Flickering Lights

Flickering chandelier in front of my house.

Well I just finished taking down the lights from this years Halloween display and I wanted to take a moment and share what I use and how I made them.

My lighting consists of two chandeliers hanging above and beside my garage door, one chandelier hanging above the front door, and three cast aluminum pendant lights hanging in the tree. They are all connected to a flicker circuit I built a few years ago. It makes them all flicker in synch like the whole house is haunted. Here is a video of what they look like:

Can't see the video? Click here

The circuit uses a dimmer, a standard flicker bulb and a photo cell to dim up to 600 watts of lighting. I hook up a power strip to the circuit and they work perfectly. I usually use 15 watt bulbs, so it works out this way:

3 Pendant Lights x 3 bulbs each x 15w = 135w

2 Chandeliers x 6 bulbs x 15w = 180w

1 Chandelier x 3 bulbs x 15w = 45w

Total power =  360w

!!!!!!!!WARNING!!!!!!! 

I am not an electrician, but I play one on Halloween. Please use your own judgement and consult an expert, or some reference material before you work with electricity.

!!!!!!!!WARNING!!!!!!!

Now let me share how I found the plans for you.

 www.halloweenmonsterlist.info/

I remember that I found the plans I used from the Monsterlist of Halloween Projects. So I checked for the link to these plans:

Gaslight on a Budget - 2 sets of instructions for making your own flickering circuits. By Doug Ferguson and Phil Tucker

Those were the ones I used, but there was a problem...

The link went to dead website:
 

The folks at Phantasmechanics are not answering their website... Perhaps they have passed on the that big yard haunt in the sky. But that doesn't help you now does it?

I couldn't leave you hanging, could I?

http://www.hauntforum.com/ 

I knew I needed to find the link so I went to the HauntForum and did a quick search. This is a great place for information on everything Halloween. They sent me to another website where the files were still available.

 http://omarshauntedtrail.com/

Omar's Haunted Trails has posted the documentation for the flicker circuit under their prop section. 

Gaslight on a Budget.pdf 

They also have the BEST collection of Halloween music. Please be sure to visit all three of these websites for some great Halloween information.

That's it for tonight from 1313 El Potro.

Stay Spooky Orange County