# A little fun with lights and sound on the approach the the front door



## Setarcos (Jul 4, 2015)

Hi folks,

I finally had a chance to put things together for a little something special for our ToTs this year. Since last year we have begun doing a sequenced light/audio Halloween show for our guests in the Month of October, but until this year we didn't have anything special for the ToTs that visit us on Halloween. This sequence is triggered by a retro-reflective (break-beam) sensor that is connected (by means of a PiFace Digital) to the Raspberry Pi running FPP that is driving the show. When a ToT walks past the gate shown in the video, their legs will interrupt the IR light, and trigger the sensor.






I was hoping to do this last year, but ran out of time before Halloween due to the construction of other props.

Enjoy! :jol:
-Setarcos


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## jdubbya (Nov 6, 2005)

That's fantastic! I'm guessing a lot of them will stop in their tracks and not make it all the way!!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

That is just too cool!


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## Hairazor (Mar 13, 2012)

That is so Hot!! Love it!


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

That's a cool light show.


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:Really original! I love it!


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## Setarcos (Jul 4, 2015)

Here is a video of the final version with audio (apologies for the audio fidelity, it was a bit windy) from the perspective of our guests I captured on my cell phone after the frequency of ToTs died down a bit on Halloween night:


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## bobzilla (Nov 13, 2008)

Really nice job!


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## Setarcos (Jul 4, 2015)

All in all it seemed to be well received. The little ones were a bit cautious, and some backed away from the door a bit until it was over, but no one panicked and ran or left in tears 
https://ring.com/share/1185162771
https://ring.com/share/1184257964
https://ring.com/share/1184130381


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:That was great!! Looks like that last little wonderwoman was going to make a run for it at the end...ha, ha, ha... Great job!!!


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## Gotfrogs (Oct 30, 2016)

Very nice. Can you provide any more details on the hardware you used for this?


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## Setarcos (Jul 4, 2015)

Sorry for the extended delay in responding. I must have missed the last post.

I used a Seco-Larm E-931-S35RRQ Enforcer Indoor/Outdoor Wall Mounted Photoelectric Beam Sensor (break-beam) sensor placed at ankle level to detect when a ToT walks past the gate along the walkway. This is powered by the same 12VDC supply that powers the pixels. I used the normally open (N.O.) relay contacts on the sensor to pull the logic level low when the sensor is triggered (common is connected to ground, and the N.O. contact is connected to the PiFace input). Since I run my show with FPP using a Raspberry Pi v2 B, I used a PiFace Digital 2 to connect the sensor inputs.

Each time the sensor triggers, a script fires on FPP that checks to see the last time it ran. If it has been a few minutes, the effect sequence triggers again. If too little time has elapsed, nothing happens. This allows the first ToT or member of a group to trigger the effect sequence, but it won't run again until the ToT or all members of the group have exited the area inside the gate.


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## Fiend4Halloween (Aug 28, 2008)

GREAT info and great video/setup! Thanks for sharing the visual and materials. You did an awesome job.


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## samhayne (Jul 3, 2008)

Ambiance and suspense at is best !! awesome ! thanks for sharing


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