|
Homebrew Equipment A place to show, design and discuss the weird and wonderful electronic creations from the hands of individual members. |
|
Thread Tools |
24th Aug 2022, 10:37 pm | #21 |
Heptode
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, UK.
Posts: 690
|
Re: Sound to light converter, my second build.
Hello Rob,
I'm enjoying your thread on Sound to Light Controllers. I tried to build one as a teenager; ORP12 Light Dependent resistors, looking at small tungsten lights to give electrical isolation. I think it was an Elektor 'Summer Project' from 1978. Mine was only two-channel so I used a 5A round pin socket for both channels, the earth pin was neutral and the live and neutral pins carried the live of each channel. Shocking! Sadly some clumsy soldering (mains on Veroboard) meant that many ORP12s met a dramatic end when power was applied. At over One Pound each, they were the most expensive item on the parts list and my pocket money couldn't sustain this for long so my small school discos used a DIY controller. Some bare wires sellotaped to a speaker-cone would touch together on the beat and trigger the coil of a an ex GPO relay. There'd be different coloured bulbs connected to the change-over contacts. This seemed to withstand the mains arcing quite well. The plastic based RS plug-in relays that someone offered would quickly melt. Never advanced to the popular 8 pin Bulgin connector but did eventually buy a 3-Channel controller from Maplin and upgraded it with three round pin 5A sockets as I was keen on theatre electrics at the time. I may have some of these brown, wall mounting 5A sockets left, PM me if you want a few. Regards, SR |