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Thread: Modify Cheap Strobes?

  1. #1
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    Default Modify Cheap Strobes?

    I have one of those cheapy strobe lights from maplin, its pretty fun and has a... interesting effect with smoke and lasers in a dark room. There is only so much you can do with it though as the only control you have is a pot to change the speed it flashes...

    Would it actually be possible to modify it to run sound active? All I really need is a sound control board and a microphone right?
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  2. #2
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    I'm sure you can somehow or another. I want to modify one to have a TTL input so I can fire it from my laser controller. I have seen laser shows where the will flash a strobe once when there is a loud crash sound or something. It's a cool effect for the totally dark room to suddenly light up for an instant.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by carmangary View Post
    I'm sure you can somehow or another. I want to modify one to have a TTL input so I can fire it from my laser controller. I have seen laser shows where the will flash a strobe once when there is a loud crash sound or something. It's a cool effect for the totally dark room to suddenly light up for an instant.
    Yeah, it has to be possible. I just have no idea how I can do it without destroying my strobe...

    Main reason I am after this is so I can do sound active strobes at the same time as sound active lasers. Plus imagine how cool it would be to be in a dark room watching a film or playing a game and when a gun fires or you hear thunder or something the whole room flashes.
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  4. #4
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    Remember a strobe is already flahing on and off so trying to control it via sound activation seems a bit strange as the flashes would be almost random.

    Andre

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Onge View Post
    Remember a strobe is already flahing on and off so trying to control it via sound activation seems a bit strange as the flashes would be almost random.

    Andre
    You can buy decent strobes online that come sound active, I am not quite sure how it works.
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  6. #6
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    not sure what strobe you have but most of the cheepos ive seen either use a small neon bulb & resistor in between the flash tube trigger xformer and the supply. When voltage in the supply cap. gets high enough the neon breaks down dumping a small current into the trigger xformer triggering the xenon bulb (some have a small scr to do the same thing as the neon bulb) i would assume that all you would need to do is use that SCR (or replace the neon with one) to trigger the xformer from an external source instead of using the supply cap voltage as the trigger.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by RDZombie View Post
    not sure what strobe you have but most of the cheepos ive seen either use a small neon bulb & resistor in between the flash tube trigger xformer and the supply. When voltage in the supply cap. gets high enough the neon breaks down dumping a small current into the trigger xformer triggering the xenon bulb (some have a small scr to do the same thing as the neon bulb) i would assume that all you would need to do is use that SCR (or replace the neon with one) to trigger the xformer from an external source instead of using the supply cap voltage as the trigger.
    Hmm I will look into that.

    This is the strobe I have.
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Soundlab-Pla.../dp/B000LAKUJK
    DL - Viper 75mW - Green (532nm)
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  8. #8
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    The strobes that I have come across with a jack input? maybe it works this way for XLR as well...

    Ours trigger on a voltage drop. before ive used a 0-10v 6 channel DMX converter and programmed a chase. The speed of the chase dertmines the rate of flashes.

    Strobes in really high amount of hase are way cool

    Let us know how you get on

  9. #9
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    "cheapy strobe lights from maplin"

    hey they are REALLY cool units , comes with built in PYRO effect ...to see it in operation all you have to do is plug it into a Petrol Generator for power and watch ... Strobe , strobe , strobe , flash flash flash , strobe , flash , strobe , flash .. PUFFF ... smoke signals ..flames ..burn Grrrr
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  10. #10
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    The strobe I have has a audio input jack, it wouldnt be hard to have it connected to a mic, you'd just need a amplifier and a mic, and wire it directly into the jack.

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