# 10 Dollar Animated Raven from Big Lots!!!



## BIGANT

I had to buy this little guy! I mean its a full blown animated raven for 10 bucks! Sure its small and is more the size of a crow than a raven but still it was only 10 bucks and has full animation! I want to try to hack it to work off a trigger and only say pre recorded things if possible but right now I cant figure out the demo mode (which should do exactly that if I can figure it out)


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## RoxyBlue

Yes, yes, you sound just like that

That's pretty damn cool! I could see kids having a blast with that.


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## Otaku

Whoa. I smell a new hack in my future. Remote triggering shouldn't be difficult at all, but there seem to be a lot of signals flying around in there (beak, head rotation, wings etc) that may not be able to be sync'd with a new audio input. We'll see...
Nice find!


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## BIGANT

Yeah I need to figure how the demo mode button works, it says hold to record and play. So if I can figure how to record a message while in demo mode triggering it with a remote should be really easy to do. Its the getting it to record first part Im stuck on.


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## CrazedHaunter

I looked at one of these the other day at big lots and passed on it because ipI couldn't get it to work... should have looked for the switch on the back.. de da der! now I'll have to go back


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## Otaku

I'm gonna hit Big Lots tonight, this will be fun. Hope they have some in stock.


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## Onewish1

Nice!!!


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## BIGANT

If anyone figures how to make the demo mode work let me know! haha


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## Jack Mac

That is a cool find! And for $10 bucks it is worth playing around with. Now I have to find where is the closest Big Lots!


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## MapThePlanet

I picked up a parrot at a thrift store for $3 not too long ago that does the same thing. I've yet to break into it and see what I can do with it. 

But for $10, I might have to run to Lots and grab one.


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## Pumpkin5

:jol: Stopping on my way home...fingers crossed....


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## Lunatic

Can't beat that for 10 bucks!
Can't wait to see what can be done with it.
Go Bigant go Bigant go!
Go Otaku go Otaku go!


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## jaege

You are right. For ten bucks how can you pass it up. I will be stopping tomorrow night to see if I can get one.


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## CreeepyCathy

Hilarious!! I absolutely love this!!! Thanks for the heads up, BIGANT. 

...running to Big Lots.....


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## DreadKnightswife

I have a new errand to run tomorrow!


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## Copchick

Ha, ha! Cool bird!


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## BIGANT

Glad to see people are getting as much of a kick out of this as I am!


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## Hauntiholik

Where was this in Big Lots? Toys? Seasonal?


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## ScaryLane

I just got one and still can't get it out of demo mode. Could be a problem in the design or just bad code. It's small, more like a Sparrow.

It could be fun to hack. That's one way around the buggy code.


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## ScaryLane

Hauntiholik said:


> Where was this in Big Lots? Toys? Seasonal?


It's in seasonal. At my big Lots, they are still stocking that second for Halloween.


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## BIGANT

ScaryLane said:


> I just got one and still can't get it out of demo mode. Could be a problem in the design or just bad code. It's small, more like a Sparrow.
> 
> It could be fun to hack. That's one way around the buggy code.


does your record a message when in demo mode? mine wont work in demo mode it only works on normal mode!


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## Pumpkin5

:jol:OMG! I was showing my husband the thread at work and after work I had to get my work out done, so when I came back home, he had three little talking crows lined up on the counter.....My husband is pretty amazing! Thanks for the heads up Bigant!








I want them to put on tombstones....I think that would be cool if it's not raining...


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## Hauntiholik

ScaryLane said:


> It's in seasonal. At my big Lots, they are still stocking that second for Halloween.


Wow. We still have back to school supplies on the shelves.


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## Spooky1

I see a trip to Big Lots in my future. . Thanks for posting your find!


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## beelce

How cool is that...!
I will HAVE to run buy one tomorrow.....A haunter's dilemma, to spend money on props not on THE list.


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## Terrormaster

I had a talking parrot that worked the same way a while back. Heck, probably same circuit. I wonder what happened to it, think it got lost when we moved three years ago. It's quick possible that whatever hack you figure out will work with the parrot as well which would go excellent in a pirate theme.


