In this How-To, I am not going to recount how to completely build the "Flicker Circuit" (also called; "The Flicker" or "Flicker Fire".) Instead, I am going to just detail a method of one part of the build. If you want to know how to build the flicker circuit, you can get great instructions on Halloween Propmaster's site, or see the original site that outlines the concept at Phantasmechanics site.
The part that I want to outline is the way the wires connect to the Flourescent Lamp Starter. I know that many people have probably built this and just wrapped the wires around the posts then taped the whole thing up really well. I personally don't like this approach. I would much rather see a more solid connection here, especially since there is potentially lethal voltages involved.
With that in mind, I wanted to try to find a way to make the connection without soldering. Mainly because my soldering iron is in a different state currently and didn't feel like driving 2 hours to get it. :P So here is what I came up with. I took out my box of crimp terminals and found that a certain size spade terminal (Sorry, I don't know what the size number is. I just found one that was very close to the width of the post on the lamp starter) would do the trick nicely.
I started out by crimping a terminal onto the appropriate wires. Once that was done, I took some pliers and bent the spade part over into a 90 degree bend. Make sure that you bent away from the top of the connector. You should be able to see the bare wire sticking out from the crimp.
Once that was done, I slid the spade terminal onto the post and proceeded to crimp it closed with some needle nose vise grip pliers. The idea is to bend the spade ends around the post to capture it. You may need to fiddle with it a little to get the spade parts to overlap like mine. Don't be afraid to use the post as a grip point when crimping the terminal. It is very strong and unless you have the touch of a gorilla, you shouldn't damage the post.
The end result should be solid connection from the wire to the post. If it is loose, keep crimping until it is snug. It might still spin some, but won't slip off over the top of the post. Now all that is left to do is to use electrical tape and cover the whole thing so it is safe to touch.
As a side note, here is how much this project cost me to build. Since you get two lamp starters in a pack, I decided to built two of these babies.
| Part | Cost | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 12' Extension Cord | $1.79 | $3.58 |
| 5 Amp Fuse | $3.27 | $3.27 |
| Lamp Starter | $1.97 | $1.97 |
| Inline Fuse Holder | $2.69 | $5.38 |
| Total Cost of Project: | About $15 |
