Halloween

**Wimpinator** · 11-02-2006, 09:32 AM

So my wife absolutely loves to carve pumpkins for Halloween. She's a fanatic to the point that it's almost scary so the pumpkin carving ritual is a big deal in the Wimpinator household. She will spend hours looking on the web for designs that she will want. She sets aside a time a couple of days before Halloween for the actual carving of the pumpkin. Well I admit that I was lazy this year and put off figuring out what I wanted to do for mine. I searched around and didn't see anything interesting. The night before Halloween I was watching G4 tv and they had a guy from Make magazine on showing different gadgets for Halloween. He had a Cylon pumpkin that was just too cool and I was inspired. My wife walked into my office and I had a soldering iron in one hand and the pumpkin sitting next to me. She had a very puzzled look on her face and asked "What in the hell are you doing?" (yes that is a direct quote). One hour later I had the electronics done and it took about another hour to do the actual carving.

It think it turned out rather well. The led's light up in sequence so the light seems to move from left to right and then back again.

The lights are run by an Arduino board based on the AVR family of microprocessors (www.arduino.cc) making it very easy to write the code and hook everything up. The board went into a zip lock bag so that the juicy pumpkin didn't harm the electronics. The end result was that I had on eof the only pumpkins in the US with a USB port. My wife was not impressed. Oh well

B. Clawhammer · 11-02-2006, 11:23 AM

lol. Looks like a pretty fun project anyhow. Got any pics of it in action at night?

Vice · 11-02-2006, 11:34 AM

That's so awesome! Cylon pumpkins rule!

Could you actually connect anything to the usb port?

**Wimpinator** · 11-02-2006, 11:40 AM

Unfortunately no pics at night. I wish I had video of it running but I didn't have access to a vid camera.

The USB port can be used to send data to the board or for the board to send data back to the computer. These boards are pretty versatile.

**Dick Blonov** · 11-02-2006, 12:32 PM

Neat!

DB

Boot · 11-02-2006, 12:58 PM

I can just hear it now...

[pumpkin] CYLON PUMPKIN FULLY OPERATIONAL!

[Wimpinator] Go sit on the front porch.

[pumpkin] BY YOUR COMMAND. CYLON PUMPKIN READY TO DESTROY THE FRONT PORCH!

[Wimpinator] No, no, wait..!

**Wimpinator** · 11-02-2006, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boot

I can just hear it now...

[pumpkin] CYLON PUMPKIN FULLY OPERATIONAL!

[Wimpinator] Go sit on the front porch.

[pumpkin] BY YOUR COMMAND. CYLON PUMPKIN READY TO DESTROY THE FRONT PORCH!

[Wimpinator] No, no, wait..!

LOL too funny...

"You must spread some reputation around blah blah blah"

**Rincewind** · 11-02-2006, 08:31 PM

LOL, this is awesome. Good job, wimp.

**Iceberg** · 11-03-2006, 02:07 PM

AVRs are pretty sweet microcontrollers. What kind of programmer are you using (what hardware AND what language?)

efit-
nevermind, I googled it. Looks pretty darn interesting. You said your was USB?

**Wimpinator** · 11-03-2006, 03:22 PM

Yeah it's USB. The Arduino USB board actually uses a USB to RS232 conversion chip so the Board talks USB to the computer but RS232 between the chip and the AVR controller. This means that the Arduino cannot be used for a normal USB device (like a mouse or keyboard). I mainly use this board for something that I want to test and need a system that I can deploy fairly quick.

The board can be bought from www.sparkfun.com

11-02-2006, 09:32 AM	#1 (permalink)
Wimpinator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: United states, TN Age: 35 Posts: 2,815	Halloween So my wife absolutely loves to carve pumpkins for Halloween. She's a fanatic to the point that it's almost scary so the pumpkin carving ritual is a big deal in the Wimpinator household. She will spend hours looking on the web for designs that she will want. She sets aside a time a couple of days before Halloween for the actual carving of the pumpkin. Well I admit that I was lazy this year and put off figuring out what I wanted to do for mine. I searched around and didn't see anything interesting. The night before Halloween I was watching G4 tv and they had a guy from Make magazine on showing different gadgets for Halloween. He had a Cylon pumpkin that was just too cool and I was inspired. My wife walked into my office and I had a soldering iron in one hand and the pumpkin sitting next to me. She had a very puzzled look on her face and asked "What in the hell are you doing?" (yes that is a direct quote). One hour later I had the electronics done and it took about another hour to do the actual carving. It think it turned out rather well. The led's light up in sequence so the light seems to move from left to right and then back again. The lights are run by an Arduino board based on the AVR family of microprocessors (www.arduino.cc) making it very easy to write the code and hook everything up. The board went into a zip lock bag so that the juicy pumpkin didn't harm the electronics. The end result was that I had on eof the only pumpkins in the US with a USB port. My wife was not impressed. Oh well __________________ \|TG-6th\|Wimpinator [TGU Staff] BF2 Rules and SOP's\|Teamspeak information\|TG on IRC

