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The box of tricks

The box of tricks is a simple microcontroller based gadget and its purpose is to provide a way of detecting / recording / modifying or generating a signal. This simple set of requirements allows for a helpful set of features to be provided by single small gadget though.

One of the driving factors behind this particular gadget was to allow a delay to be introduced to the signal sent to the camera. As mentioned previously, this opens up new possibilities and allows limitations with setups to be overcome. It also, when combined with the splitter, allows multiple cameras to capture the same event at different times which might increase the chance of getting 'the' shot.

The picture above shows the board without a case. The headphone jack in the top left is the input, the jack on the top right is the output and there are buttons in each of the bottom corners. The display is a 3 digit 7-segment display that displays numbers and some letters. Choosing the display was one of the hardest decisions for this board since there are many competing factors. This simple display provides nice clear numbers, which is ideal when setting up on location, but limits any text to simple approximations. Using this display however cuts down on components and therefore cost, which is a requirement for all of the camera trigger boards.

These are the functions that are currently implemented on the box of tricks.

Counter mode. Simply record how many times an input signal has been detected. This feature is useful when testing out new sensors before hooking up the camera.
Delay mode. When an input signal is detected, delay by the user defined amount (0 to 999 milliseconds) before passing the signal on to the camera.
Time lapse mode. The user can set an interval in seconds between 0 and 999. The camera will be triggered after the interval.


 Sleep mode. Turn off the display but keep everything running in the background. Pressing the 'mode' button brings the display back and cycles through the options.


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