Simple Flicker Pilot

[marcus132]

WARNING DISCLAIMER: This project uses electricity. Electricity is a wiggly type of energy invented by Benjamin Franklin. It is angry that it has been harnessed to do the bidding of man, and it will gladly kill you at the first available opportunity. If you do not know how to safely and properly handle electricity, DO NOT attempt this project!

Hey gang,

Here's a fairly cheap and easy way to get a "bad wiring" type flickering light effect for your haunt. I dedicate it to Otaku, who was kind and patient enough to help this electrical n00b with his dumb questions. Thanks, Otaku!

First, credit where credit is due. I did NOT invent this technique. I merely adapted it from the plans for the Phantasmechanics.com Flicker Pilot. If you're not familiar with their Flicker Pilot, you should visit that link and read the premise, history, and origins of the effect before we proceed. I'll wait for you. ... Ready? Okay, let's move on.

I wanted to recreate the Flicker Pilot effect, but I'm cheap and lazy, so I wanted to do it with the absolute minimum of components and wiring. To give you an idea where we're going, here's a little video where I demo the finished device (and try to sell you some Country Crock margarine).

YouTube- marcus132's Simple Flicker Pilot

YouTube- marcus132's Simple Flicker Pilot

Neat, huh? Okay, let's get started.

What you'll need:
- 1 Lutron 300 Watt White Credenza Lamp Dimmer (or comparable, but that's the exact dimmer I use in this demo)
- 1 Cadmium Sulphide (CdS) Photoresistor - Radio Shack part number 276-1657 (5 pack)
- 1 light bulb socket to wall outlet adapter plug
- 1 flicker bulb with standard (not candelabra) base
- 1 toilet paper tube
- Electrical tape
- Scotch tape
- Soldering iron/solder
- A few inches of insulated wire
- A piece of scrap paper (I used a yellow legal pad. Paper is paper.)
- A piece of scrap cardboard

What to do:
First I got one of these plug-in dimmer switches at my local hardware store. For about ten bucks that gets you a dimmer, an electric plug/socket, and 95% of the wiring you'll need in one compact unit.



On the back of the unit there is what appears to be a little door. It's not a door, it's a plug (in the "bottle cork" sense, not the "socket" sense). This plug holds the power cable onto its terminals inside the case. Make sure the dimmer is NOT plugged into the wall socket, then stick a little screwdriver in there and pry the little plug out.

Next pry open the plastic case. It was not designed to open, and it does not want to open. It will not give up without a fight. You'll just have to show it who's the boss. (One or two episodes should be sufficient. I recommend the one where Tony gives Samantha the big yellow used car. What?) Once you've broken open the shell, you'll find a treasure inside that looks something like this:



Flip it over, and find the two metal points circled in the image below:



Solder a separate length of insulated wire to each of those spots (two spots, two wires). I drilled a hole in the bottom of the plastic case and ran the wires out like this:



Once you're all soldered in, you can put the guts back into the case. I ran the wires out of the existing channels as pictured below.



While I had it all apart, I also shortened the cord between the dimmer and the plug down to about eight inches. This is a matter of personal preference. You may want six feet of cable between the dimmer and the plug in your haunt setup.

(Out of images! Continued in next post...)

[marcus132]

Unfortunately, this is the point in the project where I got lost in the creative process and stopped taking pictures. Fortunately, the remaining steps are easy to explain. Here's a bad artist's rendering to guide the way:



Now that you've got your wires soldered on, you can reassemble the dimmer switch and push the little plug back into the hole in the back side. Make sure the power cable is properly impaled over its connections (like it was when you disassembled it), and that the end of the wires aren't touching anything that will cause it to short. Then click the lid back on. Now your dimmer switch should look pretty much like it did when you started, except it has two wires sticking out of a hole in the side and the seam is mangled from where you (and/or Tony Danza) pried it open with a screwdriver.

Take those two exposed wires and solder them onto the leads of one of your photoresistors. It doesn't matter which wire goes to which lead. The Radio Shack 5 pack I linked to above has assorted sizes. I used the biggest one. Once it's soldered on, be sure to tape up all of the exposed metal to prevent giving yourself a shock when you plug the device in.

Now take your cardboard toilet paper tube and trace a circle on your scrap cardboard. Cut out the circle and tape it on to cap the end of the tube, so that one end is open and the other is fully sealed. Next, punch a hole in the side of the tube about half an inch from the capped end. This is the window where the photoresistor will "look" into the tube.

I found that the photoresistor was so sensitive that even the weak light of the flicker bulb would keep it "on" all the time. To counteract this, I just taped two thicknesses of yellow legal pad paper over the hole to dim the light, and then taped the photoresistor face down on top of that. This is what worked for my specific setup. You will likely have to experiment with your hole placement and paper thickness to get your flicker looking how you want it.

Then, for convenience, I taped the dimmer onto the other side of the tube. Then I just went crazy nuts and taped over everything again just to make sure I wouldn't shock myself when I plugged it in.



And that's it! It's finished!

How to use it:

YouTube- marcus132's Simple Flicker Pilot

YouTube- marcus132's Simple Flicker Pilot

If you can't see the video, it goes like this:

- Screw the flicker bulb into the adapter and plug it into an electrical outlet.
- Plug the dimmer into an adjacent electrical outlet
- Plug the lamp you want to flicker into the dimmer and turn it on
- Put the tube over the flicker bulb
- (Optional) Adjust the overall brightness of the flicker by using the dimmer control.

And you're done! Enjoy your brand new old faulty wiring.

Addendum: I added a 99 cent outlet splitter and some rubber bands to turn this into a one-piece plug and play gadget. Obviously the flicker bulb/adapter are inside the tube in this picture:



I strung up a bunch of white and orange Christmas-style lights in my backyard and plugged them into the Flicker Pilot tonight. It looked awesome!

[hawkchucker]

Great I wnt and bought everything to do this and now I see the pig is unnecessary. Thanks now what will I do with this pig.

MMMMMMMM BACON

[pyro]

nice i like it- what is the total cost? ---thanks

[dave the dead]

Originally Posted by pyro

nice i like it- what is the total cost? ---thanks

Neato....nice i like it- what's the total cost?


.....(without the pig and the complete season 1 "Who's the Boss" dvd gift pack)
I already have those.

[marcus132]

Originally Posted by pyro

nice i like it- what is the total cost? ---thanks

I already had all of that stuff except for the photoresistors, so I don't have a solid number. I would estimate:

Dimmer - $11
Photoresistors - $3
Bulb socket - $3
Flicker bulb - $2

And the rest is all little things like wires and tape. So I'd guess somewhere around $20-$25.

[Otaku]

Excellent how-to, Marcus. I know I'll have to try this!

[Hallowennie315]

Lol... i got a real kick out of the unneccecary pig! Lol!
Anway... thanks for the GREAT idea! Very simple! I will try this! Thanks again and lol again!

[Lotus]

Ahahahahahaha Totally Unnecessary Pig

[DarkShadows]

Loving the PIG!!! haha that made me laugh. Nice How To, I'll have to try it out