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## BIGANT

Hopefully if I get some time this weekend I can take him apart and peak inside.


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## diggerc

and who ever figures out the demo mode fix, be sure to post it here.


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## debbie5

Seems like it will work for 15 minutes, then die.


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## BIGANT

So I looked at it some more last night and the bird only has two wires going to it I assume to provide power to the motor inside which gives it its animation. I have a feeling that simply putting power on those two wires will make it animate, so I bet using a picoboo with an audio track would be the perfect way to hack this. Just simply have the picoboo provide power from a battery pack(since 12v would probably be too much juice for the motor) to the bird and have the picoboo provide the sound track as well when triggered. I would just need to run the animation for the same period of time as the message. Of course the two wouldnt line up perfectly but it doesnt line up perfectly now anyway.


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## Georgeb68

I have a BigLots in town....guess I'm heading over there after my summer school job!


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## BIGANT

A cheaper and easier way to hack this might be to hack the microphone into a line in and have another cheap mp3 player play whatever you want it to, and technically it should just repeat what it gets on the line in?


I might actually try that this weekend, to see if I can hack the mic to work as a regular audio line and plug it into an mp3 player to see what happens! I suppose you could do the opposite on the other end and wire the onboard speaker up to works a line out to a better audio source. Therefore making the bird act as of a kind of animated color organ of sorts?


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## Otaku

This thing has a microphone? Maybe the Talk-thru Boris skull hack would work to make it accept an MP3 player?


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## BIGANT

Otaku said:


> This thing has a microphone? Maybe the Talk-thru Boris skull hack would work to make it accept an MP3 player?


yup it has a mic and a speaker so it should be easy to convert the mic into a line in and the speaker into a line out and have the bird act as a pass through. I went to big lots just now to grab another one to hack over the weekend they were all gone  I guess everyone wanted one, I knew I should have grabbed two yesterday!!!


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## Otaku

Hmmm, I best hit the local Big Lots ASAP...new toys, yay!


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## MapThePlanet

The one closest to me was sold out. The manager on duty said they went almost as fast as they put them out....The hunt begins tomorrow!!


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## halstaff

I just got back from Big Lots and brought one home.
Let the hacking begin!


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## jaege

none at my Biglots. %^$#%!!! Who makes them? maybe I can find them online.


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## bobzilla

Which Big Lots did you go to Steve?



halstaff said:


> I just got back from Big Lots and brought one home.
> Let the hacking begin!


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## halstaff

I went to the El Cajon one. They had 3 more but they didn't seem to be working right.


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## Pumpkin5

halstaff said:


> I went to the El Cajon one. They had 3 more but they didn't seem to be working right.


:jol:Could have been the batteries..one of mine was sluggish, but I changed the batteries and he started squawking and talking like a champ....


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## Spooky1

Roxy and I just picked up two.


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## Pumpkin5

Spooky1 said:


> Roxy and just picked up two.


:jol: You two are incredibly SWEET.....


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## SuperCreep31

wow I'm interested in just cutting out the speaker and gluing feathers to the little guy to make him look more real. Then when a ToT walks by and makes some noise the bird will move for a bit...


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## scarypapa

BIGANT, I went to Big Lots on my way home from work and bought 2 of these birds. When I got home I figured out how to make it record. Turn it on and hold down the "Try Me" button while you are recording your message. Then release the button. Push the button and release to hear the playback. It worked pretty good except I believe the only way to may it play is to push the try me button. I can't make it work any other way. I was hoping it would at least be sound activated. Anyway, it is a pretty neat prop for the money.


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## RoxyBlue

One of the two we picked up tonight does get hung up with the movement sometimes, but I twisted its head a little and it would then work again for a while. Recording in both is fine and, because there is a difference in lag time for responding once they hear a sound, they will actually "talk" back and forth to each other once one of them starts The sound pick up is pretty sensitive, too. Once of the birds heard our dog quietly whining when we got home from shopping and repeated it.

