Interactive Problems ( false trigger )

[Crazydave]

I have two problems with the interactive triggers.

 

#1  False Triggers.  I am using a Garage Door opener to initiate a trigger, and using some 18 guage wire to connect the gnd and input1 terminal from the LOR CTB16PCg3

The two wires are about 16 feet long from the controller to the switch.  The switch i am using is a "Garage Door Opener" Switch (see attachement) and link to product:

 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Genie-Universal-Wall-Push-Button-GWC-R/202808539

The switch has a two terminals to connect the wires to on the back.

Problem:  I am getting phantom Triggers. It's not constant, and not all the time.  When the door bell is left alone.. no one touchs it... for some reason the trigger engages.

Is it possible that the wires are picking up noise along the way.... will using the input-pup reduce the likelyhood of false triggers.

 

I put some twists in the wire along the way... but should I be using a shielded wire?
 

any ideas on how to fix the false triggers?

 

#2 (Bug Report) - The Interactive Triggers will NOT run a sequence with non-alpha characters the '(' and ')' in my case.
For example.... I have sequence file name Frozen (withMatrix).lms
when the Trigger hits.... it gives me an error something about cannot find or load the sequence or somethign like that.

When I renamed the file to FrozenInt.lms    it had no problem loading the sequence.

 

 

[dgrant]

The one time I tried a simple contact closure switch to a controller, to start a show, I was having lots of false start triggers. The wire was a run of about 50 feet, non-shielded and probably was laying across power wires...I'm thinking it was inducted noise causing it. If I ever try it again, I'll be using shielded wire and grounded  at both ends.

[Crazydave]

I also wondering if something like this would help:

 

[Cheski]

The relay should help.  You are getting a bounce from the switch.

[Crazydave]

would there be any problems with using power from the controller header?

or would it be better to use a battery as shown above in the diagram?

[Crazydave]

 It looks like I may have solved the problem.

I did pretty much what I had in the picture above but instead replaced the 9v DC battery with a 5V DC power supply (little wall-wart), and I used an XLR cable to connect the relay to the header terminal. The DC power supply is on an timer that turns on/off before/after the show

not sure if the shielded cable did the trick, or the Opto-isolated relay did the trick But I'm putting my money that is was the relay)

The show ran without any false triggers (at least for the 1/2 hour that it ran before the show automatically shutdown) Tomorrow night I will see if I have any false triggers and report back.

[Dennis Laff]

I been running an interactive show for two years now I use the input pup from lor simple and it works and at $40.00 a real value for what it does.

[jtpagett]

I had the same problem with a Halloween prop trigger with a door bell button. Does your button have a light? If so that is the cause of your misfiring trigger. Don't know the technical terms but the path the current uses to power the light causes the trigger to fire. If you can take the button apart cut with a knife the trace used to power the light. If not go get a door bell that does not have a light button.

[Crazydave]

I'm not sure if it has light... it's a garage door opener... I specifically bought that one because it didn't say it had a light.
 

Edited December 12, 2014 by Crazydave

[Crazydave]

Update....

the powered relay with garage door eventually failed completely, and I was getting infinite repeating triggers.

I did find a non-lit door bell for this year. I will update this post with any success/failures.

I also will switch to using an inputpup