# Lightning FX machine on sale.



## Vlad

Okay, I've never dealt with these people, and I have no idea what the shipping charges are, but this is the thunder and lightning machine I use and love, on sale at a great price. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
http://www.spilsbury.com/viewProduct.cfm?itemID=21513


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## Dark Lord

I've bought several from them,as others here & halloween forum'ers, I've been happy with they're shipping & prices.Couple times they were slower with email order recieved & shipping confirmation,but all in all very pleased with the units.Used them for a multipal of uses on props as well as the intended lightening box.Sometimes they have 20 percent discount online coupons when you subscribe to they're store info thingy.I was getting them for 11.88 plus the 20 discount so i stocked on several.They had these at spirit stores '07 & wanted $35 in store & $25 online,plus shipping........I was paying i think was $8/$10 for shipping with spilsbury,usually someone here or halloween forum posted the discount code which really made it a good deal even with shipping !


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## bourno

i stocked up on a couple the last time when someone mentioned about them.


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## Gory Corey

Do you hang on my posts dude?

Also, they often have a promo code to reduce the price under 10 bucks per.
If I get another code soon I will post it.


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## charlie

Great price and great product. I picked one of these up on eBay last year and used it outside in conjunction with a couple halogen work lights and a thunder soundtrack that meltdown made for me - the effect was AMAZING. Add some fog to the mix and it was one of the lowest cost, highest impact, additions yet.

charlie


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## Hellspawn

I picked up 8 before halloween, mostly to go on the shelf for replacements in case I lose some, but they are great for anything, you want to build a monster in a box? this will react with sound so when your monster starts growling, the light glows.

I had 2 outdoors last year running lightning sounds and fog, was awesome, this year im going to stick a couple in my house that will flicker the lights on and off randomly.


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## scream1973

Heres a code for 10% off good till 2/6/08


AF10


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## turtle2778

Hey i just got some of those. Cool, thanks for posting that. You rock Vlad.


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## turtle2778

3 with the discount code WOO HOOO. MONSTER IN A BOX with LIGHTS here i come


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## Otaku

Ordered two today - lightning and more flickering lights for me! My thanks to Vlad and scream1973.


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## Bilbo

I picked this up from Spilsbury last October... good deal and great service! This year I am combining it with a relay that will turn off a series of yard lights everytime the lightning flashes.


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## Otaku

I just got the confirmation emails for my order from them. The first one has the order total at $30.88 (for 2 units) including S+H. The second has the price at $33.88. Seems that they realized that by applying the 10% discount to the items before adding the shipping charges, they went under the $25 limit for the cheaper shipping. Just a heads up - your confirmation emails may have two different totals for your order.


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## tonguesandwich

I use them to make my chandeliers flicker... because I can control the intensity, i can control the mood. A flicker dimming switch...


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## Vlad

[email protected] you all !!! I thought having two of these was enough, now I might have to buy more myself with all of these great ideas!


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## turtle2778

Vlad for that price you should all get one and make a cool project with them at the MNT.


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## uncle

Here is a link to another use for this nifty little machine:

http://www.my-mania.com/halloween/talking_bust.html

It is an interesting way to hack these talking props to allow for sound control.


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## beelce

These things do work great...and for this price I think I'll get 2 more..thanks Vlad


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## tonguesandwich

I now have ten...thanks for the heads up!


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## Haunted Bayou

I purchased 2 last year. The only thing is it doesn't have reverse flicker if that is a feature you are looking for.

It is a great little machine for the price.
I want to use the heartbeat track with a red light for a "tell tale heart" prop of some kind.


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## JohnnyL

is someone going to hack them and make them reversible? c'mon already!


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## Otaku

Reversible in what way? You can attach a relay that would reverse-flicker the ambient lighting (floods) on and off when lightning is happening, but shutting the ambient light off altogether for the duration of a lightning cycle would be a bit more challenging. I can think of a couple of ways to do it, but I'll need to get my machines before I can test it out.


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## beelce

HB - I used this machine with a heartbeat sound track last year and it worked really well. I had it hooked up to a string of 10 red light along a 300' trail. Used a 200w cd player with a heartbeat cd. The trail was totally dark except for the beating red heart.