Scarypapa, they will play without using the Try Me button if the toggle switch in the back is on.


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## scarypapa

Thanks Roxy, I did try that on both of the birds I bought but no luck they will not activate by sound for me. I noticed on the box it says to push the "Try Me" button to make it play and it doesn't say anything about it being sound activated. But if you have to push a "Try Me" button to make it play why is it called a "Try Me' button. It should say it is a "Play" button. Also, now I'm not really sure that what I thought was the key to making it record is actually working. It will play back whatever it hears whether the button is held down or not. They both quit working and I put new batteries in both of these birds but they still don't work. Guess I will wait for someone to figure out what is going on with them. They are still pretty cool though.


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## Otaku

Got me one...


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## RoxyBlue

Here's a vote of confidence for you, Otaku:


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## SuperCreep31

if anyone could chime in on how we could make this a plug in rather than battery operated as well that would be awesome!


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## Otaku

Roxy, that's too funny!!! Hope I don't let your little buddy down lol!

(Still laughing...thanks, I needed a good chuckle)


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## Otaku

So here's how mine behaves.
When the switch is ON, it'll repeat whatever you say to it, but only once. I guess its supposed to taunt you...but it would be good if you could get it to repeat the recording on demand. The mic is actually pretty sensitive and the playback is quite clear.
In the OFF (demo) position, it's supposed to record when you press the button and play it back when you release it. This works, sorta, but its spotty.
And I noticed that it sounds a little like a chipmunk; the board speeds up the playback to make it sound more bird-like. It uses 4.5VDC, I hate it when they do that, it's an unusual voltage for a regulated wart. The beak animation kind of follows the speech, but the rest of the body motion is a program.
A looping MP.3 player would work well with this bird.
Dying to crack it open and get down to business...this will be fun.

Edit: Figured out the demo button - turn the switch OFF, press and hold the button, speak, continue holding until it plays back.


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## Wyatt Furr

I bought one of these today. Hack away my friends, would love to see what all of you can do with this.


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## scareme

Sorry Roxy, what did your little friend say?


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## Otaku

scareme said:


> Sorry Roxy, what did your little friend say?


"Hey, Otaku's gonna hack me!"


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## RoxyBlue

^Bingo!


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## Jaybo

I got one last night, and I've already dismantled the sucker. The bird is just hot glued to the base, so just heat it up with a heat gun and pop him off the base. The motor that animates the bird is actually located inside the bird itself and not the base. The inside of the base is just a mess of shoddy wiring and messy hot glue. Most of the inconsistent workings of the prop are probably due to the loose wires. Mine had lots of exposed wire at all of the solder points, so the wires would short out very easily causing the bird to stop working. I don't like the way the recording module works anyway, so I am tossing the entire base. I'll hook the bird up to a microcontroller and run him that way. The controller that Halstaff and Tstraub have been revising over the last year or so would be ideal for this little guy.

Here is a picture of the inside of the base and the bird removed.


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## Otaku

Interesting. I thought of the same approach, using a microcontroller to animate the beak, but I still want to get the rest of the body animation to remain. I'll open mine up soon and see where the connections need to go.


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## SuperCreep31

just stopped by my local Big Lots and not a bird in sight... checked the store Plan-O-Grams and they didn't even seem to be there... maybe this will only be available at some stores? i will check back tomorrow because the Plan-O-Grams said the setup deadline was the night of August 2...


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## RoxyBlue

Whatever you guys do, try to keep it simple for those of us who are somewhat tech challenged:jol:


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## Pumpkin5

RoxyBlue said:


> Whatever you guys do, try to keep it simple for those of us who are somewhat tech challenged:jol:


:jol:She means me....


