# May make the jump into Pneeumatics...



## drail14me (Oct 12, 2008)

I'm thinking of making the jump into pneumatics this season but wanted to check with you guys first for some advice/instructions.

This will be the third year we've done our haunt for the local community. We operate out of over 300 acres of heavily wooded land and run a trail that's about 1 mile long. We only operate one night for about 3 hours on either the Fri or Sat of Halloween.

I've got about four different locations along this trail that I want to incorporate pneumatics this year but I'm trying to figure out how to get air and power to them. 

I have a large shop compressor that could supply ample air along with 110 outlets in a garage in the middle of the woods but it's at least 500' to where the nearest prop would be. Others are close to 1000'. 

For air, I thought about running some 1/2" PVC pipe out to the prop locations. I can get the pipe for about .14 cents a foot and it's rated at over 600psi so plenty of working room. I'm thinking $300 would get plenty of air lines in place for many years of use. What other alternatives can you suggest that would be cheaper and easier but last from season to season? 

Power, on the other hand, is a little more complicated. It's too far to run extension cords and WAY to expensive to run permanent power. So, I'm assuming that leaves either batteries or generator.

The generator route would supply the best power but the four locations are not close enough to run extension cords from the generator so it would take at least three generators. Plus generators, even the quiet Honda ones, will seem loud in the quiet woods. We will have some music that could help cover the generator sound but not enough to cover all of them. 

So, as an alternative to a generator, I was thinking about using a car battery and 12v inverter to provide power to the props. What I'm not sure of is if the car battery would have enough power to support a pneumatic solenoid, some form of switch like IR motion or pressure pad, some LED lighting and maybe a small boombox for sound. Has anyone had experience with using car batteries like this? It would need to last about 4 hours.

Thanks for any advice,

Dennis


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## chud (May 23, 2010)

that far out. id get a small compressor and a generator, put them both in a plywood box with lots of sound deadner.


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

Wow...that's a long way. I wouldn't run PVC pipe. From what I understand, PVC pipe will deteriorate in sunlight over time. It's not like you could set it up and leave it out there. There's risk of the pipe bursting.

Harbor Freight sells cheap air hoses...with sales over 4th weekend. But the hoses they list only go to 100-150'.

I think the generator/compressor is definitely something to look into. Or some type of storage tanks that don't depend on being linked all the way back to the beginning. What you can do would depend upon how your props are making use of the air. In essence how much lost air is going to be vented. If it's only for a couple nights...I'd consider a couple large tanks sitting at each prop. Then go around and refill them with a compressor and generator (off the back of a pickup truck) the next morning if needed.

Someone on the forum mentioned working in a scuba shop and using scuba tanks. Apparently the compression holds a great deal of air. Maybe they could comment on that as a possibility?


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## drail14me (Oct 12, 2008)

Thanks for the notes. On the PVC, I was going to bury it so there wouldn't be an issue with deterioration. It's be just like a water line.

The generator/tank at each site was something that I considered. But, the cost was prohibitive. A quiet 1000w generator was going to cost $700 then add in another $150 for a compressor and that's a hunk of change. Plus, even with the crate, the sound REALLY carries in the woods.

The SCUBA tank is an interesting option. I dive and have a tank and it will hold over 3500 psi. I'll check to see what kind of adapters are available.

The air usage is what I wasn't sure of. I guess that all depends on the type prop it is and the cylinders used?

To give you an idea, here are a couple examples of what we want to do:











Ours probably won't be as elaborate as the Poison Prop. We'll probably just do a basic lunger and wall jumper.

We send people along the trail in groups a few minutes apart and run for about three hours. The props would be triggered by the group via IR motion or pressure mat. There's usually about 50 groups that go through so, if they stuck around to activate it a second time, then it might make 100 activations in a night. What kind of air usage would result from that? Do you think the 3500 psi scuba tank would last?


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

Reference some of the other threads...such as this one.

Scuba reference....Time2Dive


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## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

I was looking at the possibility of using Propane/LP Gas cylinders for this type of thing.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Propane-Tank-into-Air-Tank-The-EASY-way/


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

I don't have any pneumatics, so take this for what it's worth, but for 3 hours on one night, I think you'd be way ahead to look at some type of compressed air or CO2 tanks. No noise, no electricity, no heavy compressor to lug around, no 1000 foot of pipe to store 364 days of the year, etc.


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