User manual

Exorcist User Manual
32
Making your own switches
An Exorcist input switch should be a dry contact switch that shorts between two
contacts.
NOTE
When making your own switches its important to ensure that you don’t pass a voltage
to the Exorcist box, if the switch requires no power source then it’s usually safe to
assume that it’s a dry contact switch. Switches with a power source would need to be
buffered with a transistor or relay.
Switches connect to the Exorcist Box using a 3.5mm (1/8”) mono connector, when
wiring your connector you connect one side of the switch to the tip and the other to the
shank, it doesn’t matter which way round these connections are made.
When using a Stereo connector you need to tie the two shank contacts together with a
jumper inside the connector.
If you’re using a transistor to buffer the input from a live switch then the ground plane
of the Exorcist box is connected to the shank of the Jack, with the tip being live
(approx 1.7V) the Tip should be connected to the transistors Collector and the shank to
the Emitter, the +dc input signal should be connected to the transistors Base with the
and the transistors Emitter (ground plane) connected to the inputs ground.
Under no circumstances should a live voltage be passed to the Exorcist box. If you do
you will cause damage to Exorcist and potentially your computer
It is very good practice when wiring your haunt to route input cables via a different
route from AC power cables. AC power cables can induct noise to your input cables
and cause false triggers - EVEN low voltage cables.
Never route cables in a way that would risk damaged AC or DC power cables coming
into contact with a signal cable