Haunted houses, burning buildings, and old time electric lighting running from a sputtering generator all has something in common: flickering and fluttering lights. If you have gone to Disney’s Haunted Mansion or the Indiana Jones ride, you will see this effect in action. There are expensive devices out there which you could use, but you can earn a flickering power unit for about fifteen dollars.
The photo-sensor turns on the power to its socket whenever there is no Light hitting the detector. These devices are often used to turn lights on after dark. If we use the flicker/chandelier bulb close to the sensor and place this mixture in a light-tight box, the fluttering chandelier bulb will make anything dragged to the photsensor also flutter. That is all there’s to it. You will have to experiment with the distance between the photo-sensor and the chandelier bulb.
- Plug the photo-sensor into extension cable 1.
- Screw the c7 chandelier bulb to the nightlight socket.
- Plug the nightlight unit to the OTHER extension cable.
- Plug both wires to a power source the 110v wall outlet.
- Twist a third extension cable INTO the photo-sensor unit. This will be the cord that you plug the lights you would like to flicker into. Let us call this the FLICKER CORD.
- Run the extension cords with the apparatus into an enclosure such as a shoe box. The enclosure has to be light-tight. If you will be placing this control outside, ensure that the box is weather-proof. We recommend keeping this control inside and simply running an extension cord out to your outside lights.
- Twist at least one light to the extension cable FLICKER CORD that is plugged into the detector socket so you can fix the flicker unit.
- In a relatively dark area, experiment with the space needed involving the photo-sensor and the chandelier flicker bulb. Tape each down when optimal flickering is reached. Adjusting the space will alter how much or how little the lights remain on or off.
- Tape down the lid on the enclosure and you are ready to rock!
This delivers a light trick that is used in haunted house in Ohio almost every movie fire you have ever seen. The celebrities are lit with fluttering orange light. Using orange colour spot or flood lamps in the flicker apparatus are typical. Faulty or sputtering electrical light can be created by running the lights into this type of flicker device. Bear in mind the photo-sensor you are using can provide as MAXIMUM of 300 watts of electricity. If you want more juice, simply make more components!