I'm not exactly sure when I stopped being any fun, but I kind of hate Halloween. With this in mind I have created the anti-Halloween House. The Anti-Halloween House is an automated system that turns off all of the front lights of my house any time a trick-or-treater approaches. After all, nothing says "GO AWAY!" like having all of the lights turn off on you whenever you approach. The best part is that this allows me to be a grinch without even having to get up from the couch to do it.
I did consider that this may result in angry mobs of children at my doorstep and have decided to counter this problem with another anti-Halloween innovation, a remote controlled Flamethrowing Jack-O'-Lantern. With one of these strategically placed in conjunction, I can easily keep all of the trick-or-treaters at bay.
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Signing UpStep 1: Make the transmitter
To make the motion-sensing transmitter you will need:
- An Arduino (Uno preferable)
- A wireless SD shield
- XBee Series 1 transceiver
- Copper foil
- SPST 3A solid state relay
- 5" x 2.5" x 2" project enclosure
- Outlet socket adapter
- A plug in socket
- 3-pin female header
- 9V battery snap
- Parallax PIR sensor
- Lamp replacement cord
- 220 ohm 1/4 watt resistor
- Tiny 1/2" nut and bolt (don't know exact size, but must fit through PIR mounting holes)
- A light bulb
- Epoxy
- Shrink tube or electrical tape
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No one stopped at my house that year.
don't you think that you could make some money out of Halloween? i made a lot of money once, i sold zappers to some friends, i charged them for building some cool anti-Halloween thingies, and my friend, who was more of a fan of Halloween, set up a course(he had lots of land) for little critters and he ripped them off, probably because he attracted visitors with prizes. he also made about $50.
for some reason, he made me make a rig to disperse large quantities of leaves off a tree which goes over his driveway. it was triggered when someone stepped on some planks of wood. once it rained all day and it was really bad, and once i accidentally stepped on the wrong step and my friend was in the way and he got so itchy that we stopped doing those pranks from then on, it was a bit cruel.
I'm not so good at all that technology, i can only understand what happens but not the detail, maybe a bit of the codes, is it similar to C++?
i have an idea. i think you could just put some switches in a floor mat and opens a circuit when the mat is stepped on and switches the lights off.
at Halloween, i got some thin black thread and connected it to the front door. i held the other end behind the garage and when someone came (without an adult) i would pull the string and the kids will get a fright, while my mum waits for people to arrive. next time maybe i could make it automatic, but it is not a good idea to go poking around without paying much attention, because a very daring person might see it as an opportunity to rob my house without even needing to open the door!
Simply put.... Halloween is Extortion.
Standover tactics from a school aged bully.
To me, "trick or treat" boils down to "give me lollies or I'll do something nasty to you and yours." That's bullying.
Is that what you want to teach kids?
At our house, we give both. It's not a real halloween until children leave your doorstep crying. Even more satisfying are the teenagers who are too scared to even come to the door.
passed out handfuls of horrible candy.
Don't be surprised if irritated kids wreak their vengeance on you.
This is such a cool project!