2000boxster
New Member
I have a Halloween project that I need help with. I have already built the entire project, with the exception of a decent way to trigger this thing!
Basically, this little 'project' is a wooden coffin that is painted up to look very old, and it is going to be leaning up against a tree as a prop for Halloween. Inside the wooden box is a solenoid that 'knocks' on the inside of the coffin, like someone is trying to get out! In addition, there are lots of "Help me!" sounds coming from a set of powered PC speakers inside the box. So basically, it sounds like someone is yelling and knocking to get out of the coffin....
Now, I have a 110V plug hanging out of the back of this thing that powers everything inside. I also have two pairs of wires coming out of the back. If I close the first pair, the "Help me!" sounds begin, and stay on only while the pair is closed. When I close the second pair, the solenoid 'knocks' once.
What I am looking for is a way of making this into a 'pushbutton' application. I would like to just close a pushbutton switch and release. This would cause the sounds to begin and run for a few seconds, and there would be some random knocks from the solenoid.
So, basically what I am looking for is 2 separate circuits. One circuit would energize the whole thing for ~5-10 seconds. The other circuit (which would actually be activated by the first circuit) would cause the random knocks.
If anyone has any ideas, I would appreciate them. I probably could have built this thing 10 years ago when I was working with electronics in college, but I haven't worked on anything like this in years!
Thanks!
Basically, this little 'project' is a wooden coffin that is painted up to look very old, and it is going to be leaning up against a tree as a prop for Halloween. Inside the wooden box is a solenoid that 'knocks' on the inside of the coffin, like someone is trying to get out! In addition, there are lots of "Help me!" sounds coming from a set of powered PC speakers inside the box. So basically, it sounds like someone is yelling and knocking to get out of the coffin....
Now, I have a 110V plug hanging out of the back of this thing that powers everything inside. I also have two pairs of wires coming out of the back. If I close the first pair, the "Help me!" sounds begin, and stay on only while the pair is closed. When I close the second pair, the solenoid 'knocks' once.
What I am looking for is a way of making this into a 'pushbutton' application. I would like to just close a pushbutton switch and release. This would cause the sounds to begin and run for a few seconds, and there would be some random knocks from the solenoid.
So, basically what I am looking for is 2 separate circuits. One circuit would energize the whole thing for ~5-10 seconds. The other circuit (which would actually be activated by the first circuit) would cause the random knocks.
If anyone has any ideas, I would appreciate them. I probably could have built this thing 10 years ago when I was working with electronics in college, but I haven't worked on anything like this in years!
Thanks!
