Monster mouth

[Fright Yard]

Anyone ever use one of these?
http://hauntmasterproducts.com/Instructions/MM.html
I have a ton of old cheesy halloween props to include two skeletons that would prob be cool for this. They used to say nice costume and happy halloween, so I could use this to play a cd directly into it if I reading this right.

[slimy]

I bought one of these earlier this year and just got around to installing it. I is too easy to put together. The only thing is you HAVE run this thing 'line level'. If your cd player just has 'headphone output' it will not work. So look for a cd player with a line out and you should be okay.

I know there will be guys on this board telling you how to build your own controller. And maybe they have enough time to do it, but for guys like you and me, I think this is worth the money.

[Frighteners Entertainment]

Jim has great products!

[slightlymad]

Never seen it but I want one BAD

[otherworldly]

I've bookmarked that link! :)

[slimy]

Hey tech guys, I got a question. This thing works great but I want it to do something more. I want to hack it so the led eyes flash when the jaw engages. It runs on 6v dc. How do I check the voltage needed to run the leds? Can I just run a jumper to the eyes if the voltages line up? I know somebody on this board has done this.

[Fright Yard]

slimy thanx for the tip, now to find a small CD player with a line out!

[roadkill]

Just check the LEDs you are using. Most run on 3VDC. You will need to find the lines operating the jaws and put parallel leads off those (splice into the wires). Since the thing is running on 6VDC you should probably check the voltage going to the servos first - make sure you know how much voltage is going to the servos and adjust for your LEDs accordingly with in-line resistors to drop the voltage to your requirement.

[roadkill]

Have you compared costs with the audio/servo driver sold by Cowlicious?

You should also check out Scary-Terry.com/audioservo/audioservo.html for more info on some other options available to you. He has the link to Carl Cowley's page as well.

[madmax]

This product isn't a servo driver....it drives DC motors. If I'm not mistaken when power is cut to the motor the jaw resets by a spring. The motor only opens the mouth.

Also the CD player can only put out so many volts. So it might not be able to put out enough to drive the motor and Leds. Then again it might, I don't know. But you could always e-mail Jim and ask him.

[roadkill]

The audio output of the CD player isn't driving the motors at all. The audio from the CD player is going into a small circuit driving the voltage to the servos. If the circuit is supplying 6VDC to the servos then you can easily tap off those lines to run LEDs - just need the voltage drop resistors so you don't cook the LEDs on the first run.

And yes, they would be servos, which are DC motors. There may be a spring on the mouth/jaw (like in a Bucky) but if this was just a motor "pusher" then the jaw would never reset. The DC voltage would push the motor to an open point and then move even further on the next sound.

[madmax]

You're right about the voltage, I went and read it after I made that post. But the motors aren't servos. They are small dc motors that release when power is disconnected. A servo will have 3 wires going to it one for power, one for ground and one for control. With a servo you get better lip sync movement (control)than with these type of talking heads.

[Fright Yard]

Hmm now to find a CD player with a line out,Ive never seen a small one with one of those, and a big one is gonna be a pain to hide.