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## HomeyDaClown

Otaku said:


> So here's how mine behaves.
> When the switch is ON, it'll repeat whatever you say to it, but only once. I guess its supposed to taunt you...but it would be good if you could get it to repeat the recording on demand. The mic is actually pretty sensitive and the playback is quite clear.
> In the OFF (demo) position, it's supposed to record when you press the button and play it back when you release it. This works, sorta, but its spotty.
> And I noticed that it sounds a little like a chipmunk; the board speeds up the playback to make it sound more bird-like. It uses 4.5VDC, I hate it when they do that, it's an unusual voltage for a regulated wart. The beak animation kind of follows the speech, but the rest of the body motion is a program.
> A looping MP.3 player would work well with this bird.
> Dying to crack it open and get down to business...this will be fun.
> 
> Edit: Figured out the demo button - turn the switch OFF, press and hold the button, speak, continue holding until it plays back.


I look at it this way:

The control side works fine and is driven by the recorded audio. I'm gonna break the circuit and inject some audio to see if I can get it to work.
Then it's just a matter of providing a decent external audio source ie....mp3 player...

As far as the 4.5 volt power requirement, just add a 1N4001 diode in series with any regulated 5 volt supply to drop the voltage to 4.3.


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## Otaku

Sounds good to me! I'll trace out the board and try that. Thanks for the tip on the diode. Should the diode be on a particular side of the power supply (+ or -), and which direction should the ring be facing?


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## HomeyDaClown

Otaku said:


> Sounds good to me! I'll trace out the board and try that. Thanks for the tip on the diode. Should the diode be on a particular side of the power supply (+ or -), and which direction should the ring be facing?


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## Otaku

Sweet. Got it, thanks!


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## Headless

RoxyBlue said:


> Whatever you guys do, try to keep it simple for those of us who are somewhat tech challenged:jol:





Pumpkin5 said:


> :jol:She means me....


AND ME!
And then a little diagram came up and I thought...... What? :jol:


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## HomeyDaClown

Headless said:


> AND ME!
> And then a little diagram came up and I thought...... What? :jol:


We have taken the small beastie into our labs for hacking.
While in hack mode, you can ignore all diagrams,
schematics and electronics device talk that we may deliver
and or discuss.

If we leave hack mode and survive any
encounters with the magic blue smoke. 
We will again talk in normal understandable phrases
and explain the hack.

Until then, all bets are off!!!


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## weaz

SuperCreep31 said:


> just stopped by my local Big Lots and not a bird in sight... checked the store Plan-O-Grams and they didn't even seem to be there... maybe this will only be available at some stores? i will check back tomorrow because the Plan-O-Grams said the setup deadline was the night of August 2...


Ditto


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## HomeyDaClown

Had to visit two stores to find a couple today.

Here's the scoop on the internals:

A small microprocessor board (about 1/2 by 1 1/2 inches).
The board has wires runing to the battery case, microphone, speaker, power switch and test button as well as two wires to power the bird motor.

Unfortunately the board has a simple function which is to listen for any sound, then record that sound for about 4-5 seconds then playback the sound while turning on the bird's motor for about another 4-5 seconds.
Then it shuts down and resets waiting for another sound to trigger the cycle again. No way to extend or continue the cycle.

All motion from the bird (leaning from side to side, wings wiggle, head moves and beak opens and closes) is generated by a single motor mechanism and is mostly random. I was able to power the bird motor separately and it did it's thing without the board connected.

So, a good hack would be to replace the board with something that is a simple sound to motor on off control and run the whole thing from an mp3 player and better speakers.

A simpole hack would be to feed it a series of short phrases 4-5 seconds long with a 5-6 second or longer break in between from an mp3 player.

Did anyone notice it was made in a new country? 
Mine says made in Chiana


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## Otaku

Hmmm. I wonder if the Gemmy skull board would work for this? It's basically an op-amp circuit that boosts a MP3 signal up enough to switch a MOSFET on and off. The FET drives the skull motor and it has a pass-through for the audio signal that can be connected to a speaker.
Using this board, the audio would turn the bird motor on and off with each spoken word (or beep), instead of just having it flail about the whole time it's talking. If you use a beep track you could even customize the movement, regardless of what the bird was "speaking". The voice tracks could be any length you want. Since the beep track is separate and isn't heard through the speakers, you could even have the bird randomly twitching every few seconds between voice tracks, giving a "life-like" effect. Well, sort of.
I have one of these boards on my bench, so I can wire this up in just a few minutes.


