This tutorial is here to give
you a basic walkthrough of building a one-channel color organ (audio
to light modulator) which you'll use to power a home haunt lightning
effect.
First off, order yourself a
kit. Garage of Evil recommends the "K12 audio to light modulator" (Here's where we got ours...).
Easy as pie to build, and very reliable (at least until I just jinxed
myself). If you're unsure where to order from, just google that exact
description and you'll find plenty of online resources.
Once you get it, it will look
nothing like this:
It will be a bunch of pieces
in a bag.
That's where you come in.
Don't think I posted that
completed kit to belittle you. If you're an electronics doofus like
me, here's a secret - that picture is all you need to assemble this.
Print it out and save it for when you start.
Should you read the instructions?
Of course. They include a lot of verbiage like, "Mains voltage can
kill you"... Pay careful attention to that advice, as it's very hard
to complete this kit dead. Hear me loud and clear on this:
THERE IS NOTHING MORE PATHETIC
THAN HAUNTING A $12 ELECTRONICS KIT FOR ALL ETERNITY.
With that said, lets move on...
Time to motor off to you local
Radio Shanty and pick up the following basics:
Soldering Iron -
get a pencil iron as some of the pieces are a tight squeeze. (RS # 64-2071)
De-Soldering tool
- trust me, you'll drop a solder blob in the wrong place. This will
save tremendous frustration. (RS # 64-2098)
Optional - Little
handy helper alligator grip hold the piece thingie. These things are
actually pretty handy. (RS # 64-2991)
Then head over to a hardware
store and pick up:
(2) 100W - or
whatever is closest to that - Floodlights. Make sure the wattage of
both lights is under 220W. No more than 110W poor lights (damn I'm
smaht!).
(1) Sacrificial
extension cord, any length will do.
Alrighty then, lets start:
Read the instructions
front to back. They're one page long, get over it.
Plug in Iron, and
once heated run some solder into the tip to "tin"¯ it.
Get a beer. If the
ballgame is on, root for the Red Sox. If you're a Yankees fan, stick
the Iron up your @%&.
Using the picture
as reference, start with the lowest (height off the board) parts first
and commence soldering. Do not insert the IC into its base until your're
done, and solder the Triac last, per instructions. Be careful, pay attention
to the solder joints so they don't "bleed"¯ into one another, thus
shorting anything. If you make a connection too sloppy, use the solder
sucker to clean it and try again.
Get fancy and throw
the whole thing into a project box (RS # 270-1807) and use stand-offs
( RS # 276-1381 )to keep the board off the box. Drill holes where applicable,
and get a 1/8"¯ mono to whatever flavor input source you have.
Hook it up like so (Load
side is lights):
The easiest way to do this
is to sacrifice an extension cord. Cut it in half, wire the plug end
to the power side, and the receptacle end to the load side. Now all
you need to do is plug your lights into the receptacle and voila. Done.
Now take the left
speaker output from your sound source and plug that into the 1/8"¯
mono input on the kit. Run the right speaker output to a speaker.
Insert "Jungle
Boogie"¯by Kool and the Gang (or, use Steve-O's Color Organ mixes found here). Crank it up the potentiometer on the
kit to max, and then adjust the sound sources balance until your getting
your FREAK ON!
Once properly tested,
enjoy another beer.
Get a good lighting
track. The web has quite a few. I created a custom version that delays
the left channel, hence me asking you to use the left channel speaker
out for the kits input. The delay approximates the delay of flash to
crash you get with real lightning. It's free on this site, look on
the project page. You'll dig it.
Notes:
As the sound output drives
the lights, play with the speaker balance to get a good bright flash.
Here is a video found on YouTube of a Color Organ in action:
