The Deer Head Project

[Zombie-F]

Tomorrow, I'll probably be starting to play around with my first Prop-1 project... converting one of those Wal-Mart singing deer heads into an Evil Dead 2 laughing deer head!

I'll be posting a bit of an "in-progress diary" to this thread as I make headway with the prop. This should be a good project to introduce me to the inner-workings of the Prop-1 controller and AP-8 sound board as it requires the use of a PIR, 3 servos to control and a series of sounds to play.

I know Jon at Parallax had done this project too a while back, but I can't seem to find his thread on it over at the Parallax forums. :(

[gmacted]

I'm thinking about using a Prop-1 controller also. I'm interested in the sound quality of the AP-8 sound player.

[Zombie-F]

I'm interested in the sound quality of the AP-8 sound player.

As am I. I imagine it will be on par with the ISD Chipcorders. I simply couldn't justify buying an uMP3 for a project such as this. Perhaps for my talking skeletons project, but certainly not for a deer head that I'm only making laugh. :D

[Torgen]

As you "make headway."

*snicker*

:D

[Zombie-F]

As you "make headway."

*snicker*

:D

Didn't take long for one of you guys to pick up on that bad pun.

"Bad pun..." that's a redundant phrase. :p

[gmacted]

Zombi-F,

Where do you find all the time for your projects and keep up with the forum? You must never sleep. I'm lucky to find a few hours a week for my projects. I usually like to try and keep them simple, but this year I'm starting semi-early in hopes of one very good project (MitB).

[Zombie-F]

This year, I haven't been very active with propbuilding. The deer head is the first real project for the year. I made a tombstone and started an obelisk earlier, but I need to get access to my workshop back before I can finish that.

And no, I don't sleep very well. :p

[gmacted]

I usually just have lots of nightmares. Too bad they don't give me ideas for new props.

[bourno]

Zombie,

Here is the deer hack from Parallax http://forums.parallax.com/forums/default.aspx?f=22&m=125681

Curiously, the search did not find the topic by searching for deer, but was sure it was under the EFX folder.

[Zombie-F]

Thanks for the link bourno. Not too much info about what they did in that thread, but at least I know I hadn't been hallucinating. I'll have to query them a little bit as to what they did to get things to happen. :D

Anyhow, I did (barely) start in on this today. I only managed to open the back and remove some of the unnecessary electronics from the unit. I still have to figure out which wires do what with the motors and decide where to hook them up to the Prop-1. That's where some Parallax help comes in handy.

Here's a link to my photobucket for this one:
Deer Head pictures by Zombie-F - Photobucket

[Vlad]

Hey Z, check out this while you're at it. It's cheap enough that even I, the anti-tech poster boy am thinking of getting one.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=910-28823

[Zombie-F]

Hey Z, check out this while you're at it. It's cheap enough that even I, the anti-tech poster boy am thinking of getting one.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=910-28823

I think the catch with those is you have to have it hooked up to a PC to make it do it's thing. If I had an old PC lying around, I may have used that to control the whole Skeleton Comedy Club!

[krough]

I think you could use a basic stamp to control it instead of a PC

From the manual
"Once the sequence has been written, debugged, and honed to work as desired, one may wish to not be
limited to having a PC execute the sequence. If this is the case, the download button is for you. By
clicking the download button, you invoke the PSCI to send its commands, delays included, to the BASIC
Stamp® instead of the PSCusb.
This is achieved with an augmented header that the PSCusb ignores thereby passing these serial
messages to the stamp. The stamp is connected via a three pin cable to the PSCusb. Once downloaded,
the stamp executes your sequences just as the PSCI software did."

[Zombie-F]

In that case, I wonder if a Prop-1 could run it too then, since it is a scaled-down basic stamp. Hmmmm....

I think you could use a basic stamp to control it instead of a PC

From the manual
"Once the sequence has been written, debugged, and honed to work as desired, one may wish to not be
limited to having a PC execute the sequence. If this is the case, the download button is for you. By
clicking the download button, you invoke the PSCI to send its commands, delays included, to the BASIC
Stamp® instead of the PSCusb.
This is achieved with an augmented header that the PSCusb ignores thereby passing these serial
messages to the stamp. The stamp is connected via a three pin cable to the PSCusb. Once downloaded,
the stamp executes your sequences just as the PSCI software did."

[krough]

I believe it can, We posted that question on the EFX forum and Vern responded that the Prop-1 can indeed do so.

[Dr Morbius]

I just ordered that parralax board! You cant beat 2 free servos! Plus, since I have 15 old PCs laying around, I could use those, and the ability to run it with a stamp makes this a no brainer.

I am wondering the best way to sync sound with the servos using that board. There must be a way.

[krough]

I just ordered that parralax board! You cant beat 2 free servos! Plus, since I have 15 old PCs laying around, I could use those, and the ability to run it with a stamp makes this a no brainer.

I ordered one as well. And I ordered a UMP3 from Rogue Robotics.

[Dr Morbius]

WIll that Ump3 sync sound using that paralax board?

[krough]

Hmm, dont know. All this electronical stuff is confusing.
I planned on using the UMP3 to play my audio track, One channel for the voice and plugged into the Cowlacious board, and the other with the music going to a set of powered speakers. I do know the UMP3 can be triggered by the Prop-1. The reasons I went with the UMP3 is that it can hold a ton of audio, and the sample rate is much higher than an ISD chipcoder

[Dr Morbius]

I guess l'll have to go that route too..Souldn't be too difficult, since Im using a PC anyway, I'll just hook up the sound out to the Cowlacious board...LOTsa MP3s on CD!!! Hehe..I hope the PC can sync the jaw motion/sound with the rest of the show, or I'll have to copy your setup, Krough.

[Zombie-F]

Yes, a basic stamp can drive an uMP3 board. It's one of the reasons I chose the prop-1 to be the driving force behind the skeleton comedy club's various functions. :D

[Dr Morbius]

I'm wondering if I should get a Prop-1 to drive the PSC? So I can sync the jaw/sound with head movement..Then I WOULD need a uMP3 for the prop 1 to trigger the sound/jaw (Using Cowlacious) at the right time...My head spins.Am I to understand the Prop-1 has a Basic stamp in it? Or is it part of it?

[Zombie-F]

I just realized the problem with using the servo driver with the deer head... the deer head doesn't have servos in it! They're regular motors. :p Looks like I'll be sticking with the prop-1 only for this one. I will keep it in mind for the skeleton comedy club, especially if I decide to program the jaw movement instead of using the scary terry circuit for that purpose.

[Dr Morbius]

I just realized the problem with using the servo driver with the deer head... the deer head doesn't have servos in it! They're regular motors. :p Looks like I'll be sticking with the prop-1 only for this one. I will keep it in mind for the skeleton comedy club, especially if I decide to program the jaw movement instead of using the scary terry circuit for that purpose.

The Prop-1 can control regular motors too? I gotsta get me one of those!

[Zombie-F]

Well, it can send voltages to the motor. I think what the motor on the deer heads do is when voltage is applied to the motor, the motor must rotate all the way to some kind of a limit and stop. Then, when voltage is removed, it must return to its "home" position. That's just my best guess.

I'll bring home a power supply today and start playing with the motors and see what I get. Parallax's project info in the thread on their forums isn't terribly detailed, so I may have to ask them a few questions.

[Dr Morbius]

Can't you rip open the deer head and look at the motors? Or would that destroy it?

[Zombie-F]

I did rip it open... it's a little confusing in there, but it looks like the motors have five wires coming off of them... probably two for power and three as a potentiometer-feedback system. I believe this is detailed on the Parallax site.

[Dr Morbius]

Those sound like the motors I used in Wilfred. I havent figured them out either, So let me know...Seems like a simple H-bridge circuit built into each motor..I know two of the 5 wires are motor terminals ( the ones I used) and the other three control direction somehow, but no Pots. If they had pots, I think they would be servos, wouldn't they?

[Zombie-F]

Actually no. In my field we use potentiometers to send back a resistance value to a motor controller. The value sent back tells the controller what position the motor is currently in. In the parallax version of this project, they didn't use the potentiometer at all, so I probably won't either.

[Zombie-F]

Ok, here's today's progress report:

Finished removing the "old" circuitry.
I left in the PIR and sound sensors in case I can/decide to use them at a later date.
Figured out what wires control which motors and labelled them.
I spliced the power input wire into two and put a 2.1 mm Power Plug on the end of each splice (Radio Shack p/n 2741569)
Installed the Prop-1 and AP-8 boards into the prop.
Hooked the power up to the circuits to make sure they function.


Here's some info on the motors themselves:

The mouth and ear motors move when voltage is applied and return to their off position when voltage is removed.
The Head tilting and side-to-side motors have tracking potentiometers attached to them to send a resistance value back to the "old" circuits. This was to let the "old" circuit know what position the motor was currently in. I will not be using these potentiometers at this time, if at all, so I taped their wires off to the side wall.
The head side-to-side motor has a crank arm attached to it that moves the head side to side as the motor rotates round and round.


The good news on this is that the Prop-1 and AP-8 sound board can both be run off of the power supply (9VDC wall wart) that came with the Deer Unit.

