# help with hauntbots mp3 standalone unit



## kprimm (Mar 14, 2009)

Hello my haunting pals,
I just got a hauntbots mp3 standalone unit to use with my new greeter i am building. I am unfamiliar with this unit and it doesnt come with a power supply.I am not exactly sure what power supply i can get for it that will fit into the socket on the card so i dont have to mess with it. I am also not sure how to hook up the speakers to it as it has no instructions at all. Does anyone out there have this unitt or know anything about it? Any help would be great.


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## Dead Things (Apr 4, 2009)

Did they supply a user's manual? One would think they would supply some basic info.


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

lol...they have a site with no documentation links. Wonderful support from the folks at Hauntbots. I'm sure someone will pop up with some info.


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## HalloweenZombie (Jul 22, 2007)

Hi Kprimm,
I believe Hauntbots should have provided a cd with the unit. I think everything you need will be there. If you didn't get one, contact Pete. He's a really cool guy. He can be emailed at this address: [email protected]


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## kprimm (Mar 14, 2009)

I have emailed them about 5 times and called a few times also and have gotten no replies. It also took a long time to even get them to send me the unit in the first place. The first time i did get ahold of them i asked for an instruction manual and was told they would send me one, but that still hasn't happened yet either.


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## Darkmaster (May 9, 2009)

kprimm said:


> Hello my haunting pals,
> I just got a hauntbots mp3 standalone unit to use with my new greeter i am building. I am unfamiliar with this unit and it doesnt come with a power supply.I am not exactly sure what power supply i can get for it that will fit into the socket on the card so i dont have to mess with it. I am also not sure how to hook up the speakers to it as it has no instructions at all. Does anyone out there have this unitt or know anything about it? Any help would be great.


It appears that the power port is at the lower right corner of the pic, the black connector. The switching terminals would be the strip on the lower left, and the middle is possibly the motion, pad or sensor terminals, or speakers terminals. I'm not sure because I haven't used this and I'm not familiar with it.


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## Darkmaster (May 9, 2009)

Well, after checking the sight, this uses a sd card, the plug on the lower right appears to be for speakers.
There is nothing for tech assistance. I checked YouTube and had no success.


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## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

It's a nice little board - just a shame that after going to all the hassle of designing and making these things that the after-sales support is so bad. I understand that Hauntbots probably has to have another job to make ends meet but so do many others in the industry and they seem to manage on the support side.


Re the no contact - perhaps they are on vacation?


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## scarymovie (Feb 14, 2010)

Darkmaster you must know alot about hauntbots!

kprimm I hope you fix your bot good luck I wish I can help but I dont know nothing about boys and how to fix one!


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## kprimm (Mar 14, 2009)

Thank you all for trying to help me. I have used cowlacious cards on every prop i have except for this one and have never had a problem with them.I needed the haunt bot card because the greeter i am building has a bunch of different phrases that he will say. I do have the power connected to the card and it is powered up. It is the small block on the left of the card in the pictures.The lower right black terminal is for the speakers and it laos appreas to work. I just cannot figure out how to get it to trigger and play.There are 4 jumper pins on this card and i have tried every configuration and i cannot get it to do anything.I keep sending them emails and trying to call but so far to no avail. Hauntbots is sure leaving a bad taste in my mouth.I wish cowlaciuos would develope an mp3 unit and i would buy everything from them always.They have always given me great service and immediate help with everything. I am hoping if i dont have this figured by june that i will see hauntbots at midwest haunters convention again and get this figured out.If not i will have to see if there is one of you willing electronic wizards that maybe i can send this card to you and get it working for me for a price.


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

fritz42_male said:


> I understand that Hauntbots probably has to have another job to make ends meet but so do many others in the industry and they seem to manage on the support side.


Halloween sales are definitely a seasonal thing, for the most part. I still don't understand the lack of online documentation. Just slap a PDF on the website.


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## pshort (May 6, 2008)

What is that component in the upper left corner, the one with the heatsink? IF that's a regulator, it should be possible to look up the datasheet to figure out which pins are which on it, and then trace the signals to the power connector.


