While it is only the middle of February, it might be a good time to start thinking about your plans for April Fool’s day. [Dino’s] Screamer Doll is his submission to the upcoming 555 Contest. This fun little circuit can be used to easily annoy your cube or house mates and is perfect for all of the April Fool’s day pranksters out there. He fit all the components into a small plastic toy, replacing the eyes and mouth of the doll with three photo cells, and swapping the nose out for a bright LED. When light hits the photo cells, a loud high-pitched squeal is emitted, and the LED blinks furiously until the light source is removed. Shielding the device from light will cause both the sound and LED to slow down, but the brightness of the LED ensures that the toy still makes noise when covered.
It would be great to see a version of this project that is completely silent in the dark, allowing it to be hidden at night, greeting its victims come morning.
If you want to see video of the device in action, read on – just be sure to keep your speaker volume at a reasonable level!