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## tonguesandwich

Great minds think a like....beelce, I did the same with the heartbeaat CD. I put Werewolf behind a scrim and a red light. As the beat got louder you could see the beast.


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## tonguesandwich

I am not sure what reverse flicker is....? I used a static candle flicker CD, the box controls intensity...lights were awesome. These things are awesome for the price.


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## JohnnyL

With the machine as is, you can have lights turn on to sound, I'd like to see it hacked so you can have them turn off to sound.


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## Daphne

Shoot! I was just getting ready to order some of these and realized the discount coupon ran out on the 6th. Anyone have a code that is still valid?

I have no idea what I'd do with this but I am sure I need 3.


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## JohnnyL

Daphne said:


> ... I have no idea what I'd do with this but I am sure I need 3.


ahahahaha


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## Front Yard Fright

Yeah is there a new coupon for a discount?
I was thinking about getting some of these a while ago but never ordered them.
Perhaps now is the time!
If anyone has a coupon let me know!
.


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## Front Yard Fright

Yeah is there a new coupon for a discount?
I was thinking about getting some of these a while ago but never ordered them.
Perhaps now is the time!
If anyone has a coupon let me know!
.


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## Haunted Bayou

A box called "lighting Fx" used to be on the market that had the reverse built into it. You turned the knob in one direction to turn the lights on and turned it in the other direction to make them turn off.
I don't think they are on the market any longer. You may be able to find them on an auction site.

Front Yard Fright,
I think the box is on sale without a coupon or promotion code. You can just purchase it. It is a bargain for $12.88
They work great and you can change the sensitivity so the lights flicker to softer sounds or just for the louder thunder claps.


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## Otaku

I got two boxes delivered yesterday. Time to start hacking. JohnnyL, when you say that you'd like to have the box turn off the lights when thunder is played through it, do you mean reverse flicker or "lights out" altogether for the duration of the thunder sound? Reverse flicker is easy to do and can be done with just one circuit, but "lights out" may need two of the boxes.


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## NickG

I think I bought mine from them last year, since I just got a mini catalog in the mail last week.


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## Gory Corey

I believe all you would need to do is add an inverter chip where the line out is modulated.
Should be a simple hack, just need a chip that will be safe with 5 amp (peak10) load


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## Dr Morbius

Otaku was right with using a relay for a reverse lightning effect, just wire a normally open 120 volt relay to the output and wire the light to the relay. Sound on, light off. Simple.


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## Otaku

One could also use that relay to activate a set of different colored lights during the lightning flashes. For example - dim blue ambient lighting that changes to bright red when the lightning strikes. Or use the reverse effect to highlight an otherwise hidden static prop, like a Michael Myers lurking in the bushes.


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## Frighteners Entertainment

That could be a very interesting effect to do.


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## Night Owl

Just thought I'd add that Buycostumes.com has these for $14.99 + $4.99 shipping. If you time it right, you can take advantage of their off season sales and get 25% off that. In my experience with ordering, they ship pretty quickly.


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## marcus132

Vlad said:


> Okay, I've never dealt with these people, and I have no idea what the shipping charges are, but this is the thunder and lightning machine I use and love, on sale at a great price.


Thank you so much! The two that I ordered just showed up, and they are AWESOME! :jol:


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## PrettyGhoul

Vlad said:


> Okay, I've never dealt with these people, and I have no idea what the shipping charges are, but this is the thunder and lightning machine I use and love, on sale at a great price. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
> http://www.spilsbury.com/viewProduct.cfm?itemID=21513


Thank you Vlad! I ordered two of these, still on sale for 12.88. I had an online coupon for 20% off, keeping shipping costs at 5.95, for a total of $28.31. For anyone else who wants to order one or more I thought I'd let you know that for some reason Spilsbury wouldn't take the coupon online so I ended up calling the 800 number and talked to a very nice (patient) man named Adam who took good care of me. He said he would be happy to help anyone else who wanted to take advantage of the sale and coupon. He's working today, tomorrow and next week Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Oh and Spilsbury also said that after their warehouse supply runs out they won't be offering this product again.