I have a few questions for the folks at Parallax that need to be answered before I move on. Next up will be hooking the motors up to the Prop-1's output pins, connecting the Prop-1 to the AP-8 and Programming! Yay!

And here's today's updated Deer Head pictures by Zombie-F - Photobucket.

[krough]

FYI. It seems that Parallax has spun off the EFX line.
http://www.efx-tek.com

I have noticed reduced activity in the EFX forum at Parallax this week.
Hopefully the forum at Parallax will continue to be a resource.

[Death Wraith]

Just for your info the Parallax EFX forum has become something of a graveyard (ha-ha) with the departure of John and Jon who are spinning off the EFX line from Parallax into their own company. It's been a couple weeks since either one of them posted any help for questions asked. So I wouldn't count on the kind of customer support and individual help that they used to give until they get the new company and website up and running. Yes, it's frustrating for those of us who are stuck on a project and the two best minds in the business are unavailable (hopefully temporarily). Check out the new website here:

http://www.efx-tek.com/

[Death Wraith]

Hey! Good call Krough! Beat me to it!

[heresjohnny]

Thanks for the updates ombie, looking good. Keep em coming!

[Zombie-F]

Just for your info the Parallax EFX forum has become something of a graveyard (ha-ha) with the departure of John and Jon who are spinning off the EFX line from Parallax into their own company. It's been a couple weeks since either one of them posted any help for questions asked. So I wouldn't count on the kind of customer support and individual help that they used to give until they get the new company and website up and running. Yes, it's frustrating for those of us who are stuck on a project and the two best minds in the business are unavailable (hopefully temporarily). Check out the new website here:

http://www.efx-tek.com/

Oh for crying out loud. That kills the one non-outdoors prop I have for this year until they get their act together with the new site.

[Zombie-F]

Ah, who am I kidding. I'll be experimenting with this thing before the weekend. I just hope I find the solotuion myself before I do something stupid and burn out something on the prop-1 board.

[heresjohnny]

Thats the spirit!

[Dr Morbius]

POP! *Smoke*..who turned out the lights?

[Zombie-F]

No real advancements today. I wired the head up/down motor to V+ and to pins 0 and 1. Then I wrote a simple program to turn on and off the pins with a 2 second delay in between. It seemed to do something at first, but now doesn't do anything.

I think I accidentally wired the motor backwards. I hope I didn't burn it out. That would suck hard.

On the worse side, I hope I didn't burn out the outputs on the prop-1.

Parallax's project for this on the forum states that they hooked this motor up to pins 0 and 1 to give it enough current to drive the motor. I hope I interpreted their instructions correctly.

I'll be bringing it to work tomorrow to check the motor with a power supply and to check the prop-1 to make sure it's output pins are still doing something.

[Dr Morbius]

Man, Zombie! I hope all is cool with the head...Hate to see anything burnt out.

[Zombie-F]

Well, I'll know in a few hours when I get it to work.

I just got a reply from Vern Graner on the Parallax forums, and he's done the same thing before, where he ganged 3 output pins together to achieve his goals, so I think I'm ok there.

If I did in fact screw up the motor I'm really screwed because the head has some really specialized-looking motors in it and I don't know if I'll be able to replace it.

Cross your fingers for me. I'll post an update after I know what happened. :D

[ScareShack]

Zombie, fingers are crossed, you'll get.

[DeathTouch]

Crossing fingers.....

[Zombie-F]

Just a quick update. I hooked up the motor to a power supply and it still works, so at least I know there's no problems with the motor.

Now I just have to figure out how to get the prop-1 to make the motor work. :p

[heresjohnny]

that is excellent news Zombie, whew!

[Zombie-F]

Argh. I now KNOW there is a problem with my prop-1 board, and I have no idea if I caused it or if it was like this out of the box.

Output pins 0 - 2 are ALWAYS in high mode. Even when I program them down to low, I still get a 10V reading off of them.

On top of that, nothing I do with the prop-1's other channels makes the deer's head tilt. Well, it'll tilt a few times, but then it just won't go any more unless I hook it up directly to a 9v power supply.

And I can't seem to get help on the freakin' Parallax forums from anyone that actually WORKS THERE. I sincerely hope this isn't how the tech support for this thing is going to be from now on, because if it is, I'll seek out alternative methods of doing this.

Ugh! :mad:

[krough]

I know what you mean Zombie. I started my latest project and choose the Prop-1 because of the great support and forum response. I am now a little worried that when I have problems with my new prop build that getting help will be difficult

[krypt]

there is other info online with that prop-1 then just there site .....few people on monsterlist and haunt projects used prop-1 maybe throw them a email might of had same probs etc......

