User avatar
By JustPlainJoe
#4910355
Hello all,

I wanted to reach out for some help with my Spirit Halloween Ghost Trap. As I was modding the trap, I ran into two big issues.

First, and most important, is when I opened the trap, the smaller piece of the click button within the handle flew off and disappeared into the ether. I've canvassed the room it shot off in and it is just gone. Now I cannot open the doors with the button. I was not intending to fully mod electronics into the doors (mostly because I don't know how), but I am hoping one of you could offer a solution to help? I'd even take that piece off one of your hands if you have (or intend to) mod out your handles.

Secondly, the sound stopped working right after I replaced the light near the switch with a more screen accurate one. All the lights still fire up like intended when turned on, including the green leds when the doors are triggered open, but I get no sound. I have no loose or pulled wires that I can see. I'm not terribly worried about the sound, as it will mostly be a display type piece, but it'd be nice if it would work. Has anyone else had similar issues?

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you so much.

-Joe.
User avatar
By TragicManner
#4910364
Some similar discussion happened in this thread, but the audio going out has come up before and I'm curious what may have happened.

When you replaced your LEDs, what color LED did you replace it with? Do you know what its voltage drop is or other specs?

I'm starting to get the feeling that the amplifier that they are using is really fragile and prone to dying. Unfortunately, I know nothing about it because it's embedded in the little black spot, I believe, and so troubleshooting and/or swapping it out is not an easy option. I wonder if there is some part of their audio system that is very sensitive to static discharge. I work mostly in my office where I can discharge static regularly (old habit from when I used to repair laptops long ago), and I would recommend people at least touch a grounded metal object to discharge static before modding their traps, and do so regularly throughout the modding process, or even invest in a wrist band that discharges static for you (they're pretty cheap).

At any rate, I guess that doesn't help with your current issue. Since you've already checked the wires, the only other accessible thing that you could check are the transistors on the circuit board. They basically only allow power to flow to the LEDs and Audio when voltage is applied to them, and that voltage comes through when the trap doors open (it's the little white switch attached to the gear box that closes the circuit and in turn gets the transistors going). If one of the transistors is damaged it will prevent the circuit for whatever is behind it from being closed, keeping it from turning on. But with how easily people are losing audio, and how resilient transistors tend to be (though I don't know how resilient the ones SH used are) I think it's probably a bit of a long shot.
By Acfq48
#4910390
Most LEDs have different voltage and current requirements. As such, you have to put resistors on them at the correct ohms for them not to burn out or to push too much voltage through. This "might" be what happened to your trap. Perhaps the LED required less voltage so more ended up going through to the board and frying the sound. I find it unlikely since the board would probably also fry the lights too but it's a possibility. Either way, I would try switching it back if the switch is in good working order. To test this, you can peel the glue off of the white/grey wires that run from the board to the green wires that connect to the trap gear box. Then disconnect the green and white wires and take a paperclip and connect the two wires through the JST connector on the white wires. This should "complete" the circuit and show that the trap is "opened" and will flash the lights and initiate the sound until you withdrawal the paperclip. If this fixes your sound problem then its your gear box switch and not the amplifier. If this doesn't fix your problem, disassemble you new LED and try putting back the old one. It's also possible that the new LED draws too much power and the board is turning on the lights over turning up the sound. But when this happens the sound plays softer typically. Either way, do that and get a fresh set of batteries. If all else fails, 1/2 today at Spirit!!! : )
User avatar
By JustPlainJoe
#4910399
This post may contain an affiliate link that helps support GBFans.com when you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

I appreciate the feedback y'all. I purchased the light from ebay ( https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?V ... 7796176006), so I'm not certain of the voltage. I know very little when it comes to electronics, but I was able to cut, strip and reconnect wires to the new LED *fairly* easily.
User avatar
By TragicManner
#4910401
Acfq48 wrote: It's also possible that the new LED draws too much power and the board is turning on the lights over turning up the sound. But when this happens the sound plays softer typically. Either way, do that and get a fresh set of batteries. If all else fails, 1/2 today at Spirit!!! : )
This is actually what I was thinking was going on. The LEDs that are in the Spirit trap need less voltage than many other LEDs do, so it may just be that replacement LEDs draw more power and mess up things power-wise for other components.

I wasn't able to get that ebay page to load Joe, but Acfq48 is spot on, swapping back that LED would be a good step if the switch on the gear box is not the problem.
By brand14mcc
#4910422
I had a similar issue with the speaker on one of the traps I was mod’ing. Nothing was damage when took apart the trap. I thought whether it was the speaker itself or the motherboard. I tested the board with another speaker from another spirit trap and it works fine. So now it was the speaker. I re-solder the wiring and still nothing. In the end I order the exact speaker off of eBay and it works. It was weird that it was working just fine at one point and just stop.
User avatar
By JustPlainJoe
#4910424
Good to know I'm not the only one. I'll probably try replacing the speaker if switching the lights back doesn't work. Thanks!

Now to find something to get the button back operational ...

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