Effects controller Unit

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In the past 2 years, all of the effects in our hounted houses have been manually operated devices. This is fine in many situations and quite reliable, but there are just some situations where you want something to operate autonomusly.

I was suprised by the lack of solid information on self contained effects controllersand for that reason, this page will be geared t'wards people with only little experience in electronics.

The circuit (not shown yet because I have yet to draw it into the computer) Uses 2 555 timers and an exclusive OR (XOR) logic gate. The circut takes input from any number from devices. 2 of wich are on the electronics page. Both of them are active low and are compatible with this circut without modifications. Other input sources require a modification wich I will describe later on. When the detector sends a signal to the circuit, the signal turns the OR gate on and starts a 555 timer witch activates a relay attached to the effect for a certain ajustible amount of time. This signal also triggers a second 555 attached to the other input of the XOR gate. The XOR gate will only activate (in our circut, output a low voltage) when both inputs are low. Since that 555 is now high, the circut ignores the input from the detector. The delay keeps people from playing with the effect and ruining the suprise for others.

More info and schematics coming soon.

10/3/05