# Hacking Halloween Toys



## waldiddy (Aug 4, 2008)

Is this really hard to do? I know very little about electronics, but am eager to learn. I've got a cool Halloween sign from this past year that plays a cool theme while flashing red 'BEWARE' letters when you push a button:






Can someone give me pointers or tips on how to change this toy so that it's hooked to a motion detector or other trigger? Another plus would be fixing it so that it runs off a power cord instead of batteries, but again, I have no clue.

Thanks again in advance - you all are awesome!


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

your trigger would be hacked into your wiring that runs to your button.

how many batteries does it take?

ea batt is roughly 1.5v, so the number of batts x 1.5v will give you the power you need for a DC adapter.

to attach the adapter, cut the wires leading to your battery box, cut the end off the adapter, strip the wire ends and solder/twist connect in your adapter wires. pos to pos, neg to neg.


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## bradbaum (Jul 26, 2008)

Everything Ickie said plus look at Efx-Tek for controllers:

http://www.efx-tek.com/topics/ez-8.html

and motion sensors:

http://www.efx-tek.com/topics/pir.html

You can trigger several props from one motion sensor and controller. you just adjust the timing so that they go off one by one.


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## waldiddy (Aug 4, 2008)

Interesting ...
so, if I'm reading this right, the PIR sensor would be connected to the Pins, like PIN #6 in their example, and the sign would be an output, such as Out2 or Out3? Then, it'd be a matter of writing a small script for the controller. 

this is pretty cool. Hope I don't end up ruining my little sign. It's a cool toy, but it's retail incarnation is pretty limited.


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

You could also use something like this:

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G4567

The instructions show you how to attach a relay to the PIR for triggering things like your sign.


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

I think a simple prop timer would handle triggering the sign. Other controllers give more robust functionality.


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

If anyone knows...Otaku does. Simple and inexpensive.


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## Dr Morbius (Sep 21, 2004)

I think that sign is ultra cool...I dunno why, it just made me laugh..Where did you get it? I want one!


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## waldiddy (Aug 4, 2008)

I got it at one of those big box stores, Garden Ridge or something like that. They had a pretty big Halloween selection last year. The sign is cool. I had it hanging from my door, but, due to the dim light, lots of folks didn't see it at all.


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## bradbaum (Jul 26, 2008)

> so, if I'm reading this right, the PIR sensor would be connected to the Pins, like PIN #6 in their example, and the sign would be an output, such as Out2 or Out3? Then, it'd be a matter of writing a small script for the controller.


Yes, the only caveat would be you may need to add a small relay on the output of the controller. With the EZ8 you don't need to write a script, you just use the buttons to set the timing for each output.



> I think that sign is ultra cool...I dunno why, it just made me laugh..Where did you get it? I want one!


I saw the signs at big lots last year, but didn't buy one.


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## hpropman (Jul 27, 2008)

Be careful about connecting a DC adapter if the voltage does not match the battery voltage exactly you may damage the electronics inside the unit. If you are unsure about electronics and you do not have any friends that knows electronics a safer option if you are worried about battery life is to use larger batteries. for example if the sign uses 3 AA batteries (very common) then you can use 3 D cell batteries in a battery clip they should last for a few days depending on how much it was triggered. otherwise just place lithium batteries in the sign and it should last the night. By staying with batteries then you only need to trigger the button with a motion sensor. if you need more help with this please let me know. There is a free electronics course on my website which should help. Look in the links section.



Sickie Ickie said:


> your trigger would be hacked into your wiring that runs to your button.
> 
> how many batteries does it take?
> 
> ...


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

I have to say that it is an excellent course for electronics!


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## waldiddy (Aug 4, 2008)

Now that I think about it, I've got a spare trigger mat lying around. Is it possible to wire that into the toy? I guess the wring from the mat would need to be in lieu of the signal coming from the button somehow.


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## bradbaum (Jul 26, 2008)

If all you want to do is make the toy go with the mat - then yes.

just take the toy apart and solder wires to each side of the switch, depending on the toy, either the switch is soldered to a circuit board or has wires that are soldered tot he circuit board. if it has wires you can either cut them and splice your new wires to them or solder directly to the circuit board leaving the switch intact.

I usually add a connector so that i can disconnect the mat for storage. look at RCA style connectors from Rat Shack.


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## hpropman (Jul 27, 2008)

Bradbaum is correct just wire the mat to the switch and it will work fine.


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## waldiddy (Aug 4, 2008)

I've never done anything like this before, so I'm brimming with questions. What kind of wire should I use? Any idea where I should buy wire for this kind of project?


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## hpropman (Jul 27, 2008)

any wire that is 18 to 22 gauge should be fine. You can buy wire at radio shack (expensive though) or through mail order. You may also salvage wire from things people throw away appliance cards can be cut off and used, speaker wire can be cut off of old speakers etc..


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## waldiddy (Aug 4, 2008)

Any idea if 15' of wire from trigger mat to electronic toy is too long? Internally, the wire length from switch to circuit board is about 4 or 5 inches. I'm just wondering what the range is going to be for an electric signal on a such a small toy. 

Thanks again for all the help and pointers for this little project. I really appreciate it.


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## waldiddy (Aug 4, 2008)

One other question ... I've got some 16 gauge wire, instead of 18. Won't 16 work just as well?


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## waldiddy (Aug 4, 2008)

It's alive. It's ALIVE !!!

Hooray, it works. So, I just answered my prior 2 questions, but now I've got another question.

I noticed that when i pushed the button on the toy a 2nd time, during its flashing lights/funky music, that the 2nd push would stop the toy's routine. 

Now that I've got this hooked up to a trigger mat, I want the toy to keep playing, even if pressed a 2nd time. Does this make sense? In other words, I want the toy to ignore signals coming from the trigger mat until it finishes its job.

I suspect Radio Shack sells something that'll do this, but I have no idea what it could be.


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## bradbaum (Jul 26, 2008)

This is where controllers come into play.

You can program the controller to set off the toy, then ignore any new inputs for a time.

look at:

http://www.efx-tek.com

http://monsterguts.com/prop-controllers/nerve-center/prod_193.html

http://www.cowlacious.com/TimerProd.htm

there are others as well, I'm sure other people will chime in.


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## waldiddy (Aug 4, 2008)

Yeah, I was afraid controllers would be the answer. Darn it!! 

Ah well, now I can synch up a couple other effects with this. Again, I can't say 'Thank You' enough to everyone who's offered advice.


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