Quorum PIR on sale at Electronic Goldmine

[Otaku]

Hi all,
I see that Electronic Goldmine is selling the Quorum PIR for for $5 again. Useful item to have for prop control, and easy to hack.

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G4567

[DarkLore]

YES.....patience pays. My coffin opener works...I am to order...AND...ta da. Get em while they are hot. Thank you for posting. For the normal price of one...I'm going to get three. Sweet.

[Otaku]

I've been checking the site each week waiting for these to go on sale. The usual price is $15 per, so this is definitely a deal. DL, you'll want to do the 30/60 hack on it for using it with your coffin.

[halstaff]

Electronic Goldmine has these on sale for $1.99 each. That's the best price I've ever seen!

[pshort]

Thanks, I've ordered a few.

[Slanks]

A couple questions for those more familiar with these (and more technically savvy).....

*Can they be hacked to work with Prop 1 or are they 110v?

*If they do work with the Prop 1, how difficult is the 30/60 hack?

*If they do work with a Prop 1 and are reasonably easy to hack, would you recommend them over the PIR's EFX-TEK sells?

[DarkLore]

You can't beat the price! But the PIRs sold from EFX-TEK are plug and play. It's definitely easier
to just plug and go.

I have a quorum PIR wired into a project and don't get the reliability I expect. I didnt even put those props out this year. Whether the design is wrong or what, I couldn't say...possibly.

However, the boards I've used with their own PIR - flawless. My FrightIdeas F-104, EFX-TEK, Cowlacious sound cards...all work very reliably. Therefore, I'd say if you have very high experience with wiring and electronics, do the cheap solution, otherwise save the headaches.

(The Quorum PIR isn't a plug in solution. You'd have to figure a hack I believe.)

[halstaff]

I followed the tutorial for the hack and used these to replace the sensors on the 2 store bought animatronics in my haunt and they worked fine.
I'll be ordering more.

[Dead Things]

Went to order but the shipping cost is outrageous. I don't understand why Sparkfun or Pololu can ship to me for $7 or $8, but Electronics Goldmine wants to charge me $24.95?

[niblique71]

Hmmmm I LOVE PIR's but always used them in premade applications. Is there a complete TuT somewhere that makes it idiot proof???
(Buy this part#... solder this lead to that, Use this resistor or capacitor here etc) I bought some Radio shack PIR's this year and was LOST once I got them. They are exactly the same model as was included on another prop controller, but apparantly there is a lot more to the deal.

A complete Tut of a simple PIR activator is needed if it's not already out there. One version as a switch (for F-105 activations) and another for relays (Direct AC or DC selenoid switching). I'm a mechanical Geek and not an electronic geek. It's frustrating :(

[Otaku]

There are some requirements with PIRs that you just can't get around. You have to supply power to the PIR and then do something with the return signal when it sees a victim. And there's the issue with some of them putting out 2-3 pulses when activated. This can cause unwanted re-triggers of the prop, so you need to lock out the PIR once that first pulse comes through.
I have a circuit that supplies power and sends the return signal, typically 3-5VDC, through a transistor which in turn kicks a 5VDC relay. The relay is used as a dry trigger for the prop. This circuit only works, though, for devices that can ignore multiple inputs once they are started up, such as certain audio players.
I'm looking at a way to lock out the PIR with a simple RC timer/relay combination that can be charged with the 5VDC that's switched by the transistor. The timer would be adjustable within certain limits. The alternative is to use a 2-stage timer that locks out the PIR when activated. I plan to get started on the design in a few weeks (post-Xmas). More to come.

As a side note, I'll bet Steve has a way to do this using a PicAxe circuit?

[Darkmaster]

I have been using these PIRs for a while now. Although some, (2) out of (8) units stopped working, the others work fine. These put out the 3 - 5 volts, so I have them activate a 5 volt relay with an LED hooked up, so that I know the PIR is triggered, and then the relay connects the signal to my controllers. These are cheap and easy to work with.