DIY Flash Sound Trigger... Need some help... =)

Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8 L IS

09/12/2008 07:28:18 PM · #1

Hi, I'm going to build an electronic flash sound trigger this weekend... I found some straight forward plans on this website Click Here

Before I go to my local electronic supply/junk store to buy the parts, I wanted to know if anyone else has built one and whether they can make any suggestions...

Are these plans any good? do you have any better ones?

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

I hope to have it built by the end of the weekend, and if it works I will try and post a tutorial on how i did it with detailed pics...

Thanks =)

Message edited by author 2008-09-12 19:28:54.

kirbic

Canon EOS R5

09/12/2008 08:14:51 PM · #2

You can rely on the instructions on the HiViz site, they know what they are talking about. Be sure you read the discussion about what types of triggers are good for what types of sounds.

FireBird

09/12/2008 08:16:27 PM · #3

I've used their circuits and they work fine. It's been a year since I did any work like that. Maybe time to start up again but don't think I'll do any more water drops. They seem to be losing their attraction at DPC for some reason.

09/12/2008 08:16:50 PM · #4

Thanks, i'm pretty much planning on starting with a water filled baloon popping so i think that the piezoelectric soudn trigger will do... any further suggestions?

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 16-35 f/4 ED VR

09/14/2008 03:44:13 PM · #5

hmmmm... well, no dice on the sound trigger... it's won't seem to work...... i'm very frustrated with it... errrrr!

ralph

Nikon Z9

09/14/2008 04:09:30 PM · #6

when i tried it was difficult to find just the right microphone
the crappy "Electret condenser microphones" that come with PCs wouldn;t work for me
only a good Dynamic microphone would ..

darnok

Nikon D850

09/14/2008 04:20:27 PM · #7

For a varsity practical last year my group decided to design and build a sound trigger circuit. It wasn't perfect but worked fairly well. If you want I could try dig the schematic up.

Originally posted by ralph:

when i tried it was difficult to find just the right microphone
the crappy "Electret condenser microphones" that come with PCs wouldn;t work for me
only a good Dynamic microphone would ..

We used a simple electret microphone module (the same as used in PC microphones) and it worked. When using electrets you have to bias them and amplify the signal quite a bit.

09/14/2008 04:21:24 PM · #8

hmm... well, if I take the two wires that go to the microphone in my circuit, is there anything that I can do with those two wires to check if my circuit is correct? (just so I know if there is a problem with my microphone or with the rest of the circuit...) ...

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 16-35 f/4 ED VR

09/14/2008 04:22:20 PM · #9

Have a quick look at the diagram in the link on my original post... and tell me what you think

darnok

Nikon D850

09/14/2008 04:35:29 PM · #10

Originally posted by Shutter-For-Hire:

Have a quick look at the diagram in the link on my original post... and tell me what you think

The circuit looks like it could work, though being such a simple circuit it's probably fairly critical of component values. I remember for the one we built we had to get a sensitive SCR otherwise it wouldn't fire at all. Are you sure you have the right microphone? We built ours with an electret microphone and had a 10uF capacitor between the microphone and transistor to take the DC of the bias voltage out, putting a capacitor in might help.

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 16-35 f/4 ED VR

09/14/2008 04:39:06 PM · #11

i'm not sure at all =)

All the other diagrams I have seen are way mroe complicated... just like you said, all the other ones are loaded with capacitors...

I think I will start from scratch and build another one... can anyone suggest a different diagram to start with?

darnok

Nikon D850

09/14/2008 04:41:23 PM · #12

Originally posted by Shutter-For-Hire:

All the other diagrams I have seen are way mroe complicated... just like you said, all the other ones are loaded with capacitors...

Then you wouldn't like the one we built :D We used a whole bunch of stages to meet the complexity required for the practical.

MelonMusketeer

Nikon D7000

Nikon MF 50mm f/1.4

09/14/2008 04:57:15 PM · #13

A comparitor like an LM3900 op amp may be a good choice as a primary building block. Use a magnetic mike or use a small speaker as a mike for input. Use a pot as an L pad for input and bias it near trigger voltage, then use the output from the 3900 to trigger the flash. The 3900 is a quad comparitor,so you could trigger 4 units with the same chip. ETA, For a balloon pop, you may try the "speaker for a mike" trick. Use a capacitor in series with the coil in the speaker to isolate DC current to the transistor.

I don't remember much about the details, but I used to dabble in this stuff quite a bit back in my full time music days. You can use the headphone output of a small recorder like a camcorder, or anything that has a built in mike or mike input, and has a headphone output. Put a small capacitor in series with headphone output to the input (gate) of the SCR.
Have fun with the project.

Message edited by author 2008-09-14 16:59:40.

ralph

Nikon Z9

09/14/2008 05:44:09 PM · #14

i used an old laptop for the amplifier stage ..
then wired the outpt directly to a scr ... (or was it a optoisolator ... ?? don't remeber .. )

brownsm

Canon EOS-5D

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

09/14/2008 05:47:58 PM · #15

I've used their circuit, the one with the delay. Bought their kit with breadboard. that way I knew I had all the right components. I used it to take this shot:

I followed the instructions as directed, and it worked as advertised. One thing to watch for: make sure you don't have any wires touching. some of the components are very close to one another and it's easy for the legs of each component to touch another one. other than suggesting that, I'm out of ideas.

Message edited by author 2008-09-14 17:49:06.