Run Your Battery Powered Props from a Wall Outlet

[@shelleycline2517]

I am so excited to try this. I am not tec savvy but I love Halloween decorating so I will come back and watch this again.

[@ReapersHorror]

I've always wanted to know how to do this. Thank you for putting a video together explaining the process. It's good to see you making content again.

[@haunt_happens]

Great tutorial! Any ideas on Weatherproofing this setup? We get LOTS of rain and wind around Halloween on the E.Coast. Thanks!

[@samanthablack8176]

Great tutorial! Clear, concise, easy to follow~thank you!

[@kevinmaslanka4322]

Excellent video and thorough walk through. Thank you. Question for you. How do you power up multiple tealights. Im building a large display involving lots of candles and jack-o-lanterns? Similar to Disney's Haunted Mansion Holiday roofline in Disneyland.

[@TombstoneTech]

You can buy LEDs that simulate a candle flicker - I would use those instead of battery powered tea lights. They could all be wired in parallel to a single power supply. I did a video on the basics of hooking up LEDs, but I didn't cover multiple LEDs on a single supply (that's coming up in a future video). I'd look into the "candle" LEDs for a large scale application.

[@JenniferStillwell]

I love your shirt, BTW. If Halloween had a bowling team…

[@carpenoctemhaunts]

Thats one to do it. I'm standardizing all my props to work on 12 volts. So I would use a buck converter to get the proper voltage from my standard 12 volt plug that im using.

[@peytonwaskey2774]

Most of my stuff uses power cords, so many power cord. I have my yard fenced in so tripping isn't an issue for other people, only the 2 of us that go into the yard. Some of my stuff I wish I could convert to batteries to reduce this, but it probably isn't practical. I did however use a small generator style battery, used to power a fridge if the power goes out, for one prop this year. I ran out of splitters and this one was off by itself so I just used the small generator and put it behind the tombstone.

[@TombstoneTech]

The biggest problem with converting a prop from wall power to battery is that most props that come with a wall power adapter draw so much current that batteries are impractical...but that's assuming you're using typical flashlight type batteries. However, a high power battery can be used with an inverter to provide wall outlet power in a portable package. Ryobi makes an inverter that attaches to their 18v cordless tool batteries. I use one on my telescope which otherwise requires 8 AA batteries.

[@matrixmom31]

Wow I feel confident I can do this! You are a great teacher....where were you during my physics 2 (electricity) class?? So easy to understand.Thanks!

[@raymitchell9736]

Overall... this was a good tutorial, I like how you explained the battery systems... but... I was a bit nervous watching this... A lot could have gone wrong with that... especially when energized, if you shorted the wires sometimes the the fuse inside the unit blows and they don't make it friendly to open it to replace... unless they used a PTC, usually they just die. Worse is if they don't protect the current and things get hot and wires melt. So if the wires are not neat the whiskers can short... I would either tin the wires with solder or use ferrules that you crimp that would slid into the holes... I still don't like that arrangement, plug them in backwards, and if the prop doesn't have reverse polarity protection... possibly bye bye prop. Also not mentioned is if the prop needs more current than the wall wart can supply. But what I do when I convert over a prop to AC (or add a remote trigger like the "Try Me", I open the prop and soldered a connector to the back, sometimes drill a hole and mount or hot glue the connector in place... Makes setup and takedown so much easier so I'm not tangled in the spaghetti that is haunt wiring... but if I leave the battery compartment, I could choose to run it on either batteries or ac power. Sometimes I need the opposite, for my graveyard columns I wanted to run an AC powered light (Neon Flicker lights) from batteries... I built my own inverter running on D sized batteries and used an AC transformer in reverse... The first one I made was with a 4047 and a couple of MOSFETS, but that blew up and I got tired of replacing the IC, so I built a custom circuit using a pair of 2N2222's and the push-pull with some MOSFETS... runs a lot cooler and I don't expect them to burn out like that IC chip. Since I have a degree in Electronics and an electronics lab it was simple for me, so it's not something the average haunter could tackle. Another trick is that some AC LED flicker effects with a candelabra base that you screw into an AC socket can be opened up and you can snip out the AC power converter and just power the lights them off of 5VDC, even works at 4.5VDC... Now that hack might be something a haunter could do... I got the idea from Adam Savage (Mythbuster) just the caveat that once you convert it over to 5VDC it can never be plugged into the AC outlet. P.S. One other thing... I had a lightning storm prop that used a lot of batteries and they tapped off the batteries in series at different points because they needed 3V and 9V (I think) and so there's a challenge how to do that... But that has to be outlier prop that did that... I think most props these days aren't as complicated. Also Amazon sells Buck DC-to-DC converters so you can step down 12V to 5V efficiently rather than using an LM7805 that just gets hot... but that's another story all together.

[@alyasvlogs]

Hey man, found your videos in a Facebook group. Great information here! I went ahead and subscribed. Thanks for this 😊

[@FreeCremationWinner]

Thank you!! Great instructions

[@jacobdowler1]

I just subscribed. I am enjoying your content so far. looking forward to future videos! You seem like a pretty captivating smart interesting person! Thank you.

[@laurahubbard9470]

Thank you for explaining this in ways that are easily understood 👻

[@TombstoneTech]

Glad it was helpful!

[@itscbro]

Ooh fun! Thanks for the great tutorial!

[@jamestarantino7159]

Great video - easiest explanation on KZbin

[@TombstoneTech]

Glad you think so! Thanks for watching!

[@clayanderson3248]

Thanks for doing this! It’s great! Can you put multiple lights on the same supply adapter or do you need one for each?

[@TombstoneTech]

I would recommend using individual adapters for each prop. Unless you are very familiar with electrical theory, it can be tricky to find multiple things that are compatible as far as the voltage need goes, and then you have to make sure the combination of props or lights does not exceed the current capability of the adapter. Safest thing to do is to use individual adapters.

[@clayanderson3248]

@ thank you. Please know that you are appreciated.

[@WorldWideOsgood]

Super Dave!

[@ooddities]

Great info, thank you for such good instructions on this.

[@66boogie]

Where did you get your shirt? What’s the brand? Thanks!

[@TombstoneTech]

The shirt was a gift, so I don't know where it came from but I'm sure it was purchased on Amazon. I actually got it out of the closet and looked for a label but there was none! Part of the care instructions were in Chinese, so there y'go. I would just search Amazon for "Halloween Shirts". Good luck, and thanks for watching!

[@singedcarry]

Thanks for the video.

[@jacobdowler1]

Might be helpful to put links to items in the description.

[@melissaa3978]

Thank you so much!

[@edhatfield9487]

Found your site on FB.

[@JenniferStillwell]

Wish I could get energized off of a wall outlet when my batteries run down. It would save a fortune in coffee.

[@jacobdowler1]

Not to be a downer but sometimes background music can be distracting to the main focus of the video.