When the project description starts with the sentence “I use an RC remote and receiver, an esp32, high-current motor drivers, servos, an FPV camera, and a little propane”, you know that this is one which deserves a second look. And so [gearscodeandfire]’s Halloween project caught our eye. It’s a pink Power Wheels jeep driven by a skeletal rider, and the best part is that the whole thing is remote controlled down to a pan-and-tilt skull, a first-person video feed, and even real flames.
At its heart is an ESP32 with a set of motor controllers and relays to do the heavy lifting. The controller is a standard radio remote controller, and the first-person view is an analogue feed as you’d find on a drone. The skeleton is given a child-like appearance by discarding the original adult-proportioned plastic skull and replacing it with a much larger item. The thought that plastic Halloween skulls are available in a range of standard sizes and can be considered as a part in their own right is something we find amusing. The propane burner is supplied from a small cylinder via a solenoid valve, and ignited with the spark from a high-voltage transformer.
The result, we think, wins Halloween hands down. Twelve-foot skeletons are SO 2023!
The video is below the break.
https://hackaday.io/project/199110-ghost-toddler-esp32-fpv-pan-tilt-power-wheels
Real fire seems totally unnecessary for a Halloween prop.
Doubley so for one that gets driven around in public.
This would break several city ordinances here.
You want to have a pyro display in your yard?
Fine. Get a permit and have at it.
How is this fire, on an obvious prop, better than a light shining through fabric flapping in a fan?
HaD should know better than to pas someone on the back for doing something recklass.
“How is this fire, on an obvious prop, better than a light shining through fabric flapping in a fan?”
It’s FIRE, man! What are you rambling?
:+)
Okay Karen.
No, fire on a moving vehicle is a serious safety hazard. It’s worse if you leave the fire unattended and worse still because children are in the mix. Physical safety is an important part of hacking lest you do something stupid and maim yourself or someone else from an easily preventable situation.
I watched his video. I think most of you here are over reacting.
Thank you A Texan, but I do’t think they are reacting ENOUGH! ;)
This is call to action!
Don’t READ my instructions!
Don’t WATCH the build video!
Just OBEY your knee-jerk response!
GIVE NO QUARTER to how benign this actually is!
Now CONSUME the responses while trying to stake out…
The HIGH-GROUND!
(I am just screwing around with you all (not you, A Texan, you cool))
I’ll post some vids of it out on Halloween night. The kids loved it. They like science better now. Nothing was on fire except propane.
Everything is okay.
I mean, technically, from the perspective of a person born and bred in the UK (Jenny), the US is one giant 3.8 million square mile fire hazard (no, really, just compare NEC to BS7671 – the actual installations, don’t even look at…), so it’s rather an easy and entirely understandable (not to mention justified) mistake to make.
Sarcasm
I’m glad you agree but clearly my name is Ian.
End_Sarcasm
In other news, most of the USA is in elevated fire threat right now, with some states being “Extreme”, and some states having issued total “Burn Bans”.
As of this comment, more than half of Texas is in Moderate Fire danger, with high dryness, and almost 20% is High, Very High, or Extreme.
155 of Texas’ 254 counties have an active, total ban on outdoor burns, with more being added constantly.
It is expected that the State Fire Marshal will declare a Statewide Burn Ban by the end of the week.
Now, I’m not sure how much a Texan understands about “Leaf Season”.
But up here, and where Dan clearly is judging by those Oak leaves, dry leaves are piling up ankle to waist deep and being blown around by dry winds.
If you still don’t get it, just imagine your whole state being knee deep in crumpled up paper while the wind blows it around in drifts.
That’s the situation Dan decided it was totally fine to drive a fire around in.
Get it yet?
So maybe, instead using “Karen” wrong since I’m being neither over-entitled nor demanding anything, you could listen to the pleas of a Texan who is asking you super-nicely to not do dumb fire things because ‘It’s a bad time right now’.
Ian! My man! I appreciate the safety concerns, but I’m pretty sure if you watch the video that you will feel reassured. Thank you for the engagement nonetheless.
Hi,
To each their own, but I think the fire electric cooler than light shining through whatever you decided to describe. Thank you for increasing my engagement. Also, I don’t know if you watch the video, but i made a part anticipating these comments!
https://youtu.be/RR6xCiXo64M?t=734&si=TPcr-cnviNygWqVv (at minutes 15 seconds).
