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Step 2What you need
You need:
Camera flash units . These can be salvaged from old, broken cameras, or they can be standalone flash units. The circuit I built can drive 4 flash units. I used 3 flash units extracted from broken cameras, plus one standalone flash unit which needed no modification. The standalone flash unit approach is recommended for those with limited electronics experience, or for those who are not willing to risk a deadly shock from a camera flash capacitor.
Power supplies to run the flash units (batteries will not last long if you try to power the flash units that way) and the electronic circuit. A power supply must provide at least 1.5 amps of current to power a flash. Some large wall plug AC adapters will work if they are rated at least 1 amp (the charging is intermittent so the 1.5 amp peak current should not overheat the adapter).
Electronic parts . See the circuit diagram in the next step for the parts you need. The key parts are relays, op amps, a 555 timer, and a transistor.
A 'color organ' circuit. These are available in kit form or pre-built on the internet, and circuits are also available on the internet if you want to build from scratch. You want one that can drive at least 60W lights.
Lots of wire and extension cords , if you are going to have the display operating in more than one room. In my case I had it running in 4 rooms so there were wires all over the house. 24 gauge speaker wire (the thin stuff you get at the dollar store) works fine. Lucky for me, the central vac installer left a big spool of wire behind so I used some of that.
A stereo. You need a pretty powerful one and big speakers to make a good effect outdoors.
A thunder soundtrack. I downloaded several thunder .mp3 files from the internet and wrote them to a CD which I played with "repeat" so it ran over and over all evening. The files I used are attached for your convenience.
Camera flash units . These can be salvaged from old, broken cameras, or they can be standalone flash units. The circuit I built can drive 4 flash units. I used 3 flash units extracted from broken cameras, plus one standalone flash unit which needed no modification. The standalone flash unit approach is recommended for those with limited electronics experience, or for those who are not willing to risk a deadly shock from a camera flash capacitor.
Power supplies to run the flash units (batteries will not last long if you try to power the flash units that way) and the electronic circuit. A power supply must provide at least 1.5 amps of current to power a flash. Some large wall plug AC adapters will work if they are rated at least 1 amp (the charging is intermittent so the 1.5 amp peak current should not overheat the adapter).
Electronic parts . See the circuit diagram in the next step for the parts you need. The key parts are relays, op amps, a 555 timer, and a transistor.
A 'color organ' circuit. These are available in kit form or pre-built on the internet, and circuits are also available on the internet if you want to build from scratch. You want one that can drive at least 60W lights.
Lots of wire and extension cords , if you are going to have the display operating in more than one room. In my case I had it running in 4 rooms so there were wires all over the house. 24 gauge speaker wire (the thin stuff you get at the dollar store) works fine. Lucky for me, the central vac installer left a big spool of wire behind so I used some of that.
A stereo. You need a pretty powerful one and big speakers to make a good effect outdoors.
A thunder soundtrack. I downloaded several thunder .mp3 files from the internet and wrote them to a CD which I played with "repeat" so it ran over and over all evening. The files I used are attached for your convenience.
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