No, the carousel was not stored in the shed. Just next to it.
Yes, I built the carousel myself almost 10 years ago. However I'm not getting along with it too good right now. I took it all apart this year for a repaint and motor upgrade to a windshield wiper motor. It was working great in the basement but now outside it's already stripped out the bolt hole on the drive and now my stepfather and I are scratching our heads on how to fix it and get it working again.
Have you thought about a AC motor and use pulleys to set up to the desired speed?
A used motor from a swamp cooler or some old furnace? If you used a two speed motor that was AC you could use two channels to vary your speed on the display.
____________________ 32 Channels and counting. 10,000 + Lights and counting.
Amazing Brian, Can't wait to see your display this year! As far as the Carousel is concerned if your going to run it off and LOR Unit you may want to be careful which motor you choose. I was going to build a Ferris wheel and run it off LOR But, the starting current on the motor I have was about 10 AMPs and running current was about 5 amps. Over the 8 Amps per channel rule of LOR, I'd be worried that every time it starts that it could fry the channel...
Hi Evan,
I have been wanting to use my halloween props with windshield wiper motors.
they are 12v dc and run on 5 amps. I have always been afraid to run them on LOR. I thought the new DIO card with the 16 amp relay card would work?
or the servodog that has 2 pwm channels?
I know you're one of the electronic genius guys, so would these work?
P.S.
I'm using a a/c to dc power supply
Thanks Ron
Last edited on Sun Oct 25th, 2009 04:23 pm by rstately
Those sheds are awesome aren't they? I built a 10'x12' this spring for some of our decorations and I couldn't believe how much fit in... I put about 75% of our stuff in there and reclaimed my other work shed.
Can't wait to see what you come up with this year... your display videos are always a hit with the family.
Brian Mitchell wrote: No, the carousel was not stored in the shed. Just next to it.
Yes, I built the carousel myself almost 10 years ago. However I'm not getting along with it too good right now. I took it all apart this year for a repaint and motor upgrade to a windshield wiper motor. It was working great in the basement but now outside it's already stripped out the bolt hole on the drive and now my stepfather and I are scratching our heads on how to fix it and get it working again.
Hey Brian,
you should post a picture of what's broken on the drive.
maybe some one will have an idea to fix it?
Now that I opened this can of worms, I guess I should explain it. The carousel doesnt run off of LOR, its part of my static display which is my whole side and back yard.
It's built with two Christmas tree turners on top and bottom of the turntable so it has sliprings for power on the turntable. The original motors which are basically the same motor used in the moving wireframe deer, stripped out years ago. I had another small motor I was using from a surplus store and I would go thru about 1 a year before snow and ice caused them to strip out too.
So this year I got a WW motor and the Monster controller from monsterguts.com to run it. I was able to screw the shaft of the motor into a screw hole in the bottom of the lower tree turner and it worked great in the basement. Apparently the torque needed to get it started was too much for one 1/4 inch bolt and it stripped out the hole. After I got my genius mechanic stepfather on the case yesterday, it looks like we will go back to the gear drive on the upper treeturner by mounting the motor under the top main gear and using the small gear from the little motors. He is going to fabricate an adapter shaft for the WW motor for the small gear
If you used a motor pulley system you would just need to find the right combination for your speed and the belt system would take the abuse instead of the gear system.
You see the problem here is I have no skills in this area. It's like dropping me off at a nuclear plant and telling me to take over. There would be a big smoking hole at the end of the day.
rstately wrote: Hi Evan,
I have been wanting to use my halloween props with windshield wiper motors.
they are 12v dc and run on 5 amps. I have always been afraid to run them on LOR. I thought the new DIO card with the 16 amp relay card would work?
or the servodog that has 2 pwm channels?
I know you're one of the electronic genius guys, so would these work?
P.S.
I'm using a a/c to dc power supply
Thanks Ron
Hey Ron,
You can turn a Wiper motor on and off with a Relay and a 12 Transformer or walwart. I use 2 of them at halloween to fire our Foggers. Since the foggers themselves don't have timers, I "rewired" the timer with a 12 volt source and relay and then LOR just supplies power to the walwart for the relay to close and fog to come out.
The Wiper motors themselves don't have a lot of current when you turn them on and off but, if they start to load up then they'll start to draw current. Best way is to test your prop with a Voltmeter and measure the current everytime you fire it. I think you'll find that the Actual current is way below the listed current.
It's only when you get to old Furnace motors that the current get's heavy. I think that you could probably fire one of those with an SSR and it would help buffer the current... I might play around with that sort of thing next year but, we'll see.
Thanks Evan,
I will do that,
I was worried I would fry a channel on a controller,
I bought some relays, but then I was reading that a relay also has a coil,so I should use a SSR? then I noticed LOR with the DIO and relay card. I was a bit confused.
But now I will use my relays and don't have to buy anything else.
I will check the current first,
Thanks,
Ron
Plus a few X-10 channels