20% off (any purchase) Coupon code number: BF20 
http://deallocker.com/coupon/spilsbury.com/


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## Daphne

Well shoot! Someone posted a coupon code and I messed around and it expired before I placed an order. No no else had a coupon and I got concerned they would go off sale so I ordered 3. NOW there is another code. Uggg! Patience has never been my strong suite!


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## scream1973

01040 for 20% off.

That above coupon works until April 30. They still have the FX machines on clearance for $12.88 i just ordered 2 of them with shipping it came to like $28.00


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## Front Yard Fright

Just ordered 2 of em!
Thanks for the heads up!
.


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## Front Yard Fright

Can somebody help me out with mine?
I got them today but can't figure out how to hook them up!
My audio cables aren't fitting all the way in the "Audio In" part of the machine.
Help!


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## turtle2778

Uh ive never gotten mine. WTF??? I ordered them a while ago.


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## turtle2778

Well at least i dont think i did anyway. Hell now i dont know...Im gunna have to check. I hate getting older.


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## Otaku

Older, she says...LOL


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## Otaku

Front Yard Fright said:


> Can somebody help me out with mine?
> I got them today but can't figure out how to hook them up!
> My audio cables aren't fitting all the way in the "Audio In" part of the machine.
> Help!


Some RCA cables have longer center (+) pins than others. The socket on the box may require a short pin.


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## Front Yard Fright

Where can I get them?
Radio Shack?
Been to Wal Mart twice, but they only have one (longer) cable to choose from.
Thanks for the help!
.


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## Otaku

Radio Shark charges too much for stuff. Try a computer store, I get all my cables at those places at less than half what R-S charges. Take the FX box with you; lots of the cables are loose in bins and you can test them to see which one works.


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## eanderso13

Dammit....I ordered two a few weeks ago to try them out. I got them , they worked amazingly, and I got a great idea to have "random" lightning by using multiple boxes chained together off the same sound source but with different audio delays in between (stereo, ping-pong, slapback, etc...) courtesy of some cheapo guitar stompboxes. Now with all this discussion of OTHER cool ideas I need to get more. AND the addition of the 20% coupons! 

I'll let everyone know how my delay experiment works out.

And FRF, I got a cable from Target that is supposed to be for plugging your ipod into a stereo and it works perfect. 1 stereo 1/8" plug to two RCA plugs.


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## TommaHawk

Everyone is raving about these - perhaps I should get one! It's a single-channel color organ with two audio inputs. Now I'm all turned on: I have a 3-channel kit waiting in my projects box at home (somewhere). It doesn't have a mic input though, which is fine. Throwing in a relay to cut out the lights in a reverse flicker would be fantastic, if someone else could draw that out...


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## halloween71

I would love to see haunt videos using these anybody got one to share .I got mine Friday.Very pleased.


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## eanderso13

When I get my rig setup to test I'll post something. Not sure how it'll come out yet...


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## ShadyHallows

I still haven't got mine and ordered a good 2 weeks ago....


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## NickG

for those of you who haven't seen, here's what I did with a pair of them

http://gavush.toplessrabbit.com/halloween/lightning.html


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## Dark Lord

I have several of these & found more uses for them than for lightening effects.I did a scrim "brick wall" hallway with beasts & creatures behind on both side of the scrim wall hallway & a light inside connected to this to 2 boxs & used a stero thunder track ( plugged in setup so not be heard ) so the lights would flicker & the beasts shaddows appeared & disappear on each side as you walked thru the hallway.Had alot of people said it was very creepy. I have also used them to activate some props with 120v power motors & a few with lites inside a pumpkin prop with voice track so the lite inside the pumkin would flicker on & off with the voice track gave a good illusion that the pumpkin was talking with it's lite eyes.Still working on more uses for these !


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## Daphne

I like the "talking" pumpkin, what a great idea!


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## NickG

Oh, I've also got one in my MIB that makes the box light up whenever the creature growls or the lid starts bangin' away. (using the mic)


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## Turbophanx

got mine today, it even came with a lightning CD. 

If any of you have listened to the CD, it has a couple of tracks that are War sounds. This gave me a cool idea of making a war zone display sometime. Make the TOTs feel like they are in the middle of a war as they creep through the "jungle" to the door.


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## Lilly

those are cool I have one hooked up to my lights down in the bar area....

I also gave one as part of a secret reaper gift last yr.


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