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Nearly finshed my jukebox !!

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Lave Laar:
Thanks for the offer that's really nice of you, but I don't think it's worth the trouble.  I suppose it could work with a converter to 230v but I don't need it that bad.   However, it would be great if you could tell me the name of the product and the manufacturer.  That way it may be possible to find the same or similar product created for the european marked.  
Anyways, if you buy the controller yourself let us know how it works with your jukebox.

aj6500:
I picked one up this afternoon, $25 US.  I set it up with a pair of black light fluorescent tubes.  It worked pretty well.  Then I found the instructions that say "DO NOT use The Speccial F/X uUnit with FLUORESCENT Lighting Fixtures".  It doesn't say why tho', emailed the manufacturer tonight to ask.  If it's nothing major it's going back in.

It has a microphone to pick up external sound as well as an audio input that bypasses the microphone.  It's called the Special F/X Unit, and is made by Can You Imagine.

www.cyi.net    
Cyimail@cyi.net

I think I'm going to pull the case apart and take a look at the circuit, it can't be that hard to make.  More than likely it's just a color organ circuit w/o the frequency dividers.

Lave Laar:
Don't know if you got an answer from CYI, but when I searched google for a color organ circuit I stumbled across the following :

> hi, i am looking for a "color organ" circuit diagram
> and parts list to flash 1 or more channels of 120v Fluorescent
> lights to my stereo, i would prefer one that uses a microphone
> (instead of a direct connection to the stereo) to pick up the
> sound.

For applications were the lights switch on and off frequently
fluorescent lights are suboptimal for two reasons: they require high
start up power and their life is greatly reduced. It may even be that
the start up time for the lamps is too long for your application. Use
normal light bulbs instead.

Guess this is the reason why they advise against using it with fluorescent light...

aj6500:
I got an email back from CYI, basically said they advise against it and doing so was at my own risk, but wouldn't say why.  So I did it anyway just to see.  Worked great, flashed just slightly off beat, but not enough to notice unless you looked for it.  So in the spirit of discovery I left it on for about 12 hours.  While doing so I did a search for the same thing, found a site saying that using fluorescent lights was a bad idea as they will likely burn out quickly or worst case, cause a fire.

Checked the tubes later and voila!  both are dead.  Back to the drawing board.  Looked damn good while they worked.  Hopefully it's just the tubes and the sockets are ok.

BobA:
There is a way around the problem you are having.  The Cold Cathode lights sold for case modding can be used.  Some have a built in single channel light organ that was designed to flash the tube with sound.  The lights work off 12V and are designed to flash with music quite well.   I have one in my Jukebox (in progress) and it is a bit sensitive to adjust but once set seems to work fine.

BobA

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