[Zombie-F]

I've done a little research into what I may be doing wrong here. It would appear I have been putting too much strain on the output of this thing and I have either:

Burned out the outputs on the ULN2803
Burned out the output of the Basic Stamp

If its the former that I messed up, no big deal. I'll just buy a replacement Darlington array and move on to a different approach. If it's the latter that I ruined, I'll need to buy a whole new prop-1 board as the small surface-mounted basic stamp components are not user servicable.

I'll be ordering a new ULN2803 and some relays shortly. Speaking of relays...

I've decided that the two current-hungry motors inside this thing should probably not be driven directly by the prop-1's output pins. It just puts too much strain on the transistor array and is burning them out quickly. So, I will have the output pins activate/de-activate a relay to apply power to each motor. It will add some cost to the project, but at least I won't have to worry about burning out the circuit board any more.

I will be testing the ear and mouth motors this week to see how much current they need and decide if the prop-1 can drive them or if I'll need some relays for those motors as well.

Learn from my mistakes. :p

[Dr Morbius]

Looks like you got a handle on it, Z...Best of luck, my friend.

[Zombie-F]

What sucks is I was knowingly being careless about this. I know better than to just assume the spec of something without actually checking it, but I still moved ahead despite that. :p

If it's just the darlington array that needs replacing, that's nothing. Only $1.50... the prop-1 however is $35. I'll be ordering both because even if the prop-1 is fine, I do have another project I could use a second unit for. :D

[DeathTouch]

Well you might be able to check on line for something that matches the darlington pair. I can't imagaine that costing too much money. But might be less of a pain if you spend the money for the board. I would have done the same too. Sometimes the best thing is to just tear into the thing. You might loose some solders in the end, but now you know all about the board.

[heresjohnny]

With this and what krough is doing, I'm about convinced its time to build an advanced animatronic. Well, maybe later, but I will definitely be following the progress you 2 make and taking many notes.

[Zombie-F]

Watching this thread is good because I'm a total noob to all this, and you guys can learn from my (expensive) mistakes. :p

[Zombie-F]

Ok, here's my findings on what each motor draws for current:

Head Up/Down: 2.3A
Head Side-to-side: 1.1A
Ear Twitch: 1.1A
Mouth open/close: 1.1A

So, you can see the motors in this thing are a little too much for the 500mA that the prop-1's independant channels can provide. I do believe I will take a different approach than what Parallax did and use relays to control the motors.

Even if I gang two output uins together for 1000mA, I'd still only be able to move one motor at a time, and I'd like the option of being able to move 2 at a time without worry of burning out another ULN2803. :p

This is all good information. I'll most likely use Parallax's RC-4 to control this as it has the room for four relays and it can be controlled serially via a connection to the prop-1.

I feel like I'm learning something here. :cool:

[ruafraid]

Man don't be to hard on yourself about the prop1. That is why they designed it that way. I have watched a lot of the forum threads and my bet is the 1.50 chip is blown and that is all. Too bad radio shack doesn't carry it. I almost jumped in on the prop1 group buy but I have so many things going on. I really want to do something like this with a few props I have but I just have not made the decision on "which controller to get" I have read all the pros and cons and the paralax forum was one pro for me. BUT since the recent changes and hearing that they are un-responsive makes me lean away from their product. I work in the computer field and support is numero uno for me without it your chances of getting things working go to slim and none. Thanks for all you work on the how to it will help all of us in the long run. I can't wait to see if finished it will rock I am certain.

[Zombie-F]

I went to our local Radio Shacks recently to get some 2.1 mm Power plugs and was shocked to see their parts section scaled back to one row of (maybe) 8 drawers. The employee there said they're slowly doing away with that aspect of their store. No more Radio Shack when I need a resistor NOW, I guess.

One good thing about using the RC-4 relay board instead of controlling each motor with a pin is I have more open outputs now, and can (possibly) use the neck motor's feedback pot to control the left/right movement better. I really want the head to move to the side where the viewer is and have it start laughing but without the feedback, the motor just spins ad nauseum until you remove power from it.

[ruafraid]

I went to our local Radio Shacks recently to get some 2.1 mm Power plugs and was shocked to see their parts section scaled back to one row of (maybe) 8 drawers. The employee there said they're slowly doing away with that aspect of their store. No more Radio Shack when I need a resistor NOW, I guess.

When I was growing up a few years back LOL I lived at RS. I got my AS degree in Electronics and It was a life line for me. If I was not building or designing something new each week I was sick. The local RS guys called to ask where I was! Going in there these days is just soo depressing. They are shutting down 3 of them here but they do have 60% off on all components what little they do have left. RS has lost sight of the ball. They don't realize what put them on the map in the first place these days. Just re-selling the same stuff you can buy much cheaper at other stores with the RS name on it just does not make sense. That is why Sears is going down the tubes as well. The web has changed they way we buy a lot of things but returns are a pain! We have 2 local electronic suppliers left for the local companies that build stuff here and even they don't have as much as they used to. But they can have it here in the morning from their Atlanta distribution center so thats not so bad.

