Motion sensor lightsaber - anyone ever made one?

[Mxlplx]

Here's the deal, I've got a Yoda statue on its way, and want to get a sabre into his hand and make him a sort of room alarm type of statue.
When you walk into the movie room, the motion sensor would turn the saber on.

Anyone ever take one of the FX sabers and wire it up to a wall plug and motion sensor?

Seems feasable in my head, just looking for ideas!

 

[Thibault]

I think you have to contact Erv' from Plecterlabs...
He is a God in electronics, plus, he is a really nice guy !

 

[scottinthebooth]

Something like this will do the trick Halloween Prop Motion Sensor Activator 110V Security Controller .

That's the simplest one I've found through a quick web search since you can just plug straight into it. Otherwise you are probably looking at using one from a security system or similar and have to splice into the saber's power supply, etc.

Scottinthebooth

 

[cannibal869]

have you seen the USB yoda desk protector?
kinda sounds like the effect you're going for (although probably a lot smaller)

Otherwise, you might just want to go with something like this sensor plug
http://www.rewci.com/seplsaensamo.html

 

[Mxlplx]

All great ideas folks!
Now, I just need to find a lightsaber that will allow me to plug it in the wall instead of running on batteries. Or, I need to find a way to cobble a lightsaber together to run off a wall plug.

 

[hyperdyne]

Yes, I have done this before. It is not too hard to do. The wallplug conversion is easiest with a AC-DC converter.

 

[ARKM]

There are many devices that plug into an AC socket that actually run off of DC current. You know those big boxy plugs that plug into the wall? Those are actually AC to DC converters. Here's an example of one.

Now a lot of those adapter use a specific voltage and current and only have one size of a plug tip at the other end. However there are versions of those adapters with adjustable voltages and swappable tips, like this one for example...

There is a downside however... AC to DC converters use pulsed DC current instead of constant DC current. This may cause some issues with devices that are not designed to be ran off of pulsed DC. Also, the current output for those adapters is at a fixed rate and may not be powerful enough to power your saber properly.

This next bit of info may not be an issue for you but the MR and Hasbro FX sabers have an auto shut-off feature that kicks in after the saber has been on and idle for 5 minutes or so.

 

[Mxlplx]

Good info. Thinking about getting hold of a force FX saber!