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PC to Smoke Machine — Parallax Forums

PC to Smoke Machine

ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
edited 2003-12-02 19:26 in General Discussion
Hello,

I am a student at Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design in
London and am currently doing my MA in Interactive Design.

I am currently looking for a way to connect a smoke machine to my PC
and have the smoke machine triggered by some scripting done with
flash mx or lingo.

I am thinking i could connect the PC to a Basic Stamp which will
send the signal to the smoke machine, but i do not have any
experience with this. I would really appreciate any suggestions.
Could you also let me know which Stamp would fit my needs and any
other equipment i would potentially need. Any help would be much
appreciated.

Thanks Again,
Steve.

Comments

  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2003-12-02 00:03
    Hm. Most smoke machines I've seen have a remote (wired) control. You could
    probably hack the switch on the remote control and attach it to a relay,
    triac or some such.

    On Mon, 1 Dec 2003, minimaforms wrote:

    > Hello,
    >
    > I am a student at Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design in
    > London and am currently doing my MA in Interactive Design.
    >
    > I am currently looking for a way to connect a smoke machine to my PC
    > and have the smoke machine triggered by some scripting done with
    > flash mx or lingo.
    >
    > I am thinking i could connect the PC to a Basic Stamp which will
    > send the signal to the smoke machine, but i do not have any
    > experience with this. I would really appreciate any suggestions.
    > Could you also let me know which Stamp would fit my needs and any
    > other equipment i would potentially need. Any help would be much
    > appreciated.
    >
    > Thanks Again,
    > Steve.
    >
    >
    >
    > To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
    > basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
    > from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject and Body
    of the message will be ignored.
    >
    >
    > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
    >
    >
    >

    Sean T. Lamont, CTO / Chief NetNerd, Abstract Software, Inc. (ServNet)
    Seattle - Bellingham - Vancouver - Portland - Everett - Tacoma - Bremerton
    email: lamont@a... WWW: http://www.serv.net
    "Do not fear mistakes, There Are None" - Miles Davis
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2003-12-02 01:12
    I believe you can send serial data via Lingo (Lingo is the programming
    language of Director, right?). If so, the Stamp can accept the commands
    and do as you like. I believe the remote switches on smoke machines are
    simple arrangements, so you should be able to substitute the
    (appropriately rated) contacts of a relay.

    -- Jon Williams
    -- Applications Engineer, Parallax
    -- Dallas Office

    Original Message
    From: minimaforms [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=d4m2D0x1MZeaRCiyR9ujMVF5rIHA29DsWd2oqeN-tcVqvwwVV8YGcka0NWk-AoC3gSb0jgdq-RohBNUNzQ]minimaforms@y...[/url
    Sent: Monday, December 01, 2003 4:06 PM
    To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
    Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] PC to Smoke Machine


    Hello,

    I am a student at Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design in
    London and am currently doing my MA in Interactive Design.

    I am currently looking for a way to connect a smoke machine to my PC
    and have the smoke machine triggered by some scripting done with
    flash mx or lingo.

    I am thinking i could connect the PC to a Basic Stamp which will
    send the signal to the smoke machine, but i do not have any
    experience with this. I would really appreciate any suggestions.
    Could you also let me know which Stamp would fit my needs and any
    other equipment i would potentially need. Any help would be much
    appreciated.

    Thanks Again,
    Steve.



    To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
    basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
    from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject
    and Body of the message will be ignored.


    Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/




    This message has been scanned by WebShield. Please report SPAM to
    abuse@p....
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2003-12-02 19:26
    yes, I have hacked a remote on a smoke machine and can tell you
    that the wiring inside is very simple. You should have three wires--
    1- ground - this goes to the neon bulb and the switch
    1- power for the neon bulb - you should leave this be as on my unit
    the neon bulb has two brightness settings - high when the unit is reheating
    and low when its ready to generate smoke. I'm not sure on the voltages that
    are required to fire a neon bulb, but I think they are high enough not to
    play
    with.
    3 - return to controller

    simply unsolder the ground and signal wires from the switch and put them
    on the n.o. contacts of a relay or a ssr.

    Shawn Lowe


    > [noparse][[/noparse]Original Message]
    > From: Jon Williams <jwilliams@p...>
    > To: <basicstamps@yahoogroups.com>
    > Date: 12/1/2003 6:15:42 PM
    > Subject: RE: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] PC to Smoke Machine
    >
    > I believe you can send serial data via Lingo (Lingo is the programming
    > language of Director, right?). If so, the Stamp can accept the commands
    > and do as you like. I believe the remote switches on smoke machines are
    > simple arrangements, so you should be able to substitute the
    > (appropriately rated) contacts of a relay.
    >
    > -- Jon Williams
    > -- Applications Engineer, Parallax
    > -- Dallas Office
    >
    >
    >
    Original Message
    > From: minimaforms [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=IWxnX-AR8hc1VFpxCIKJKz8s6gpwnHLnJk2t0AXYOfeKYhS6jJb22Yb2AnRIFaEfvIkcRsHXrRau4cukmg]minimaforms@y...[/url
    > Sent: Monday, December 01, 2003 4:06 PM
    > To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
    > Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] PC to Smoke Machine
    >
    >
    > Hello,
    >
    > I am a student at Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design in
    > London and am currently doing my MA in Interactive Design.
    >
    > I am currently looking for a way to connect a smoke machine to my PC
    > and have the smoke machine triggered by some scripting done with
    > flash mx or lingo.
    >
    > I am thinking i could connect the PC to a Basic Stamp which will
    > send the signal to the smoke machine, but i do not have any
    > experience with this. I would really appreciate any suggestions.
    > Could you also let me know which Stamp would fit my needs and any
    > other equipment i would potentially need. Any help would be much
    > appreciated.
    >
    > Thanks Again,
    > Steve.
    >
    >
    >
    > To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
    > basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
    > from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject
    > and Body of the message will be ignored.
    >
    >
    > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
    > http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > This message has been scanned by WebShield. Please report SPAM to
    > abuse@p....
    >
    >
    > To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
    > basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
    > from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject and
    Body of the message will be ignored.
    >
    >
    > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
    >
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