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## heresjohnny

A Scary Terry driver board works well for the gemmy type skulls and is another good candidate to try. I need to get one just to see how they generate motion from the motor.


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## Otaku

Alriiiight! The Gemmy board works great. I attached the red and white motor wires to the board, powered it up and the bird moves to the beep track while the voice plays in the speakers. My test file isn't really what a bird might say, so I'll make a new one this weekend and get a video. We got us a hack. Woo-hoo!

Like I would know what a bird might say...


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## heresjohnny

Sweet!


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## Headless

Otaku said:


> Alriiiight! The Gemmy board works great. I attached the red and white motor wires to the board, powered it up and the bird moves to the beep track while the voice plays in the speakers. My test file isn't really what a bird might say, so I'll make a new one this weekend and get a video. We got us a hack. Woo-hoo!
> 
> Like I would know what a bird might say...


Polly wants a cracker - with Brain dip?


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## halstaff

Looks like I need to contact Jeff at Simple Circuits and order one of the new and improved boards. This will be fun!


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## Pumpkin5

Otaku said:


> Alriiiight! The Gemmy board works great. I attached the red and white motor wires to the board, powered it up and the bird moves to the beep track while the voice plays in the speakers. My test file isn't really what a bird might say, so I'll make a new one this weekend and get a video. We got us a hack. Woo-hoo!
> 
> Like I would know what a bird might say...


:jol: Hey Gary, are you going to post a "simple Simon how to" for your techno-challenged friends....like me?


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## Otaku

Sure will. This is really easy to do, but you do need to solder up the Gemmy board. Those are available from Jeff at Simple Circuit Boards. JeffHaas posted the parts list recently, I'll look for the thread and link it here. I'll try to get the pics and such put together this weekend.

Here's the link to the Gemmy board thread - the parts list is in post #103.
http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=26340&page=11&highlight=gemmy+board


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## Pumpkin5

Otaku said:


> Sure will. This is really easy to do, but you do need to solder up the Gemmy board. Those are available from Jeff at Simple Circuit Boards. JeffHaas posted the parts list recently, I'll look for the thread and link it here. I'll try to get the pics and such put together this weekend.
> 
> Here's the link to the Gemmy board thread - the parts list is in post #103.
> http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=26340&page=11&highlight=gemmy+board


:jol: You...are AWESOME! Thank you, thank you, thank you!


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## RoxyBlue

Otaku said:


> Like I would know what a bird might say...


Easy - "Hey, Otaku and the tech gurus from HauntForum figured out how to hack me"


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## studiokraft

Thanks for the head up! Just got back from our local Big Lots, with bird in hand.  Now to hack him up (so to speak) and add him to our shooting gallery.


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## Otaku

Here's a really crappy phone video of the raven in action - I left my camera at work last week. I'll make another vid after I get the audio test file rebuilt.

Raventest_zpsc9d47b33.mp4 Video by Otaku1031 | Photobucket


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## SuperCreep31

so did that get rid of the chipmunk sounding voiceover too??


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## Otaku

Yes, the built-in playback board is completely out of the circuit. The MP3 player is the audio source now.


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## RoxyBlue

I had no idea birds could say "nah nah nah nah nah nah nah" It must be a myNAH bird.

Looking forward to seeing a detailed prop how to in the near future!


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## SuperCreep31

awesome! really looking forward to using this technology.. Otaku, is the gemmy board available to buy preassembled somewhere or do you have to buy it part by part?


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## BIGANT

I see you are providing power to the board so does the board now provide power to the motor for the bird? Or does that motor still need its own power source?


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## Otaku

The board requires a 9-12VDC source, but I should be able to use the existing battery pack to power the bird. However, if you want to remove the bird from his perch, you'll need to provide a 4.5VDC power source for it, either a battery pack or modded wall wart. I can look into tapping power from the 9 volt battery, but that would require a 5VDC regulator in the circuit, and the board doesn't have a place for it at this time.

