# Dimming flicker circuit?



## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

I created my first flicker circuit yesterday. From some electrical parts I had laying around the house. Took prolly all of about 5 minutes. Basically just a FS=2 fluero. starter, a 6' extension cord, and an inline fuse. Thanks to a few posts and links (sorry don't remember the exact ones) from this site. I just love this site.

I really like the effect, but wondered if there would be a way to get it to dim some as well as flicker? Or maybe even use a different starter that would be a very slow flicker and appear if the light was gradually losing/regaining power?


----------



## Liam (Mar 23, 2007)

If you want complete control of a lighting effect, try out the EFX-TEK Prop-1 and FC-4 boards. They're deceptively simple to program, and will let you do whatever you want to do. Check them out at efx-tek.com

Disclaimer: I am not at all affiliated with EFX-TEK, just love their products. Oh, and the guys who run the company ain't all that bad either.


----------



## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

Using a higher watt bulb will cause the flicker rate to go slower (fewer flickers/min) but in this circuit the power is actually being mometarily interrupted causing the flickering effect. One way to make it appear that the bulb is dimming and brightening is to place a non-flickering bulb next to the the flickering one. Use a very low watt bulb so that when the flicker bulb blinks off, there's still a bit of light. This works best when inside a frosted lantern globe so that you can't see the two discrete light sources.
I have a pulsing AC light circuit that I built a couple of years back, and I've tried using it with this type of flicker but when the light dims too much, the flicker effect stops altogether.


----------



## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

Liam said:


> If you want complete control of a lighting effect, try out the EFX-TEK Prop-1 and FC-4 boards. They're deceptively simple to program, and will let you do whatever you want to do. Check them out at efx-tek.com
> 
> Disclaimer: I am not at all affiliated with EFX-TEK, just love their products. Oh, and the guys who run the company ain't all that bad either.


Wow....$89.95 for a FC-4 and $39.95 for a Prop-1. My under $5 flicker looks pretty good, considering I'm wanting to duplicate it multiple times for various applications.



Otaku said:


> Using a higher watt bulb will cause the flicker rate to go slower (fewer flickers/min) but in this circuit the power is actually being mometarily interrupted causing the flickering effect. One way to make it appear that the bulb is dimming and brightening is to place a non-flickering bulb next to the the flickering one. Use a very low watt bulb so that when the flicker bulb blinks off, there's still a bit of light. This works best when inside a frosted lantern globe so that you can't see the two discrete light sources.
> I have a pulsing AC light circuit that I built a couple of years back, and I've tried using it with this type of flicker but when the light dims too much, the flicker effect stops altogether.


Have any video of the effect? I'm wanting to simulate a potential power outage.


----------



## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

Here's a video of a multiple flicker powerstrip I built a while back. I don't have a video of the dimmer/flicker combo effect. I can probably get one later this week, but it really doesn't dim the lights much before it cuts out and when the circuit cycles back to bright, it restarts the flicker. The cycle runs about 8 secs (dim-bright-dim).

Flicker strip demo video by Otaku1031 - [email protected]@[email protected]@http://vid73.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid73.photobucket.com/albums/i231/Otaku1031/[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@i231/Otaku1031/MOV06227


----------



## heresjohnny (Feb 15, 2006)

Joker, there is another thread on this type of flicker, the last couple of pages talk about dimming it, and some alternatives that might help you out.

http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=6272


----------



## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

Thanks for the reminder, HJ. I still have to try putting the dimmer behind the flicker circuit. More to come...


----------



## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

heresjohnny said:


> Joker, there is another thread on this type of flicker, the last couple of pages talk about dimming it, and some alternatives that might help you out.
> 
> http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=6272


Thanks johnny, I'll go check that out.

Otaku where did you get the sockets for your fleuro starters? Looks like a nice setup with the basically all in one power strip.


----------



## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

I got mine at a local hardware store for ~$2 each. There's an online source that is close to you in TX:
http://www.betson.com/parts/Acc_Lighting/


----------



## heresjohnny (Feb 15, 2006)

Otaku said:


> Thanks for the reminder, HJ. I still have to try putting the dimmer behind the flicker circuit. More to come...


No Prob Otaku. Do you remember your power striup hack is hosted on my site also? 
http://www.johnnyspage.com/otaku_powerstrip.htm


----------



## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

Has anyone come up with a way for the flickering to dim without the use of what I'm assuming to be a manual dimmer? 

I wonder how a low wattage 3-way bulb would react to the flicker circuit? May have to try that out this evening.


----------



## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

Sure do, HJ. While I was looking for those starter sockets for Joker, I ran across a site that posted that hack (no link, just the PDF). Looks like it's making the rounds out there.

http://www.starkmadness.com/photos/albums/_props/other users props/power_strip_hack_rev_3.pdf


----------



## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Otaku said:


> Sure do, HJ. While I was looking for those starter sockets for Joker, I ran across a site that posted that hack (no link, just the PDF). Looks like it's making the rounds out there.
> 
> http://www.starkmadness.com/photos/albums/_props/other users props/power_strip_hack_rev_3.pdf


Looks like it got pulled Otaku, that link is DoA.

-TM


----------



## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

Terrormaster said:


> Looks like it got pulled Otaku, that link is DoA.
> 
> -TM


Issue resolved, hands shaken.


----------



## Koumajutsu (Aug 9, 2006)

One could always suggest off the deep end controlling devices like the ones I have access to: http://www.ni.com/pdf/products/us/ni_6509datasheet_with_rt.pdf


----------



## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

Tight! That's some cool boards, Kouma. I still have a couple of Galil Motion Control boards laying around, but I can't afford the dedicated motors that they require.


----------

