Ghostbusters Proton Pack with Arduino and LASERS!

Step 4 Install the lasers!

Lasers are awesome!  I don't even care that if you aren't in a fog or a haze of tobacco smoke the beam isn't visible, it's still super cool!

I got these lasers from a couple of broken pen-style laser pointers.  They stopped working, I took them apart, and then I found out there was just a loose battery connection in both.  I was never able to get everything crammed back in the housings though, so I harvested the electronics for my costume.

I originally wanted to power everything through the Arduino, but I found that the two lasers running along with everything else drained the battery VERY quickly, so I installed them on a separate power source (2 AA batteries) shoved into the handle of the wand.

Comments

[barriboy]

How did you rig the lasers up to the switch? Are they constantly on but the switch makes or breaks the circuit?

[depotdevoid]

That's exactly right, laser pointers normally have a momentary (you have to hold them down) switch that completes the circuit, I just replaced them with toggle switches.