Edit: Cutting in a 1N4001 diode may work to supply ~4.5VDC to the bird motor. I have a mess of these as well, and I'll see what I can come up with. Could be as simple as soldering it to the +9VDC terminal and putting the other end in the T-block that's used for the 3AA battery pack I'm currently using.


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## Otaku

SuperCreep31 said:


> awesome! really looking forward to using this technology.. Otaku, is the gemmy board available to buy preassembled somewhere or do you have to buy it part by part?


Right now, the board is sold bare, and the parts have to be purchased separately and soldered in. SCB doesn't sell it as a kit or as a preassembled board. It's really easy to put together.


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## JeffHaas

FYI, I'm working on an Instructable for the Gemmy board, it'll be a big help for people who are new at these projects. When we get a better video of the crow, I'll add it as an additional type of prop the board can control.


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## BIGANT

Otaku said:


> The board requires a 9-12VDC source, but I should be able to use the existing battery pack to power the bird. However, if you want to remove the bird from his perch, you'll need to provide a 4.5VDC power source for it, either a battery pack or modded wall wart. I can look into tapping power from the 9 volt battery, but that would require a 5VDC regulator in the circuit, and the board doesn't have a place for it at this time.
> 
> Edit: Cutting in a 1N4001 diode may work to supply ~4.5VDC to the bird motor. I have a mess of these as well, and I'll see what I can come up with. Could be as simple as soldering it to the +9VDC terminal and putting the other end in the T-block that's used for the 3AA battery pack I'm currently using.


So as it is you had a power supply for the board itself and you had the 3AA batteries in the perch powering the bird, the board simply just acted as a trigger relay to close the loop between the motor and the batteries then right?


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## Otaku

Right. When the MP3 signal comes in to the board, it boosts it up to a level that can turn the FET on and off. I *think* I can use the 9 volt battery that powers the board as the motor power as well. I would need to use a diode (wired per Homey's post) to cut the voltage going to the motor. Not sure about the longevity of the battery under those conditions...hmmmmm...


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## Otaku

Okay, I can run the bird off the built-in batteries (including cutting in the on-off switch), but I still need to try the trick with the diode to see if I can make it run on a single power source. This is fun...


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## mikeerdas

Here's what I did with the two ravens I purchased. Used two cheap strobe/sound units ($2.50/each from Walgreens) to keep the motion semi-continuous. Then aimed a red LED flashlight to light the scene. Watch for the animated raven silhouettes on the back wall:


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## JeffHaas

Oh, so no hacks to the ravens at all? You're just playing the strobe/sound unit continuously, and the ravens record it and play it back at a faster speed? Clever!


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## Otaku

Love it! These guys are going to be a very versatile prop this year. Very creative scene.


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## theundeadofnight

Mikeerdas ,

Great idea , the animated silhouettes look excellent .


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## bobzilla

Pretty cool! great idea!


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## Otaku

Here's another test vid of the raven with an actual raven call -

Raventest2_zps605bef94.mp4 Video by Otaku1031 | Photobucket


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## bobzilla

Very nice!


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## RoxyBlue

So, Otaku, can you just fly on down here and hook up our two birds for us?

I told Spooky1 this morning after we'd been making the birds say stupid things for about the 100th time that it was the best $20 we ever spent


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## Omirilla

Lots of the birds break at the wing. Took two broken ones and set them next to a nice employee of Big Lots, who was calling around to find a complete bird. The drove her crazy and yes the will parrot each other.


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## HomeyDaClown

I like the shadow effect. These birds are so small I'm afraid no one will notice them alongside my big crows unless I put em in a cage and highlight the cage somehow. It would be easy to rig them up in a box behind a tombstone so they project onto another tombstone or screen.


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## halstaff

Otaku said:


> Okay, I can run the bird off the built-in batteries (including cutting in the on-off switch), but I still need to try the trick with the diode to see if I can make it run on a single power source. This is fun...


I've got my parts in and built up the board. Did you figure out if you could use a single power source? How did you wire yours up?
Thanks.


