc carsi could hack and cram in there.

Now I wonder if gutting the spider, and reversing the mechnism arrangement would work. What I mean is take out the circuitry (most of it) and put it in a box. Put the ring end into the spider and the pulley mech outside towing it up. A small project box could hold all that and receiver.

Another thought is to take the mich out and put in a photo sensitve circuit, and combine it with another action like a pir activated strobe light. The pir trips the strobe light for a few seconds and the strobe closes the circuit on the photoreceptor, dropping the spider.

Now I wonder if I could make a bunch of spiders drop using a stamp controlled motor and a simple clutch working some spiders on pulleys.

hmmm.

[jukingeo]

Hello DC,

Those mini RC cars are pretty much worthless. I used to sell them in my store where I work. The circuit boards are really hard to work with and you only get a few feet of transmission through them.

You could probably invert the drop mechanism, but I think the same motor also makes the legs wiggle...and that is where the problem lies. I guess if you don't mind the legs not moving then you are OK. However, for a single spider...you would want to keep the detail of moving legs though.

HOWEVER, you DID have a good idea about having SEVERAL spiders drop at perhaps somewhat varied intervals. So now if you have a half a dozen or more medium to large rubber spiders dropping down at somewhat the same time...then the focus would be on the number of spiders rather than one. So the attention to detail is kind of shifted a bit. Also, having the mechanisms overhead is easier to work with too.

Still, as I said before, it isn't going to be easy to implent something like this and it would require some electronics and mechanical knowledge.

But I think for starters the radio controlled 'floor' spider would be cool. It definitely is a rip! (pun intended). I got that idea from the Monster List, and it works! But you do have to be careful with it. Always use the 'scare forward' tactic.

[Devils Chariot]

I have been trying to think of a way to get some of the people who come over on halloween and dont dress up and just sit the kitchen chatting into the fun. I thought that if they could control a prop and watch it via video from inside I could get alot of extra scares. I think I'll try that rc spider.

Since the legs on my spider dont move, I think I will invert the mechnism and locate it in a box.

I also thought about it and thought an FCG mechanism could work to make spiders continously go up and down. I think I saw that at play at Boney Island this year.

I'll do the first two and see if I have any interest in spiders left by the time I get to the third.

Thanks again for your input.

_DC

[jukingeo]

Hello DC,

Yeah, you could do the trick via a FCG. You will not get the range of motion as with a spider that 'drops' down, but if you are careful about the strings you use and that they are almost invisible, you could create a fairly large spider and have it almost appear like it is 'hopping' while it's legs are moving. I can see this as being very effective if the spider is large and you can conceal most of the support strings, like lets say in spider webbing. It would be by FAR more scarier than a drop down spider.

However, since your spider doesn't have moving legs you probably can invert the mechanism and use it too.

You could build on a theme and as people go through your haunt, the spiders get larger and larger. Then use the FCG as the climax.

Someone here created a beautiful FCG spider. Let me see if I can find it...

Ahhh! Yes! Here we go:

http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=9362

This is absolutely the best FCG spider I have seen. AND I have NOT seen this one moving yet! But look how impressive it is sitting on the web. It looks very light, but menacing. This IS without a doubt an awesome spider prop. You just don't get much better than this.

JG

[jukingeo]

Hello DC

I was doing a bit more reading here and came across someone else that wanted a drop down spider. Someone recommended a fishing reel. I can see this as being VERY viable and also something that could potentially carry a lot of weight . A motor could replace the reel's crank and you would have a circuit or leaf switch to tell the motor when to shut off when the spider reaches it's rest (reeled in) position. For the release you can have a solenoid flip the lever and there goes your spider!

You don't need a very expensive fishing reel and as such you could probably wire a few spiders up in this manner and using something like a Prop-1 micro controller you can alter how the spiders drop and when they are cranked back up.

So there you have it...a simple solution. I am surprised I didn't think of this before.

JG