No. That’s not what “To each their own” means.
What you did was a public danger, whether or not you think so, which makes it opposite of what that statement.
I’m not going to reward you with a YouTube view for what you did.
The US is currently under quite a bad fire threat.
Judging by the kind of leaves in your thumbnail your state has an active burn ban, and did during Halloween.
That’s not just no open flames.
That’s no outdoor flames. Period. Including “safe” stuff like cooking on a propane grill.
Did you check your fire forecast before driving your little mobile-fire-starter around?
If you did, what did you think all that red on the map was for?
Did you think that those giant yellow boxes at the top of most pages that said “Burn Ban” just didn’t apply to you?
I’m not gonna type the whole thing out again…
Scroll down and read the REALLY long reply to one of your other comments.
It has a challenge for you.
Do it. Earn a charity some money from my pocket.
(Or don’t, because you could just donate the ~$2000 fine you would get directly to charity.)
Wait, Ian! You’re not gonna watch my video and you expect me to read all this? Eck. To each their own, i guess.
NEW TOPIC! What is your take on unlicensed HAM radio operators?
Buddy please shut UP
State Fire Marshal: Burn Ban! It’s super bad out here! Plz no fire!!!1!!!
State Fire Marshal: Also LEAVES! OMG! They EVERYWHERE!11!!!1!11!
Me: Hey, why are we encouraging this dude for driving a remote controlled car around, with a foot-tall flame on it, during peak Leaf Season AND a Burn Ban?
You: …uhhh. Shut up?
Care to explain that argument a little?
I’m pretty sure you were going for ‘cool apathy’, rather than Bevis and/or Butthead.
What am I missing?
It’s not a pyro display. It’s just a fire. You don’t need a permit and a light shining through fabric flapping in a fan is just a sad unrealistic version of this.
I’m glad HaD posted this, it’s great. Show kids what fun is with tech! The kids version of the ghost rider but this one actually looks great!
Thanks, dude! 🤘
It’s an open flame, in public, during peak “leaf week”.
It is irresponsible and it makes us all look bad.
We have rules for a reason.
There is a right way to do something like this.
You are not special. You don’t get to ignore them because you handed someone your beer.
Did Dan get someone from the fire department there to manage it?
No.
Did Dan bother to clear the obvious fire hazards away from their burn area?
No.
Dan decided he was too smart and fun and cool to follow the rules.
“It’s for the kids!”
It is hard enough to keep the normies from stopping us doing stuff we are allowed to, without people like Dan F*&#ing it up for the rest of us.
“Man straps propane tank to remote control car. Starts neighborhood fire.”
And they would be right.
Dan deserves a pat on the back for execution.
Dan also deserves a slap in the face for planning.
Dan did a bad thing.
Who cares.
You can put a BBQ or a firepit there with sparks and everything but nooooo, a tiny bit of propane is bad. No normal place has rules for this. It’s a halloween prop, he’s not driving a boeing through the street.
These kids will remember this for the rest of their lives, but you want to take away all joy. Nah. He’s showing how it’s done, how to have fun. Go back to reddit or wherever you go where you aren’t allowed to have fun and let us have fun in peace.
There is a Burn Ban in place pretty much everywhere in the US.
So no, you cannot put a fire pit or any other outside fire there.
That even includes propane grills.
No. Outside. Fires.
Do you understand?
Sorry that SOMEONE needs to be the Fun Police, but your ephemeral “joy” is not more important.
Stop being such a typical self-important American that puts an instant of their own entertainment over the genuine well-being of everyone else.
Stop being The Problem™.
Also, most places in the US were, and still are, under a Burn Ban.
Zero outdoor fire, open flame or not. Not even a propane grill.
It’s bad out there right now.
I’m sorry fake-fire isn’t cool enough for you while we are fighting to keep everything from being on real-fire.
How is that relevant? Some random place has that so he can’t set up a halloween prop? Do you know his exact location where you can verify that? Should he even care? He only drove a tiny bit on a street on asphalt. Who cares.
Fake fire is the silliest thing ever and to wish to annoy children with that is just evil.