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## psyko99 (Jan 11, 2008)

Otaku said:


> Halloween sales are definitely a seasonal thing, for the most part. I still don't understand the lack of online documentation. Just slap a PDF on the website.


I agree. In my line of work, If it's not documented, it's not done.


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## kprimm (Mar 14, 2009)

My troubles are over, i finally got with Pete at hauntbots, they were at a haunt show.he stayed on line with me and got me up and running. Once he explained everything it wasnt hard at all and the player is very good. I would have never gotten it though without his help or the instructions. This player is more complicated to set up then the cowlacious ones, but it does different things, so they both sure do have thier places.


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

Good news! Did he email you the instructions, or have an explanation as to why a non-intuitive device did not have instructions shipped with it? And haunt show or not, they need to check the voicemail. I'm happy that you're up and running, but Pete shouldn't get a pass on this.


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## HauntBots (Mar 15, 2010)

*Follow Up and follow through*

I was just informed of this thread and I'd like to follow up a bit.

First off, I would put our customer service up against any in the haunt communtiy. I have literally driven/flown thousands of miles to help out customers who got themselves into jams, for instance short circuiting the outputs on a controller the night before opening and after our UPS had already left for the day.

And Secondly *we did a really bad job* on supporting this particular sale.

There were a number of extenuating factors, the primary one being that we never should have sold that particular MP3 player. At the end of last year we were forced to redesign the player due to the original SD card socket no longer being available. While in redesign we took the opportunity to make a few other tweaks/enhancements to the unit. For instance, all 9 trigger inputs are now optically isolated.

When Kprimm called I told him we were out of stock. After several more contacts we sold him one of the prototypes for the new player. Actually we ended up having to ship two as the first unit was lost by the post office.

Selling This unit was a mistake. The documentation has yet to catch up to the new design. This wasn't a huge priority as sales this year are typically slow -our target being to have everything ready by Transworld. I made several promises to send him the documentation but other design issues pushed the manual to the back burner.

Typically the documentation for all of our products comes on a CD with any product you purchase. The CD was left out of this shipment as i didn't want to confuse the buyer with information that wasn't correct for his unit. Again, not a bad idea, but the follow through on my part was poor.

We actually have pretty decent documentation- it is not publicly available. The decision was made early on due to some underhanded actions by competitors, perhaps it is time for that to change.

I invite anybody interested to have a look at the manual for the MP3 player here. (Although this is still the previous model and does not cover the optically isolated inputs)
http://www.hauntbots.com/open/CurrentCd/MP3TechnicalManual.pdf

Otaku- you have opened my eyes to something i was not aware of. In an effort to be as responsive as possible all voice mail messages left on our 800 number are supposed to be emailed to me as mp3 files and sent to my cell phone. I just checked the systems and discovered a number of phone calls that were never forwarded. Again, as this is a slow time of year the lack of phone calls didn't send up any red flags. I'm not sure why the system is failing but I promise this will be fixed - today if at all possible.

And finally, most customers that i have met in person - the ones who have my business card, have my direct cell phone number. We do not attempt to hide behind email or voice mail, the 800 number is there so that folks that don't want to pay for a phone call don't have to. Drop me an email and I'll be happy to give you that number.

Kurtis, again i apologize.

Pete Rondeau
HauntBots


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## halstaff (Nov 18, 2009)

After that explanation, I'd feel comfortable giving them a try.


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

Agreed. Pete makes good.


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## kprimm (Mar 14, 2009)

No harm done Pete, and thank you again for all your time getting me up and running. This will in no way stop me from buying from you in the future or recommending hauntbots.I will stop by and say hi again at the midwesthaunters convention and maybe i can learn a little bit more from you.Thanks again, the greeter sounds great.


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## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

Excellent response from Hauntbots. A good explanation and an admittance of a mistake (seen by some as being weak but seen by myself as a sign of trustworthiness).

The manual is fine as well.


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