# Current State of DIY Lightning?



## GCWyatt (Aug 30, 2012)

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I posted here, but time to get back on the Halloween horse, um, er, Nightmare. So this year we're in a new house and I'm thinking of adding lightning effects. Frightprops has a Perfect storm for $34 and I'm really tempted to jump at it, but I got to wondering what the good folks at Haunt Forum are doing for lightning.

I really want at least two channels, but boxes that can do that are at least $200. I'm tempted to get two Perfect Storms, a cheap guitar delay box, and rig a two channel for under $100 plus existing audio equipment.

But the question is, are any of you doing lightning with a DIY rig that does lightning better than a $200 PicoStorm or Firefly, but costs less than $100 to build? Or maybe you know of an off the shelf solution that does what I'm looking for for less than $200?

All ideas appreciated!


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## poplarhouse (Aug 2, 2015)

In the lab section of our haunted barn, I have a lightning and thunder projector ($30 at Home Depot) mounted high in the rafters, and a sound activated LED strobe ($20 at Amazon) near it, and they really put on a show. Unfortunately, the projector's sound clip stops abruptly mid-crash at the end of 18 seconds and then repeats. I got around this with a cycle delay timer module ($13 at Amazon, but cheaper directly from IC Station). I set the timer to ON for 16 seconds (the end of a crash), then it turns off for about 45 seconds, and repeats. I mounted it in an old fuse box, with a power cord and an outlet for the lightning projector. Now, instead of thunder crashing continuously, it's at intervals and sounds more natural, all for about $55. The projector is very loud, and no additional amplification is necessary.


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## poplarhouse (Aug 2, 2015)

Deeper in the barn, we've created a Victorian corridor with an animated coffin and various other spooky things. The wall is solid, but I made a window with colored glass and added a white LED strip inside, just behind an iron grill (from Michael's, $15). I made a stereo soundtrack of thunder crashes, and truncated the crashes on the left track (replaced all but the loudest peaks with silence), then added a 1 second delay to the right track. This is now on an mp3 player ($11 at Amazon), with the right track feeding a small amplifier and speaker in the rafters. The left track feeds a sound sensor LED controller directly ($17 at Amazon), and it fires the LED strip. Now, the window flashes and casts a shadow of the grill, then thunder crashes just a second later, as it would if a real storm were raging outside. It's just opposite the coffin, so it's a satisfying effect.


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## poplarhouse (Aug 2, 2015)

Sorry for the triple post, but I just uploaded an album that includes the storm window, and here it is:


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## GCWyatt (Aug 30, 2012)

Those are some great idea, Charles. I'll see if I can find those parts and if they will project bright enough for my yard.


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