# Stand alone controllers?



## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

Anyone have any good links to stand alone controllers?


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## Frighteners Entertainment (Jan 24, 2006)

What type are you thinking of?


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

No idea. This is my first delve into looking at this stuff. Basically something I can program some servo movements into and have it be disconnected from the computer. Mostly pricing and learning atm.


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## mroct31 (Nov 10, 2007)

I'm thinking a Prop-1 could be used for this:
http://www.efx-tek.com/topics/prop-1.html


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## Brad Green (Jul 29, 2004)

Prop1 or the newer Prop2 is a real good choice to get you going. Jon at EFX will even help you set up your program and it's really hard to beat the support program they have! Jon walked me through the whole process and I can't even program a DVD player!


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## bradbaum (Jul 26, 2008)

I would agree EFX-TEK.

The Prop-SX is supposed be really good for servos.

There is a sale going on right now as well this is a repost from creepcrafters:

>
> EFX-TEK is having a holiday sale on their most popular products. The sale is
> good through Christmas day or while supplies last. There or no minimum or
> maximum quantities to purchase to get the sale price.
>
> www.efx-tek. com
>
> Prop-1: $39.95 --> $29.95
> Prop-2: $99.95 --> $74.95
> Prop-SX: $99.95 --> $74.95
> DC-16: $29.95 --> $22.50
> FC-4: $89.95 --> $67.50
> Prop-1 Trainer: $9.95 --> $5.00
> 68" Extension Cable: $8.00 --> $5.00
>
> Great savings, from a Great company!
>


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## randyaz (May 26, 2006)

If your considering a Prop... I recommend the Prop1 or Prop2 ( i prefer the Prop2 ). The PropSX is the best of the 3 and very powerful, especially with servos, but if your new to this it is advanced for cutting you teeth on.

But which ever you choose you will have the ultimate in support.


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

Thanks guys. I'm still trying to decide stand alones, or computer driven. At the moment, I'm leaning more toward computer driven.


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## hpropman (Jul 27, 2008)

If you are trying to do a show then computer driven will be easier. A stand alone can do it also be you might need several to do what you need and they would need to be able to communicate with each other and or to a servo control board. Not something a would recommend for a beginner. After you you have learned to program a controller then you can try more advanced stuff with them. That is why I love the picaxe chips $3 - $10 each vs $75 for a prop 2. There is nothing that a prop 2 can do that a picaxe can not. You will have to solder them to a circuit board though. But that is not hard. When you are ready to try these things start with a prop one (only because they are ready out of the box) and then when your are ready and your skills develop jump over to the picaxe the programing is very similar and they are just as easy to use. check my website for more information.


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## bradbaum (Jul 26, 2008)

I ordered a PICAXE08M a few days ago to experiment with.

By the time you add the cost of the PCB, voltage regulator and other required parts you are at the cost of the Prop-1.

I downloaded the free software for the PICAXE and I do like it, the simulate mode is really cool, It allows you to turn the inputs on and off and set the analog input values then you can watch the program run and see if you have made any mistakes.

When the chip gets here, I'll prototype the circuit and see if everything works. Then I can run a total on the parts required for this type of prop controller.


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## hpropman (Jul 27, 2008)

I recommend that you start off with 3 AA batteries in a clip. If you lose your groud on the regulator it will jump to 7 volts I almost lost a chip doing this. Radio shack has a 4 battery clip just place a rod or screw in on of the cell spaces. you want 4.5 volts (3 AA cells) See my Microcontroller 101 doc on my website for more information it is also in the picaxe manual. I started with Peter Anderson's 08M board and ran a jumper cable to a solderless breadboard.

This is a nice starting point:
http://www.hvwtech.com/products_view.asp?ProductID=497

so is this:
http://www.phanderson.com/picaxe/index.html
Protoboard for PICAXE-08. Assembled and tested. $13.95. 
Protoboard for PICAXE-08. Kit. Assembly instructions- $7.95. 
(these require a 7.5 volt to 9 volt DC adapter and a 9 pin serial cable)
these can also be modified to plug into or run a cable over to a breadboard.

this is nice also:
http://www.hvwtech.com/products_view.asp?ProductID=287
this will work with this if you do not have one.
http://www.hvwtech.com/products_view.asp?ProductID=314
Note: even though it says 6 volts it is unregulated so it is probably 8 or 9 volts.