He did a great job with a great halloween prop and the children love it and that’s all that matters. Let the men have fun, don’t stop us, you won’t win this.
I need to finish my flamethrower for halloween next year.
Maybe you could use one of those inflatable waving arms tube men from a used car lot. Add orange and yellow lights to complete the flamethrower effect!
B^)
Thanks, Bob🤘
(I don’t even wanna tell Ian how many polyester costumes were near it… I think it would just be too much)
This is obvious a joke, they weren’t “near” polyester costumes, they were “at a safe distance.”
Thanks, Bob 🤘🔥💀⚙️
However, I am promoting Ian to Chief Safety Officer for my future projects. He’s got heart.
And I’m glad I live in the Netherlands, where such displays of stupidity can be done for as long as the police doesn’t show up, and will only be punished with a warning and the confiscation of the display if the warning is not heeded. And for sure then the police will try out the confiscated display of stupidity themselves, when nobody is watching. And maybe make a video and post it, saying: “This is a really, really great thing this guy made! What a talent! But unfortunately we have had to confiscate it because it’s unsafe and doesn’t have a permit.”. Implying that if you had asked for a permit, you would have had a good chance that you would have been awarded one and would have been able to display your display of stupidity in a fully legal way. Maybe someone would have asked you for some safety improvements, like non-slip wheels, brakes and a shorter turning circle.
:)
Don’t feed the trolls? :)
Gone are the days when one could hop into their Dodge Corvair (unsafe at any speed) with an adult beverage in hand, smoking a cigarette, no seatbelt, and head off for an afternoon lawn darts and maybe a couple of hotdogs grilled over charcoal.
I feel like if I needed a permit to make this, I would obtain said permit then burn it up in, oh I don’t know the top of a flaming skull? Just to make a point about how I feel about the whole idea of needing a permit.
I feel you, man. I feel you. Seriously, I have footage from Halloween night where we are like, “Cops! Let’s see what they do? They gonna be cool or angry and confused!?”
They were cool.
The fact that you don’t see the problem, is part of the problem.
It’s an open flame, in public, during peak “leaf week”.
It is irresponsible and it makes us all look bad.
Yes…you literally DO need a permit for this, because “I thought it was fine” is not good enough when the foot tall open flame starts a rush fire.
We have rules for a reason.
There is a right way to do something like this.
You are not special. You don’t get to ignore them because you handed someone your beer.
Did Dan get someone from the fire department there to manage it?
No.
Did Dan bother to clear the obvious fire hazards away from their burn area?
No.
Dan decided he was too smart and fun and cool to follow the rules.
“It’s for the kids!”
It is hard enough to keep the normies from stopping us doing stuff we are allowed to, without people like Dan F*&#ing it up for the rest of us.
“Man straps propane tank to remote control car. Starts neighborhood fire.”
That’s the headline.
And they would be right.
Are you aware that most of the US is “Above Normal” to “Extreme” fire risk right now?
I’ll bet you didn’t.
How many States currently have a blanket ban on ALL outdoor flames.
You can look that one up yourself.
How about your county/city? Is there an active “Burn Ban”? Did you even know that was a totally normal and regularly occurring thing in most US areas?
I’m going to guess you have no idea.
It is a fun build.
I’m glad the kids liked it.
I’m even more glad the kids are inspired by it.
I’m glad no one got hurt, and Dan didn’t burn anyone’s house down.
Dan deserves a pat on the back for execution.
Dan also deserves a slap in the face for planning.
Dan did a bad thing.
But hey, I’m just some Internet person right?
Challenge:
If you really think you did nothing wrong, send your video to your local Fire Marshal.
I’m just an internet rando, but it’s their JOB.
Maybe they give you a thumbs up proving me wrong?
Maybe they hit you with a fine for a unpermitted fire in a public space during a state fire emergency?
Maybe they are in a particularly bad mood because they have to deal with people doing dumb fire things during wildfire season, and they decide to forward your query to some Capital-Letter agencies to see if they consider that an ” incendiary device” or “fire as a weapon”[1]?
You did nothing wrong…right?
You are too smart and cool and smart to worry about any of that “Fire Weather” stuff.
Rules are for other people.
So do it.
I DARE you.
Let us all know how it works out.
I’ll even sweeten the deal.
I’ll check back here once a week for the rest of 2024.
