Help with a flashbulb project

[Jaydek]

Hello

I've just got into electronics due to a project I'm working on for my students theater production. It's really got me interested and I think it will become a long term hobby.
The problem I have is with a flashbulb device we are going to use on stage. It has a mechanical switch that you press to set of the flash, but we are trying to convert it to a wireless system that can be triggered by someone back stage.
So we purchased a prefab set of transmitter and receiver circuits. We got these working with a simple LED set up, so you press a button on the transmitter and the LED lights up on the receiver unit for as long as you hold the button down.
The flashbulb device has a mechanical pressure switch that you push to discharge the capacitor into the flashbulb, and we want to replace this with a switch that is triggered by the current from the receiver unit instead. The current from the receiver is about 3 volts.

Could anyone put me on the right track as to what I should be looking for at my local electronics shop?

Thanks for any help!

Jaydek

 

[kellys_eye]

The 'basic' idea would be to remove the LED and connect a transistor in its place - use the transistor to switch a small relay and the relay contacts to short out the switch.

Please indicate the TX/RX you are using and we can come up with a schematic for the alteration.

 

[Jaydek]

I'm guessing TX/RX refers to the transmitter and receiver set. I'm in Japan and I bought it from a Japanese maker, I did some searching and found the following pdf doc. Sadly, all in Japanese.

http://akizukidenshi.com/download/ds/tocos/TWE-Lite_DIP_manual.pdf

Not sure if it helps.

 

[AnalogKid]

If you go on ebay, you will find many RF remote control transmitter/receiver pairs that have a relay for the receiver output device. Connecting the normally-open relay contacts across the existing switch should be all that is needed.

ak

 

[ChosunOne]

The "Japanese" on the instructions is all in Kana, their phonetic script, which actually can translate pretty well into English. I copy-and-pasted it through Google Translate and here's what I got so far, starting below MONO WIRELESS
--------------------------------------------------------------
Super easy! Wireless microcomputer TWE - Lite DIP (Twilight Dip)
Thank you for purchasing our products this time.
Assembling method
Customers who bought match-rod antenna type with kit should solder as follows
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Picture 1 translates:
1. The left is a match-bar antenna and the right is TWE-Lite
It is a DIP (Twilight Dip) board.
----------------------------------------------------------
Picture 2 translates:
2. From the surface of the TWE-Lite DIP board match rod
Insert the tenon into the hole and solder from the back
please.
----------------
The Kana script on picture 2, above the red arrow and circle translates:
Solder here
That text on the picture itself wouldn't copy, so I had to piece it together from individual Kana characters I located in the text that would copy.
At that point I decided I wasn't going to do all the donkey work. You can run the instructions through Google Translate.

 

[73's de Edd]

Most Honnable Jaydek . . . . .

In my choice of a translation site, for the text, it overlaid the lines in MANY places making it unreadable..

Soooooooo which of the pics that I have shown is the way that you have it hooked up and it is properly lighting the LED for you?

Then you use the referenced relay driver circuit to provide an isolated FLASH activation for you by using one relay with a 3VDC coil and SPDT or SPST contacts and using a NPN or PNP driver transistor, all in accordance to which circuit you are using.
1 LED circuit provides a logic HIGH level while the other 3 provide logic LOWS . . .we will interpret, after you tell us the circuit above that is presently working for you.
This is the basic relay and only one supply source . . . basically just for referencing . . .you figure out where you can get the same spec of item in Japan, other than . . . . . OR . . . . at Tokyo's . . .Akihabara.

https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesal...ative_id=SB_20170812012813&isViewCP=y&catId=0


YOUR BOARDS LED DRIVE CIRCUIT OPTIONS





73's de Edd

 

[Jaydek]

Hi

Sorry for the late reply.

That component looks great! Hopefully I can find something similar here, or just order it and ship it from overseas.

I'm using the set up in diagram 1 of your pictures for the receiver, 73's de Edd.

I've also been experimenting with with two systems and learning about basic electronics in general. I put a multi-meter on the flash system and found its storing something like 300 volts!
I'm no sure if that's something I want strapped to my students.
One question I can't work out, how is it getting that much power from 2 AA batteries? I thought capacitors could match the voltage from their source?

For safety reasons, I am pondering going with some really bright LEDs and a hold down button concealed in the palm, using LEDs somewhere around the 5000mcd range. That would be a much easier circuit to build for a beginner such as myself.

Still, I would like to get the remote triggered flash circuits working as I already have most of the parts and it's like a vendetta now.

Thanks for the help!

 

[AnalogKid]

I put a multi-meter on the flash system and found its storing something like 300 volts!
I'm no sure if that's something I want strapped to my students.
One question I can't work out, how is it getting that much power from 2 AA batteries? I thought capacitors could match the voltage from their source?

The source for charging the capacitors isn't the batteries directly. The batteries power a small switching power supply, often based on a "blocking oscillator", that chops the batteries' DC into a form of AC and run it through a transformer to step it up to a voltage high enough to sustain an arc in a flashtube.

ak