# $10 Dollar IR Break Beam - SUPER easy to use with a Prop1 or 2



## Garage-Of-Evil (Jul 24, 2007)

Rather than re-type or copy/paste, check it out at the link below. Hope you guys/gals like it. $10 bucks, and two hours to build the kit (I'm the worlds slowest solderer).

Works awesome, crazy easy to interface with a Prop1, and WAY cheaper than other IR breakbeam solutions.

http://www.garageofevilnetwork.com/profiles/blogs/10-dollar-ir-break-beam-with

Viva la Hauntolucion!

Steve


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

Interesting. Thanks for the information. 

That looks perfect for the entrance to my cubicle area at work. This past season I had a problem with a pir because it set the prop off when people were anywhere in the vicinity.


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## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

You'd probably solder faster if you weren't sipping beer.









Thanks for the link.
Can that be used with a Gemmy prop? I have several that won't trigger because it is too dark.


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## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

Electronics123 do it - handy as I'm about to order more of the USB sound boards off them.


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## Garage-Of-Evil (Jul 24, 2007)

PIRs are the devil when it comes to prop activation. Thing is, they're just not designed for it. A PIR is great for a very stable environment that only changes rarely. I've had good success hacking photo cells and using lasers as a break beam (until you see them in fog), and the Ping))) sensor is also pretty cool, but again is more complex than most people will want to deal with (and $30 bucks). Bang for buck this is the best solution I've seen yet, and interfacing it with a prop1 is incredibly easy.

And HB, I might have shaved a few minutes off, but what fun is prop building without beer?


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## hpropman (Jul 27, 2008)

Amazon has them for $8.00. Thanks for the info


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## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

Garage-Of-Evil said:


> And HB, I might have shaved a few minutes off, but what fun is prop building without beer?




ok..no good for Gemmy.... darn


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

Garage-Of-Evil said:


> PIRs are the devil when it comes to prop activation.


I've had very good results with PIRs as prop triggers, but you need to use a tube or other guide on the round Fresnel lens to make them more directional. Using the IR beam-breaker looks good, but is probably best for mazes or corridors where people are filing past the sensors where they can be mounted so that they aren't disturbed by the TOTs.


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## Garage-Of-Evil (Jul 24, 2007)

Personally, I've put those damn PIRs in tubes, altered the lenses, did damn near EVERYTHING to make them work. In my own experience they just stay "hot" for too long to be useful. Seems like even when you radically restrict their FOV, they still need like 2 minutes of "quiet time" to be effective. AND you need to debounce them in code to keep false triggers down. 

That said, I'd love to find one that worked well. If you can hip me to source/how to, etc for something reliable I'd be sincerely grateful to ya. More options are always a good thing!


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

GOE, I've been hacking some PIRs from that Pumpkin Insert thingie that I mentioned in another thread. They're based on the same BISS0001 IC as the Parallax PIR, but with fewer features. When it sees a heat source, it pulses high (3.3VDC) 2-3 times, but I use a 556 timing circuit that ignores trigger inputs once it's running. I can't go into the design right now, as I'll be entering it in the $20 Prop Contest.

I found that the PIR needs ~30 secs to stabilize after power-up, but after that it will behave as needed. I use a 3" plastic tube to restrict the FOV, and you have to be directly in front of the tube for the PIR to "see" you.


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## Garage-Of-Evil (Jul 24, 2007)

I'm looking forward to your entry Gary, you never fail to impress when it comes to quality hacks. And don't think for a second I won't shamelessly steal any info on it (with credit of course)


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## hpropman (Jul 27, 2008)

Otaku said:


> GOE, I've been hacking some PIRs from that Pumpkin Insert thingie that I mentioned in another thread. They're based on the same BISS0001 IC as the Parallax PIR, but with fewer features. When it sees a heat source, it pulses high (3.3VDC) 2-3 times, but I use a 556 timing circuit that ignores trigger inputs once it's running. I can't go into the design right now, as I'll be entering it in the $20 Prop Contest.
> 
> I found that the PIR needs ~30 secs to stabilize after power-up, but after that it will behave as needed. I use a 3" plastic tube to restrict the FOV, and you have to be directly in front of the tube for the PIR to "see" you.


I do the same thing but I use the picaxe chip instead of the 555 timer. I used it with my 20 dollar challenge prop and it worked fine all day and night. I added two transistors to the output of the sensor one to invert and the other to switch 5 volts to the picaxe although you could have used one and changed the code on the chip. The picaxe then turned on the MP3 player and controlled the motor from the prop to move at the correct time. Here are some vids and a picture of it in action a lot of people really liked it.

Halloween 2009 :: S6000729.flv video by jmalt31 - [email protected]@[email protected]@http://vidmg.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v147/jmalt31/Halloween%202009/[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@v147/jmalt31/Halloween%202009/S6000729

Halloween 2009 :: S6000730.flv video by jmalt31 - [email protected]@[email protected]@http://vidmg.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v147/jmalt31/Halloween%202009/[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@v147/jmalt31/Halloween%202009/S6000730


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## psyko99 (Jan 11, 2008)

That's an awesome hack GOE. Cheap and easy, the way I like 'em.


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## halstaff (Nov 18, 2009)

Thanks for the tip. I ordered one and soldered it up. My first soldering project and it worked! Ready for more now.


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