You provide a link showing some sort of approval from your local/state fire marshal, and I’ll send a donation to the charity of your choice. (Facebook/Twitter post from their official account, a post on their .gov blog, or something else “official” please…)
I’m more than willing to admit when I’m wrong.
But in this case? Let’s just say this isn’t a fair bet and I know how it will turn out.
But I’m just an internet rando, so you should still do it…
[1] It is SUPER weird that CISA, has the most public info about “fire as a weapon”. Sure they are responsible for “Infrastructure”, but it’s still so weird…
Ian, my man! You could have watched my video, like, two or three times In the time it took you to put up all these posts!
I really appreciate your dedication to fire safety, and I really appreciate you driving engagement on this project!
Also, your “slap in the face” can get you i trouble, possibly undoing hours of fire safety comments.
Your contempt burns like oxyacetylene…. Gotta go, just got a new idea…
Thank you again for your detailed interest in this project!
“slap in the face” is a common idiom, which I used immediately following another common idiom “pat on the back” to give contrast and maintain the theme.
Idioms can be tricky though, since he reader doesn’t always have the cultural context to see they aren’t to be taken literally.
To “slap in the face” is to confront someone and stop them in a way that shocks them, so they take a moment to look at what they are doing.
Perhaps the reference to violence means it’s time to consider retiring the idiom, but unlike others (like “rule of thumb”) I don’t think English really has a concise alternative that conveys the confront+stop+shock+reevaluate combo.
This isn’t a parking ticket from 2am on an otherwise empty street.
There are very real potential consequences for a lot of people, made worse by current conditions.
Sometimes there is a reason you need a permit.
And since most of the USA is currently in elevated fire danger, with some areas being extreme, and many states having active “Burn Bans”, most places have revoked permits and aren’t issuing any more.
So frankly, I don’t care what your opinion on permits is.
If your feelings are hurt because you don’t get to imagine doing an irresponsible thing in public, for your own entertainment, then I have no advice for you that isn’t a veiled (or maybe no so veiled) insult.
Cheers!
Of course, it’s better to live in an authoritarian country where your freedoms have been taken away than possibly share a country with a fool. /s
Xenophobia looks good on no one.
Hi Jenny List,
Thank you for the flattering review. I’m not sure if you are AI or not, but you did good regardless!
Sincerely,
Dan at Gears, Code, and Fire
What in Jenny’s writeup gave you the idea that it could possibly be AI generated? That’s her (unique, human) style through and through!
But yeah, hella fun project.
Sorry, I thought Hackaday used AI story generators peiodically and I wasn’t sure if the naming convention changed. I appreciate it even more from an actual person and am super grateful!
But Elliot, on the other hand, is AI generated!
B^)
That’s what I’m talking about! I could totally see me write a sincere response to an AI generated comment, so I’m a little hyper vigilant!
They have a writer named “AL”, it the font that makes it Al look like AI, if you see what I mean.
The facepalm I just did sent shockwaves through multiple neighborhood blocks. Seriously… I thought Al(bert?) or Al(fonso?) was an AI writing agent, codename=”Williams.” I need to let my friend know that the review for his project was written by a person. If he already know that, then I will feel shame.
(Serriously, thanks for clarifying what could’ve been a weired accusation of AI’ness to a human writer!)
You have one of the most wicked widow’s peaks I have ever seen. You should grow that out. You would be able to do a very good vampire costume. Nice work btw, it’s very cool
Glad you like, and appreciate you stepping up on my behalf (I try to be ultra-well-behaved in my online posting persona)!
To clarify the hair… Imagine Eddie Munster with a ‘Fro? I’m aready freakishly tall… I don’t need the vampire ‘fro, and also that stuff is high-maintainece.
I just realized I’ve thought Al(bert?) Williams was an impressive LLM for some time now.
I would be the worst Blade Runner ever. Voight-Kamp fail; I’m mistaking writers for AI agents.
I really appreciate the coverage though, human-to-human.
tbh it’s a testament to their human writing skills and dedication that they’ve now usurped AI completely, tipped the balance back to humans and reclaimed at least 2 jobs before AI even knew why it existed.
You gotta give it up when we humans exploit the AI!
Me too, Dave. Me too.
Dan
🤘🔥💀⚙️💾