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## Pumpkin5

:jol: I like what you did with the raven Otaku, and I find when I slow my voice down and deepen it, he talks so that I can understand him. Otherwise he sounds like he is from Oz and is trying to get me to take the yellow brick road.....


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## Otaku

halstaff said:


> I've got my parts in and built up the board. Did you figure out if you could use a single power source? How did you wire yours up?
> Thanks.


Steve, I'm using a prototype board that I built up for debug purposes and it's different than the one that Jeff is selling. I have two T-blocks on the board (motor +, motor -, 4.5VDC +, 4.5VDC -). The power negative and the motor + are connected via a solder bridge under the board. The motor negative goes to the MOSFET (the circuit sinks the current). I can take a pic of the wiring and post it here, but it will be dfferent than what you have. I'm still working on the single power source thingie.
Jeff's board has just two wires for hooking up the motor and 4.5VDC power. I'd suggest asking JeffHaas about how he wired his up. He posted a pic of the board but it didn't show how he wired it to the bird.


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## Otaku

Pumpkin5 said:


> :jol: I like what you did with the raven Otaku, and I find when I slow my voice down and deepen it, he talks so that I can understand him. Otherwise he sounds like he is from Oz and is trying to get me to take the yellow brick road.....


Hey, thanks, P5. Yes, the bird does sound like Alvin the chipmunk a bit. When you use the Gemmy board that goes away.

...now I can't get that Yellow Brick Road song out of my head, dang it...


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## Bobinhouston

great find. thanks for posting. mine might say "beware the scarecrows. THey come down to protect the crops at night!" as the tot's enter the scarecrow field I intend to have waiting for them.

pls let us know if you get it working well


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## Pumpkin5

Otaku said:


> ...now I can't get that Yellow Brick Road song out of my head, dang it...


:jolmean laughter.....muhahahahahahahaaa) You're welcome Gary!


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## Otaku

OMG, it's still in there...this is worse than "It's a Small World After All"...


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## JeffHaas

OK, here's a link to a quick video I made of the Gemmy skull hooked up to the board:

Gemmy Skull Demo Video by Jeff_Haas | Photobucket

And here's a schematic of how I modified the internals of the skull and connected them to the board:










Since this was from my own notes, you should realize that the dotted line on the right is missing symbols for the motor and the LEDs. It's the diagram I figured out so I could hook up the internals of the skull to the the mono phone jack (and I included the on/off switch already in the skull just in case leaving it on somehow drained the batteries).

I think you can do the same thing for the raven...add a mono jack to the back and use the internal batteries to run it. I understand how you might want to use the same battery for the control board and the skull or raven, but my preference is to keep the microcontroller, mp3 board, and any other boards in one box together.


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## mikeerdas

HomeyDaClown said:


> I like the shadow effect. These birds are so small I'm afraid no one will notice them alongside my big crows unless I put em in a cage and highlight the cage somehow. It would be easy to rig them up in a box behind a tombstone so they project onto another tombstone or screen.


Thanks Jeff, Otaku, Homey, and others. Yep, no mods. Birds are still in the box. Due to their small size, my uncertainty about being able to run them continuously, etc, I wanted to be sure I could return them if needed.

The shadows were a happy accident. All I'd wanted was to see if they'd look spooky in red light. Then I looked on the wall behind them and voila--size was no longer an issue. Definitely keepers.

I like what you all have done with the ravens. Lacking any real electronics and mechanical ability, my default is to use off the shelf props and find the simplest way to achieve the effect I want.


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## fritz42_male

OK I'v said it before and I'll say it again: 'I hate you Yanks!'

You guys get all the cool Halloween stuff at bargain prices while we in the other colonies pay premium price IF we can find stuff. At $10 these are incredible value. OK they are a bit small but for an entrance portal on top of 2 gate post and motion activated to say something like 'oh look, more poor lambs to the slaughter' they would grace any haunt.


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## diggerc

The shadow effect is cool but I want to hack a Munster's style coo coo clock.