[Dr Morbius]

Got buy our components on line now!

[Zombie-F]

I was never a big Radio Shack fan. I think the parts they sell as being kind of cheap and low-quality. I can't tell you how many capacitors I bought there that popped without even approaching the rated voltage. :p

We have a great place in Massachusetts called "You Do It Electronics." It's an electronics store complete with fully built electronic devices, right on down to kits and individual components. Problem is, they're not open Sundays and it's a good 40 minutes from here... on a good day with no traffic.

I usually buy from Digi Key through my employer to get as good of a price as is possible by lumping my order in with a larger one for the company. :D

[DeathTouch]

I heard that Radio Shack is getting out of the buiness of electronics. They are hoping to just sell cell phones. I know they are not called cell phones any more but you get the point.

Those motors you have are drawing 2 amps? Holly cow! Is that max current or ave? Must be some powerfully motors. I wasn't expecting that out of a big deer.

[Zombie-F]

Ok, back on track here...

I got the new ULN2803 this weekend and just replaced it on the prop-1 board. That was the culprit, so I managed to fix my little boo-boo for a measly $1.50.

*phew*

Now I just have to sit down and wire in the Relay Board and create a quick test program to make sure the relay board works properly and the motors move when told to. :D

[ruafraid]

Glad to hear that's all it was and your project is once again "moving" forward.

[Zombie-F]

Argh... and it just keeps getting better. The SIP relays that are on the RC-4 board are only capable of switchin an AC load, which is totally useless to me as the motors run on 9VDC.

The real kicker is Crydom makes a few types of DC relay that will plug into the RC-4's relay slots, but they cost $24 each (for the least expensive model). I guess I'll just have to get 4 relays from radio shack and solder them onto a prototype board and use separate pinouts on the Prop-1 to control them. Oh well, back to the drawing board again. :p

I hate trial and error. :D

[Zombie-F]

Ok, quick update. I found some relays that will be suitable for this project (http://jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&productId=172937). I got them from Jameco for $1.09 each, which isn't so bad.

Add to that some terminal block connector (http://jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&productId=152354) and a prototype board from Radio Shack (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102845&cp=2032058.2032230.2032265&parentPage=family) and I have my own "relay board" that I can control with the prop-1. All in all, it's costing me half of what the RC-4 cost me, AND I can actually use the relays this time. :p

The downside of this is that I can't control this board serially, which means I need to dedicate one output pin on the prop-1 to each control each relay independantly. Depending on how many outputs I have left at the end, I may still try to use the tracking pot on the neck left/right motion to actually control which way I want it to look and when.

Now, hurry up Mr. Postman and bring me some relays!!! :googly:

[heresjohnny]

When you say serially, do you mean by sending a sequence of pulses, which is decoded at the end into a single line out? It has been a long time since I did stuff like that, it seems like there should be a chip to do that.

One thing you could do is use a demultiplexer (like the 4028, http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&productId=12909 so 4 inputs can drive 10 outputs. If you need fewer, just ground one of the inputs and drive 3 inputs (I think that would get you 8 outputs, you would have to look at the truth table), or you could do 2 inputs to 4 outputs.

[Zombie-F]

I got the relays today. I quickly hooked them up to the prop-1 to make sure they'll activate when voltage is run across the coil and they do.

I will likely wire up the circuit board tomorrow. The relays are a little larger than I anticipated, so I can only fit three on the circuit board I chose. That's fine though as I didn't really have anything planned for the head left/right motion anyhow. I basically just want it to wiggle its ears, bob its head up and down and laugh maniacally. :D

[Dr Morbius]

I know you have a plan, But may I make a suggestion Zombie?

The Ear wiggle thing is cool, but The neck side to side motion will add more to the deerhead-come-to-life effect. Will anyone actually see the ears wiggle in the semidark? Look at your Avvy...See what I mean? Just my 2 pennies.

[Zombie-F]

But here's the thing about the head side-to-side... it doesn't move very much at all, and when it does, it adds weird wrinkles to the deer's neck that don't disappear until it's not been moving for a few minutes. It's sort of a like a gentle swaying, like he's moving to the beat of some dumb song. It's not that great of an animation.

I will play around with it though and see which I like better... ear wiggle or back and forth. I think my cell phone can record short videos, so maybe I'll post the motion and get some more input on whether its cool or not.