11-02-2006, 11:23 AM	#2 (permalink)
B. Clawhammer Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Central Valley, CA Age: 30 Posts: 1,839	Re: Halloween lol. Looks like a pretty fun project anyhow. Got any pics of it in action at night? __________________ \|TG-33rd\|Clawhammer [squadl] [sniper][unit] BF2 Rules & SOPs

11-02-2006, 11:34 AM	#3 (permalink)
Vice Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Kentucky, USA Age: 22 Posts: 15	Re: Halloween That's so awesome! Cylon pumpkins rule! Could you actually connect anything to the usb port?

11-02-2006, 11:40 AM	#4 (permalink)
Wimpinator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: United states, TN Age: 35 Posts: 2,815	Re: Halloween Unfortunately no pics at night. I wish I had video of it running but I didn't have access to a vid camera. The USB port can be used to send data to the board or for the board to send data back to the computer. These boards are pretty versatile. __________________ \|TG-6th\|Wimpinator [TGU Staff] BF2 Rules and SOP's\|Teamspeak information\|TG on IRC

11-02-2006, 12:32 PM	#5 (permalink)
Dick Blonov Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Bedlam! Age: 51 Posts: 3,283	Re: Halloween Neat! DB __________________ \|TG-6th\|Blonov «!REPORTING: Ferris Bueller, offering me favors for a ride in my Vodnik.» w.WAREHOUSE BattleField2 SOPs \| Teamspeak \| Server Rules and SOPs \| The 6th Devil's Brigade

11-02-2006, 12:58 PM	#6 (permalink)
Boot Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Wisconsin, USA Age: 37 Posts: 1,412	Re: Halloween I can just hear it now... [pumpkin] CYLON PUMPKIN FULLY OPERATIONAL! [Wimpinator] Go sit on the front porch. [pumpkin] BY YOUR COMMAND. CYLON PUMPKIN READY TO DESTROY THE FRONT PORCH! [Wimpinator] No, no, wait..! __________________ Boot. In Soviet Russia, TV watches YOU.

11-02-2006, 08:31 PM	#8 (permalink)
Rincewind Join Date: May 2005 Location: Casting useless spells in Oklahoma. Age: 27 Posts: 2,716	Re: Halloween LOL, this is awesome. Good job, wimp. __________________ ~~ Veritas simplex oratio est ~~ No matter how far a wizard goes, he will always come back for his hat. --T. Pratchett <---- You know you're getting old when you rely on your forum meta-data to remind you how old you are. Required Reading for all TG sandboxers

11-03-2006, 02:07 PM	#9 (permalink)
Iceberg Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Illinois Age: 24 Posts: 1,922	Re: Halloween AVRs are pretty sweet microcontrollers. What kind of programmer are you using (what hardware AND what language?) efit- nevermind, I googled it. Looks pretty darn interesting. You said your was USB? __________________ It only takes 2 bites [insert parasite] to get to the center of a meatpop. TGNS Admin \| NS Forum Moderator Digz \| NS Play Tester Natural Selection \| TGNS Primer \| Communication Awareness! Army Info: AIT - 37F @ Fort Bragg, NC Graduate AIT Oct 23rd.

11-03-2006, 03:22 PM	#10 (permalink)
Wimpinator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: United states, TN Age: 35 Posts: 2,815	Re: Halloween Yeah it's USB. The Arduino USB board actually uses a USB to RS232 conversion chip so the Board talks USB to the computer but RS232 between the chip and the AVR controller. This means that the Arduino cannot be used for a normal USB device (like a mouse or keyboard). I mainly use this board for something that I want to test and need a system that I can deploy fairly quick. The board can be bought from www.sparkfun.com __________________ \|TG-6th\|Wimpinator [TGU Staff] BF2 Rules and SOP's\|Teamspeak information\|TG on IRC

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