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## diggerc

SuperCreep31 said:


> if anyone could chime in on how we could make this a plug in rather than battery operated as well that would be awesome!


http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3832490


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## Otaku

Has anyone been able to find the ravens at locations other than Big Lots? I think it's a BL exclusive, but sometimes their stuff shows up elsewhere. I've tried several BL's in my area, no luck.


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## austenandrews

My local store had two left, both broken. I need to fan out to outlying ones.


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## RoxyBlue

I saw two being sold on eBay - one for $9.99 and the other for $24.99 Other than that, not getting any hits on Google when I search.

Are you trying to find another one to hack, Otaku?


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## Otaku

Indeed I am...

Wow, $25...


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## Otaku

I checked a local BL tonight, no ravens but they had a nicely built talking skull, suitable for hacking. Really nice jaw action on the canned soundtrack. Only problem is that it's silver.

Yes, silver...


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## JeffHaas

Is it by Gemmy?

And a little spray paint will take care of the color...


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## Otaku

JeffHaas said:


> Is it by Gemmy?
> 
> And a little spray paint will take care of the color...


Good question, I'll take a look tomorrow. It's on a cardboard base with Big Lots all over it. AFAICS the Gemmy board should work for controlling it. The price now is $14. It'll go to $7 by the first week of Sept.


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## JeffHaas

It may be a Gemmy item that's been customized for Big Lots. Take a look at this blog entry on Gemmy's site:

http://blog.gemmy.com/welcome-back-to-day-5-of-gemmys-2013-halloween-preview/

I couldn't find it on their main site yet, it may not be available at retail.


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## DreadKnightswife

WOW you guys are so intelligent figuring this all out! I am going to have to have hubby look at this feed (he is the electronics guru and I got the last raven from my BL) because you all are way over my head I have that look my hubby gets in his eyes when I start talking about sewing, all glazed over and with a bit of drool hanging out of the corner of his mouth because he has no idea what I am talking about...


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## JeffHaas

Point your husband at the Instructable I did that explains how to modify a talking skull (or raven) so you can make it say whatever you want:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Modify-A-Talking-Skull-To-Say-Anything-You-Want/


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## Otaku

That's the nice thing about that circuit - it works on virtually any skull jaw or other small DC motor that you want to drive with an audio signal. I tested it on four very different skull models, and it worked flawlessly. I'm waiting to order parts for two more boards until after I have my "birds" in the hand.


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## JeffHaas

Can you give me info on the different skull models (and anything else you make work)? I'll add it to the instructable.


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## Otaku

Let me take a look at 'em. One is pretty old, I got it at a drug store a few years back, but the rest are fairly recent acquisitions. I can supply pics, too.


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## CDW

Otaku said:


> I checked a local BL tonight, no ravens but they had a nicely built talking skull, suitable for hacking. Really nice jaw action on the canned soundtrack. Only problem is that it's silver.
> 
> Yes, silver...


Slightly OT, but I actually just found that same skull (mold, motor, voice), in natural non-chrome paint (plain and pirate versions), at Walmart, for $10. Only one of the Walmarts in my area had them, but they're only just now putting stuff out, so maybe others will get them as well.


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## BIGANT

I know some of you had a hard time finding one of these so I decided to give one away!


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## MadMaker

*I agree - lots of fun and has hack potential*

We got one of these last year and it's hilarious! Had to search through the shelf to find one that worked okay at Big Lots. I wish we could hack it and pipe the audio through some better speakers.


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## ilikebike

mikeerdas said:


> Here's what I did with the two ravens I purchased. Used two cheap strobe/sound units ($2.50/each from Walgreens) to keep the motion semi-continuous. Then aimed a red LED flashlight to light the scene. Watch for the animated raven silhouettes on the back wall:
> 
> Big Lots Animated Talking Raven test #3 - strobe/sound driver + LED red light for shadow effect - YouTube


I picked up one of these guys at Big Lots today and plan on doing something similar to this today. I might swap mine out because the thing has little to no head movement and all the ones left in the store had bad batteries so I couldn't test them.


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