[Zombie-F]

Ok, I made a relay board today and BAM! I now can control this pig without burning out the ULN2803. I'll be posting pics and starting the formal how-to on Unpleasant Street either later tonight or over the next few days.

I'm so freakin' happy now! :D

[darryl]

Can't wait to see. Just posted on efx-tex to start getting my whistle wet on this prop-1 stuff. Can't wait to see your project up and running. Congrats!!

[Dr Morbius]

Kickass!!! Don't you just love it when shit works out?

[Zombie-F]

Now I just have to really learn how to program so I can get this thing to do exactly what I want. Sending a high signal to a pin just to test something out is one thing... making a program that does what I want it to do is another beast altogether.

I am pleased with the fact it works now though. :D

[ruafraid]

Zombie, I am so happy for you to have made it work again! Thanks for sharing your experince with all of us. Based on the new forum activity at EFX-TEK I bet John might just write some code for you ? I can't wait to start my first prop1 project.

[darryl]

Shot, all I did was ask for a shopping list of things to buy and he wrote me up a basic code for what I want the end reuslt of my prop to do. Sure he will help you also Zombie.

[Zombie-F]

I started my how-to for this project today. I'm caught up with it to the point I'm at now in the project, which is to say the circuitry is installed and tested and now I just need to load in sound effects to the AP-8 and load a program to the Prop-1.

Here's the how-to thus far (http://www.unpleasantstreet.com/index.php?x=/projects/2006/deer_head&y=main).

[Dr Morbius]

I found some Prop-1 programs on the net. Maybe a good jump-off point for you, Z..

http://www.spiderspreyground.com/howto/prop-1/programs/

[Zombie-F]

Thanks man, I'll play around with the programming of this thing tomorrow.

Have you looked over the how-to? Does it read ok? Sometimes when I do a marathon writing session like that, the stuff towards the end starts to read like gibberish. :D

[Dr Morbius]

It reads OK to me, and I like the photos. They really help clarify the text. All in all, a very well balanced how-to.

[darryl]

Thanks man, I'll play around with the programming of this thing tomorrow.

Have you looked over the how-to? Does it read ok? Sometimes when I do a marathon writing session like that, the stuff towards the end starts to read like gibberish. :D
I read the whole thing with two kids running around like maniacs and it read great to me. Very informative, simple and to the point. Great work!!

[Zombie-F]

I read the whole thing with two kids running around like maniacs and it read great to me. Very informative, simple and to the point. Great work!!

Thanks. Like I said though, after a marathon the brain turns to jelly so I have no idea if what I wrote is even in English. :p

Good to know I still speak English.

[Sickie Ickie]

NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT!!! EXCELLANT EXCELLANT EXCELLANT!!!!

Didn't mean to blow your ears off, it's just that I'm excited I was able to follow the pages! I got a little lost on the making a realy board page, but the photo plus diagram are great because I can understand it better.

One request: At this paragraph could you add a pic? "When it's all soldered, solder a 6" length of wire to the "+" and "-" buses as well as a similarly long piece to each of the pads that will go to the pins on the prop-1. At this point, you should be able to connect the board to the prop-1's V+, GND, and pins 0 - 2 "

I wasn't able to figure that part out, but I think I figured out a bus is a row of connected holes by the metel ribbons, correct?

Thank you Zombie-F! I'll have to start looking for a deer head on the cheap now!

[Zombie-F]

Ok, I've gone and added a photo that shows those wires all soldered and hooked up to the prop-1. It's a picture from further along in the process, but at least it shows where everything goes.

Deer head on the cheap... the cheapest one I saw on ebay the other day was $90. Wait until after X-mas when Wal Mart clears them out for half price.

[gmacted]

Once again, Zombie-F, Great job! Can't wait for the video. How's the sound quality of the AP-8?

[Zombie-F]

I haven't loaded any audio onto it yet, but I imagine it's on par with a chipcorder. I believe I saw an ISD chip on it.

[Sickie Ickie]

Can't say enough about this how-to! It takes the reader through as if he knew nothing about circuitry and still treats him with respect.

The pic does help a great deal. Thanks Zombie! I can't wait to see the rest of the tutorial!

Thanks for the tip on the Walmart sale, too.

[gmacted]

Zombie-F,

I have a question regarding the prop-1 controller. You are using a Basic Stamp 1 Serial adapter to program the prop-1 controller. The documentation tells you to connect it to your serial cable. Are you using a "null modem cable" for this connection? If not, what is the pinout of the cable?

[NecroBones]

Yes, awesome write-up so far. Looks like a pretty slick project!

