# RAPU 5.0 vs. Earlier RAPUs?



## Ball Maker (Dec 10, 2009)

Greetings, this is my first post. I'm an engineering geek who likes to tinker. I like building stuff for Halloween but I'm not at the crazy level as probably most of you. I built rain FX equipment for a big haunted house once, and have done a few things around my house and workplace for Halloween, but that's about it. 

I've had a model kit (static) skull sitting in my closet for years and have been wanting to animate it for a long time. I once animated a plastic skeletal hand plastic model using servos, an SSC, and an old piece of S/W that was painful to use. A few years later I discovered VSA and really enjoyed playing with it. It was less tedious to use, but still tedious. Still, it was great fun breathing life into inanimate objects.

Anyway, I'm tempted to get a RAPU. I like the idea of a standalone controller running VSA that anyone could just turn on and run a show (no booting a PC, etc.). But I've read a lot of comments regarding the buggy nature of the RAPU. Many of these messages are on the old side, so I was wondering if anyone knows if the vr. 5.0 RAPU is less buggy than its predecessors? Thanks!


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## azdude (Jun 26, 2009)

Hi Ross,

I used the RAPU with the older software (4.0 I think) and I never thought it was buggy. I have had it controlling my most complex prop now for 2 years and I never had any problems with it. The one thing that I will point out about the RAPU is that there is no simple way to trigger the thing. < warning - incoming sarcasm> One would assume that in designing a 'stand alone' controller that you would make it easy to trigger a routine - hence the term 'stand alone.' But no. You can trigger it via an infra red controller or via the RS232 port. So these engineers are sitting around in a room designing the thing and NO ONE says "Hey, maybe we should give the option to trigger it via a simple switch closure?" Its truly incredible.

So anyway, thats the way it is. In the end, I designed a circuit board with a microcontroller that has the trigger input and then sends the 'commands' to the RAPU unit via the RS232 port. This actually worked out well for me because it allowed me to manage the delay time in between the triggers and it also allowed me to truly randomize the routines that I had. If you are interested in this method I am glad to help. HOWEVER, now that you can buy a net book laptop for less than the price of the RAPU you may be able to solve the problem cheaper going that route. There is a free software available called Monkey Basic that allows you to trigger a VSA routine using the parallel port on your computer (or USB-to-parallel adapter). I have never used this software and honestly do not know that much about it but if you are just starting your project you should definately check it out.

Have fun,
Bruce


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