You can use the voltage regulator (or a battery clip) and 2 resistors and a 3 pin connector to build completely on a solderless breadboard. The instruction to do this are in my Microcontrollers 101 doc.

You can not beat this deal for a breadboard:
http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=4445+TE

I have purchased from all of these links so no worries. Please let me know if anyone has any questions.


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## bradbaum (Jul 26, 2008)

I recieved my PICAXE08M and built the attached ciruit around it.

It seems to work pretty well, and programming was pretty easy.

J3 is the trigger input, I designed it to work off of 12V instead of 5, to keep false triggers to a minimum, the only problem is that the transistor inverts the input so the program has to be written to activate with a low instead of a high.

R9 sets the delay from when the trigger is detected to when the prop fires.

R10 sets how long the prop stays on.

There are two outputs, output 0 turns on as soon as the trigger is detected and turns off when when the time set by R10 expires. The second output turns on after the delay time set by R9 has expired and then turns off when the time set by R10 expires.

My idea is that output 0 will turn on an MP3 player, while output 4 turns on the prop. I attempted to make this generic to allow it to be used on most of the props I build each year.

Here is the code that I put in the PICAXE08M:

#picaxe 08m
let dirs = %00010001 ' switch pin 0 and 4 to outputs
let pins = %00010001 ' switch on output 0 and 4

main:
readadc 1,b1 ' read value into b1
readadc 2,b2 ' read value into b2
if pin3 = 1 then gobaby	' wait for trigger
goto main ' cycle if no trigger

gobaby:
high 0 ' turn on output 0
let w1 = b1 * 35 ' calculate input delay time
pause w1 ' wait for input 1 delay time
high 4 ' prop on (output 4)
let w2 = b2 * 35 ' calculate prop on time
pause w2 ' wait for input 2 time on time
low 4 ' Turn off output 4
low 0 ' Turn off output 0
goto main ' return to waiting for trigger

This code is very similar to the code that the Prop-1 and Prop-2 use, so it was very easy to move from writing code for a Prop-1 to writing code for a PICAXE.

I am still unsure how much the controller will wind up costing, I will keep you guys updated.


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## hpropman (Jul 27, 2008)

Looks good nice clean circuit. If you need more I/O the 14M is just an 08M with 6 more I/O pins. For that really complicated prop that you are going to build. LOL You can always add another transistor to invert the trigger back to a high if it really want to but it is not really needed. I have triggered with 5 volts I have never had a problem. If you still get false triggers drop a few caps in the circuit and it is good practice to place A .1uf cap on each chip in a circuit on the power pins. This is a standard accepted practice in electrical engineering. The purpose of the .1uf cap is that they provide power to the chip if needed and also the decoupling effect absorbs chip generated switching noise at the point of origin so that the rest of the circuit is not affected but it.


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## robp790 (Jan 8, 2008)

Have you guys seen the picaxe 28a proto board from HVWtechnologies? It has 8 digital I/O pins. The thing that caught my attention is the direct motor/servo/relay control outputs through the darlington driver chip and motor driver IC chip. I see lots of cool projects with this in the near future. The board is $18, the IC are $8 for the picaxe 28a and $5 for the darlington driver IC, $8 for the motor driver. For $38 I have microcontroller power for anything I imagine. It will be summer before I master the programming for servo control.


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## Death Master (Jul 1, 2007)

Sickie if you want to do this the EZ way, and don't want to make your own, I personally make my own, but I have used, and love the picoboo, and Boobox from Fright Ideas at http://www.frightideas.com/ they are stand alone units, and have sound too. Programing is EZ. It might be worth the extra money to save time.


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

thanks guys.


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