My Yard Haunt 2013

Are you a yard or home haunter? Discuss that here.
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SIEFKA
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Re: My Yard Haunt 2013

Post by SIEFKA » Sat Sep 28, 2013 11:35 am

I may have to try the LEDS and the watch batteries but how long will those run for? I was hoping to not just have them lit on Halloween but lit for maybe a few days in advance.
Image

I just can't wait until next Halloween,
'Cause I've got some new ideas
that will really make them scream!
And, by God, I'm really gonna give it all my might!

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NeverMore
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Re: My Yard Haunt 2013

Post by NeverMore » Sat Sep 28, 2013 11:40 am


I ran them all night and they were still working the next morning.

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SIEFKA
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Re: My Yard Haunt 2013

Post by SIEFKA » Sat Sep 28, 2013 5:28 pm

I have seen people duct taping them togather is that what you did? I was wondering if you could just take them off when your done then re-use them again?
Image

I just can't wait until next Halloween,
'Cause I've got some new ideas
that will really make them scream!
And, by God, I'm really gonna give it all my might!

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NeverMore
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Re: My Yard Haunt 2013

Post by NeverMore » Sat Sep 28, 2013 7:44 pm


I just used clear scotch tape. Remember, the long leg of the LED goes on the positive side of the battery. Also remember to make sure both the battery and led are 1.5 volt, other wise it could burn out or even explode, as demonstrated in this video...


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Spookymufu
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Re: My Yard Haunt 2013

Post by Spookymufu » Sat Sep 28, 2013 8:16 pm

I have an LED tutorial on another non-Halloween web site if you're interested
http://theyard.netii.net/
"You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar but if you pull their wings off they'll eat whatever you give them!"

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SIEFKA
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Re: My Yard Haunt 2013

Post by SIEFKA » Sun Sep 29, 2013 10:26 am

I am definetly interested! Would you be as so kind to post it here?
Image

I just can't wait until next Halloween,
'Cause I've got some new ideas
that will really make them scream!
And, by God, I'm really gonna give it all my might!

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Spookymufu
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Re: My Yard Haunt 2013

Post by Spookymufu » Sun Sep 29, 2013 12:10 pm

heres a tutorial for adding LEDs to your projects...

let me also say I know very little about electronics and this is all the basic info I learned while researching the installation. I also have to say, if you arent comfortable working with electricity and hot solder and hot soldering irons/guns, then find someone else to do it, I dont want to feel guilty because someone hurt them selves, also, I have very little technical knowledge of electronics so if the question isnt answered in this tutorial, I probably dont know the answer.

First off, I needed to know what size resistor I was going to need in order to run this lower section off a single 9v battery, to do that I used this web site;

http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz

here you just fill in the info and it will tell you what size resistor you'll need.

1. for Source voltage you want to input the size battery or wallwart you want to use, in my case I put "9" for 9v
2. for diode forward voltage you'll want to put the voltage requirement of the LED your using, mine are 3.3v some are different, consult the specs of your LEDs
3. diode forward current (mA), this should also be in your LED specs but most common is 20mA, so you put "20"
4. number of LEDs in your array, self explanatory, how ever many LEDs you plan to use, mine was 11.

once you input your information click "design my array" and it will tell you how to wire your LEDs in different configurations and what size resistor you'll need. I preferred to go with a parallel array.

Okay, armed with that information off to the electronics store I went. I got all the resistors I'll need, red and black 20awg braided wire, and shrink wrap.


here I have the LED and my resistor. The LED is a 3.3v 5mm cool-blue LED, it gives off a blueish hue. The long leg on the LED is the positive and the short leg is the negative.
Image

I clipped the negative leg shorter on the LED and clipped one side of the resistor, make sure you solder the resistor on the negative side of the LED
Image

here I am using a Styrofoam block to hold my LED in place while I solder.
Image

I assume ya'll know how to solder, if not there are several youtube videos explaining in depth how to do it, here is my soldered joint. I used black wire for the negative side and red for the positive side for easy identification. When I solder I'm a little sloppy, but I get the job done.
Image

here is the positive side soldered
Image

here is both sides with heat shrink wrap on it.
Image

here is the whole LED with shrink wrap and all wired and ready to install, remember to make the wires long enough to reach from the install area to your power hook up
Image

checking to make sure it's working before installing it
Image
http://theyard.netii.net/
"You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar but if you pull their wings off they'll eat whatever you give them!"