Sorry to hear about Radio Shack dropping their electronics components. I agree, it isn't the best quality stuff, but it was convenient when you need a part right away. That caps were nufortunately also overpriced, IMHO. I got quite a few good ones by dissecting old electronics that were probably headed to the trash heap anyway.

Any thoughts yet on what you're going to have the deer head say or do? Or is it going to cackle maniacally?

[Zombie-F]

Zombie-F,

I have a question regarding the prop-1 controller. You are using a Basic Stamp 1 Serial adapter to program the prop-1 controller. The documentation tells you to connect it to your serial cable. Are you using a "null modem cable" for this connection? If not, what is the pinout of the cable?

That's something covered in the Prop-1 manual, but here's how it works. You need a Serial adapter to connect a serial cable (not a null modem cable) between your PC's serial port and the prop-1. There's no way around it. It's a cheap, one-time investment to buy one of Parallax's BS-to-Serial adapters.

[DeathTouch]

I don't know if this will help, but I just got done talking to the owner of http://www.methodzofmadness.com/ on a Christmas site, believe it or not, and he has a site that he is selling prop-1 and such. He also says that he is willing to help anyone that needs help with it. I was probably getting spammed but just incase this helps someone here is his site that he sells this stuff. I was thinking about getting into it myself.

Oh, before I forget, he is offering a discount to home haunters. I know, take with a grain of salt. He isn't FE.

http://www.halloweffects.com/

[gmacted]

Zombie-F,

Maybe I mis-stated my question. I know I need to buy the serial adapter. My question is, what is the pinout of the serial cable? Is it a one ot one cable or do the transmit and receive wire need to be crossed? Also, I'm assuming it's a Male to Female cable?

[DeathTouch]

You only have to worry about is pin 1 and 2. Tansmit and rec. But most of the time you might have to reverse pin 1 and 2 on the other side so that you can communiate.. I have lighting controllers and you have to reverse it on one side for it to work. You also have to do this is you have multiplayer games that use serial. You can connect two computers together the same way and they will communiate.

[randyaz]

Its just a standard straight through male -> Fem serial cable

[gmacted]

Thanks Randyaz. That's what I thought, I just wanted to make sure. I read the Prop-1 documentation last night and it said that a "null modem" cable would not work.

[Zombie-F]

I just had a neat idea for the deer head's lighting. I can light it with a blue LED spotlight, and when it starts to laugh, I can have a UV LED spotlight come on. I can paint the eyes with a UV reactive paint so when the UV LEDs are on, the eyes will appear to glow! Hmmmm...

[Zombie-F]

I've bumped into a problem with the LED idea already... the power supply for the deer head isn't regulated. SO, it puts out almost 12 volts with no load and when the prop-1 activates one of the motors, it loads the power supply pushing the supply voltage down to 9v.

In light of that development, I would have to figure that when I have an LED spotlight hooked up to the deer head's power supply, that the LEDs will dim down a bit when the motors are activated and brighten back up again when the motors are inactive. This is not an effect I am too keen on.

And it would seem for me to find a 9vdc power supply (to replace the one that came with the deer head) that is both regulated and can pump out 3 amps of current is going to be difficult. Well, not difficult, but difficult to find one that is not terribly expensive and is not very bulky.

[Otaku]

Z-F,
Will the blue LEDs be on all the time, including when the deer head laughs and you want the UV LEDs to turn on? If you're planning to have the blues turn off when the UVs turn on, just wire a DPDT relay to a line that powers the motors. One set turns off, the other turns on. If you want the blues to stay on and be augmented by the UVs, the same system will work. Small 5-9 volt relays consume very little amperage and should not affect the operation of the motors.

[Zombie-F]

Z-F,
Will the blue LEDs be on all the time, including when the deer head laughs and you want the UV LEDs to turn on? If you're planning to have the blues turn off when the UVs turn on, just wire a DPDT relay to a line that powers the motors. One set turns off, the other turns on. If you want the blues to stay on and be augmented by the UVs, the same system will work. Small 5-9 volt relays consume very little amperage and should not affect the operation of the motors.

I want the blues to be on continuously until the thing starts laughing, then they'll shut off and the UVs will come on. You're absolutely right... a DPDT relay would work perfectly for this effect. I can wire the blue LEDs to have a resistor in line for 12 Volts (since that's the voltage of the wall wart with no load) and I can wire the UV LEDs to have a resistor appropriate for 9 volts since the wall warts voltage drops to 9 Volts under load.

Good thing I ordered extra relays and screw terminals from Digi-Key. :p

[Zombie-F]

I want the blues to be on continuously until the thing starts laughing, then they'll shut off and the UVs will come on. You're absolutely right... a DPDT relay would work perfectly for this effect. I can wire the blue LEDs to have a resistor in line for 12 Volts (since that's the voltage of the wall wart with no load) and I can wire the UV LEDs to have a resistor appropriate for 9 volts since the wall warts voltage drops to 9 Volts under load.

