# Hacking a "Spirit Ball" to be on all the time



## TallDoode (Oct 31, 2007)

Hello. I have a Gemmy Spirit Ball - a large one that has the guy with the white hair in it. It has a remote and a microphone. The remote no longer works so the only way to turn it on is a loud noise or touching it. Not the greatest way to show it off when kids are coming into our courtyard. We bought it at Costco a couple years aog and they had theirs rigged to be on all the time. Anyone know if there is an easy way to do this? I am pretty handy with a soldering iron but hesitant to pull it apart if it is not possible/hard to do. 

Any suggestions would be appreciated, especially considering tonight is the big night. 

Cheers, 

dave/TallDoode


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## heresjohnny (Feb 15, 2006)

Most of these props have a place to plug in a small button that could be pushed to activate the prop. If this is your case, replace the button and try taping it closed, or just short out the leads. This is just a guess on my part, be careful


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## TallDoode (Oct 31, 2007)

Thanks for the reply. Checked for some type of plug but no dice. Inside there is a silver disc that has a couple of leads going to it - one on the outside, one on the inside with a hole in the bottom of the plastic like you could stick something in to touch the silver disc with, but shorting the two leads didnt work.

Thanks again!

dave


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

The silver disk is probibly a motion sensor.


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## harryhood (Oct 30, 2007)

*relay*

All switches and sensors do is complete an electrical circuit, allowing the prop to receive electricity, thus making everything work. So all you need to do, is locate the little sensor, cut it off with some wire cutters, strip down the wire a bit, and solder the two strands together. Thus the circuit is always closed, and it should work continuously.

If this doesn't work, or you'd like to activate it from a new switch, just pick up any momentary $2 switch at radio shack, solder it to these wires, and you're gravy.


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