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NeverMore
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Re: My Yard Haunt 2013

Post by NeverMore » Sun Sep 29, 2013 2:36 pm


Hmmm... so by using a bigger battery you could run the light longer, or add more LEDs to make it brighter? I'm intrigued.

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Re: My Yard Haunt 2013

Post by Spookymufu » Sun Sep 29, 2013 9:52 pm

just have to remember you need the proper resistor for the LED and that will change with source voltage and quantity of LEDs

in the project I used this for I have 11 3.3v LEDs running off a 9v wall wart
http://theyard.netii.net/
"You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar but if you pull their wings off they'll eat whatever you give them!"

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SIEFKA
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Re: My Yard Haunt 2013

Post by SIEFKA » Sun Sep 29, 2013 11:52 pm

ready for Halloween. I didn't like on my house where we had path lights but we have to leave those in so I figured I might as well use them to my advantage. One thing I loved about Cedar Point Halloweekends was this:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVM6jReEtyk

They have signs for when you enter Cedar Point on the edge of the road that are awesome to see! They say like turn back now, or welcome in we have haunted houses etc. I want to do that now since those lights will be there. So I am hoping to get a wood pallet from my work that is just laying around and broken and make little signs out of it in red that say like turn back now, or paint my hand print and write danger on one etc. Then I was wondering now what do I do with the bushes?

So I started looking around and I remembered a video of a awesome yard haunt that I saw earlier in the year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbzRJlsW1Hs

Go to 3:37 I loved the idea of the whispering and I found it very very creepy at the same time. I want to implicate this into my bushes near the front of my house. I have about 5 big bushes on the left side of the path and about 2 big bushes on the right side that I will do this idea with:

http://www.thriftycraftygirl.com/2011/1 ... ushes.html

I plan on wiring christmas lights perferably red having those in the bushes. Finally I went onto itunes and I plan on using a wireless iphone speaker that I can use with my phone then I will place that in the bushes. I was able to find a very creepy whisper soundtrack and I will have that plannin when people walk up to the house.

Now onto the scarecrow. I always wondered what to do about this light in front of the house that is constantly on and its really bright. So I am thinking I may just leave it there but I am not sure. Anyways I went to Lowe's and I found this stake light that is solar powered! This thing is amazing it was the perfect thing that I was looking for my scarecrow! All I have to do now is decide if I like the light shade on it or not, if I don't I can just cover it with some yellow covering and that should fix it!

But wait there is more! I bought two green lights for the front of my house to use and so it gives off this really creepy eerie glow when people walk up. Today I was able to get two strobe lights as well. Now orignially I thought I should put them in the bulbs out front but when I did it took away from the scene that I was trying to set. (I am going for sort of a Halloween night type of theme. Like the Theme we have on our boards when set to the Halloween setting.) Anyways I decided to put them in the windows to the right of the door. When I did this I shut the shades and so all you see is a flickering light. It looks amazing! I will have more updates soon!!
Image

I just can't wait until next Halloween,
'Cause I've got some new ideas
that will really make them scream!
And, by God, I'm really gonna give it all my might!

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SIEFKA
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Re: My Yard Haunt 2013

Post by SIEFKA » Wed Jun 18, 2014 2:28 pm

I forgot to update everyone how my yard haunt went. The two nights before Halloween were all about carving and setting up everything. I was able to carve 21 pumpkins and set them out. I was able to make it back to the abandoned lot where I grew my pumpkins. I found out from the year before where I threw my pumpkins away that more started growing on top of that from the original seeds. So I took those 10 and carved those. As for the lighting goes I took sticks and place them around the yard. I was able to make rope lighting all around the yard. I then took all those pumpkin vines and put them on my scarecrow as if they were coming out of this arms connected to the pumpkins. All this combined with music, whispers in bushes with red eyes, help and run paintings on the windows, go away signs spray painted, strobe lights, and pumpkins made it amazing!
Image

I just can't wait until next Halloween,
'Cause I've got some new ideas
that will really make them scream!
And, by God, I'm really gonna give it all my might!

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Re: My Yard Haunt 2013

Post by Murfreesboro » Thu Jun 19, 2014 11:21 am

It sounds totally amazing!

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