# Lightning Machine Help



## FoolishMortal42 (Mar 3, 2012)

I am looking at getting the firefly 211 http://www.lights-alive.com/ctrl_firefly_211.html this year. I have 2 questions:

1. What kind of lighting to use. I am trying to decide what kind of lights to use. I have heard that the white LEDs are the best but they are out of my budget. I am considering using 2 halogen work lights 500 watts or photo floods. I have heard that people get photographers flash bulbs (photo floods) and use those effectively. Does anyone have experience with these and can provide any suggestions or pros or cons?

2. What kind lightning soundtrack to use. I am looking for a soundtrack for an approaching storm. It can include wind but would prefer no rain. I am hoping to make it sound like a storm is off in the distance and getting closer. I am not looking for a full out storm. It would drown out the other sound effects and music in my yard haunt.

Thanks for your help


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

You may find that mixing down your own soundtrack through Garage Band and or Audacity will work best for your needs. That would allow you to put in the type of thunder sounds, wind, etc., where and as desired. I think that most of these come with a soundtrack already, but that's only good if what they make is what you want or need.
There's tons of sound effects on the internet as well as on CD.

As far as the type of lights, a lot depends upon your budget, the kind of look you want, and how picky you are.
The only complaint I've heard about using the halogen work lights is that the light seems to be a bit on the "warm" side (Yellow, brown, and red are on the warm side, while blue and green are on the "cool" side.
Think about the kind of use/abuse they will get in actual use as well as during the setup and tear-down process.


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## screaminscott (Oct 13, 2006)

Lowes has a LED stake light for about $15. That is what I use for my lightning effect.


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## R. Lamb (Oct 11, 2011)

I use the Firefly 501 and have been using it for a few years now. The Halogen work lights are workable but they do produce a rather warm light and suck up the electricity. I got a colder light using theatrical par cans but again the power consumption was huge. With either of these options you can really only use 2 lights on either channel. LED par cans would be nice but they don't work. The computer chip in the light needs to reset each time the power is turned off so there is often a lag time for the flashing and in short order you will fry its little brain. On the other end of the spectrum, I found a great photographers dimable 
LED light panel (about 3'x3') that was extremely bright and very cold, used very little electricity and worked great for producing a lot of lightning over a very large area. The down side was that they cost about $1000 a piece. In the end, I am still using the halogen work lights and looking for a better alternative after 4 years. It works well but, it is not the perfection that I am striving for.
As for the soundtrack, firefly units come with a CD that has tracks for LED or Halogen lights and options for Thunder only or rain and thunder but, the tracks are not very long. I downloaded a 90 min Thunderstorm track from the internet and it works very well.
My final conclusion is that the Firefly 501 (that I use) works very well and I would recommend it. I just wish I could find a better option for the lights.
Best of luck!


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## FoolishMortal42 (Mar 3, 2012)

Thanks for all the great advice. Screaminscot....what kind of lightning machine do you use and how many of those lights do you use? The description says that it includes colored plastic lenses. Did you use these at all? If nothing else I might use these to light my graveyard.


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## charlie (Jul 9, 2007)

I used a cheap ($20) lightning box, hooked to an iPod playing an mp3 a forum member mixed for me and a couple halogen work lights from Home Depot. The effect was awesome. I can dig up the mp3 and post it if you'd like. It has lots of good thunder crashes.


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

To help save money, in the long run, use as heavy duty extension cords as you can get/afford. They will work much more efficiently than the standard/typical cords do.


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## FoolishMortal42 (Mar 3, 2012)

Thanks for all the great advice. Charlie...it would be great if you could let me know how to get that mp3.


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## screaminscott (Oct 13, 2006)

FoolishMortal42 said:


> Thanks for all the great advice. Screaminscot....what kind of lightning machine do you use and how many of those lights do you use? The description says that it includes colored plastic lenses. Did you use these at all? If nothing else I might use these to light my graveyard.


I use the one here (although it is not sold anymore) http://www.caufields.com/browseproducts/Halloween-Lightning-Effects-Machine.html

The plastic lenses come off. I just use one for lightning: I'm not trying to light up the whole house. Just a single sideways light can give a nice effect.


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## charlie (Jul 9, 2007)

FoolishMortal42 said:


> Thanks for all the great advice. Charlie...it would be great if you could let me know how to get that mp3.


Here is the MP3 that I've used the last few years. It was made by forum member Meltdown211. Here is a link to the track

https://www.dropbox.com/s/aoiam2blc4wrtoh/halloween_thunder.mp3.zip

And here is the original thread (not sure if the links are still active) : http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=8921

Cheers!
Charlie


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## Fiend4Halloween (Aug 28, 2008)

Thank you (and Meltdown211) for the tracks. I'm going to download and test them out. Very nice of you to add the link, greatly appreciated.


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## FoolishMortal42 (Mar 3, 2012)

Thank you Charlie for the link.


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## [email protected] (Aug 25, 2012)

I'm hoping to add lightning to my graveyard at some point too, but I can foresee my budget spiraling out of control once I get started, so I'm avoiding it for now. I'll be curious to hear how you make out.


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## FoolishMortal42 (Mar 3, 2012)

Thanks to all for the help and suggestions. I did get the firefly 211. I am using 2 250 watt photo bulbs in shop clamp lights. The photo bulbs are cheap and really bright. Much brighter than a 500 watt halogen work lamps. The firefly came with a cd that has some great tracks. I am using an old Craigslist 250 watt amp and 2 120 watt 3 way tower speakers for the sound. I tested it in my front yard last weekend and it worked great.


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## Bilbo (Dec 13, 2007)

I second (third... lost count) the use of the photo bulbs. They are nice and cold in color and fire fast and bright. They do seem to be more fragile than normal bulbs, so treat them with care.

I use the cheap lightning box as well but run it through a relay that lets me use many more lights simultaneously and also turn off some of my ambient lights when the lightning "hits" making it resemble a power outage.


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