Good thing I ordered extra relays and screw terminals from Digi-Key. :p

Now that I think about this... I could really do this with just a SPDT relay. I could have the two LED spots share a ground connection and just switch which one gets the positive.

[Zombie-F]

Now that I have the technical aspect of this all worked out, how can I make the eyes glow under UV, but be plain white under the blue light. I planned on using acrylic paint to do the white and I think I remember hearing about a powder you could mix in with your paint to give it a glow under UV lighting. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

[Otaku]

I used a white acrylic on my FCGs eyes. I mixed in some RIT whitener powder and got a nice bright glow.

[gmacted]

Now that I have the technical aspect of this all worked out, how can I make the eyes glow under UV, but be plain white under the blue light. I planned on using acrylic paint to do the white and I think I remember hearing about a powder you could mix in with your paint to give it a glow under UV lighting. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

How about Clearneon (http://www.clearneon.com/contact.php)?

It goes on clear and is only visible under UV light.

[.id.]

I want the blues to be on continuously until the thing starts laughing, then they'll shut off and the UVs will come on. You're absolutely right... a DPDT relay would work perfectly for this effect. I can wire the blue LEDs to have a resistor in line for 12 Volts (since that's the voltage of the wall wart with no load) and I can wire the UV LEDs to have a resistor appropriate for 9 volts since the wall warts voltage drops to 9 Volts under load.

Good thing I ordered extra relays and screw terminals from Digi-Key. :p
Do you need 9V for the LEDs? If not, you could put a voltage regulator (5V perhaps) inline with the LEDs.... That would give you the voltage regulation you need as long as you can wire the LEDs for less than 9V.

[Zombie-F]

Do you need 9V for the LEDs? If not, you could put a voltage regulator (5V perhaps) inline with the LEDs.... That would give you the voltage regulation you need as long as you can wire the LEDs for less than 9V.

What I'm going to wind up doing is use a 9V regulator to regulate the voltage down to 9V to the LEDs and use a relay trigerred by one of the prop-1's outputs to switch between which LED spotlight is active.

[Dr Morbius]

How is this project going, Z?

[Zombie-F]

Waiting for parts to arrive at the moment. Specifically, the 9v regulator to keep a nice steady 9v going to the LED spotlights. I expect this stuff to arrive on the 8th, which is Tuesday, I think.

[Zombie-F]

Here's a look at the deer head under its blue lighting just after the UV leds kicked on. Now all I have to do is program the damned thing. :p

I am sad to say that the 9v regulator does not keep a nice steady current running to the LED spotlights. Every time one of the deer head's motors kicks on, the LED spotlights dim just a bit. At this point, I'm just going to live with it as it is.

[Otaku]

That thing looks positively creepy! Love the way that eye stares at you.

[heresjohnny]

that does look damn creepy, love the eyes too!

[darryl]

looks awesome Z.

[slimy]

I can almost hear the cackle.

[Sickie Ickie]

Hey Z, when are you going to post step 5 and beyond now that people are interested in the anubis?

[Zombie-F]

Ooh boy, if I had a time machine and could halt time I'd get it up ASAP. I have some time this weekend (maybe) so I'll see if I can get the rest of it together.

[Dr Morbius]

So, it's just a matter of time?

[Dr Morbius]

I'd like to animate an animal head too, but would prefer a deer skull. I'm im awe of your hacking abilities, Z.

[Zombie-F]

Ok, I spent some time with this project this weekend. Last year, I had the stamp inside of it controlling a lot more than just the head animations, so I had to remove all the extra hacks I added to it and re-program it to work by itself again. Originally, the stamp also controlled starting the audio of an uMP3 and controlled the various LED spotlights involved with the scene that the deer was a part of.

Sometime this week (time permitting, of course) I'll snap some photos, make a few drawings and finish off the how-to.

[Sickie Ickie]

YAYYYYY!!!!! I've liked it because it was easy-ish to follow for someone like me who has problems figuring out which end of a match to strike.

[Zombie-F]

I finished the how-to tonight. It may need some tweaking if any of it is hard to understand. Just let me know how it looks/sounds. I know it can sound a little confusing if you don't have all the parts in front of you, but I think I managed to include the important details to get it finished. Heck, I even included a sample program and the sounds that go along with it.

The Deer Head Project (http://www.unpleasantstreet.com/index.php?x=projects/2006/deer_head&y=main)

[TwistedDementia]

Nice work! Now there's no excuse not to make one.