Thread: $11 50 second Sound Player

Tweet

Hi all,

I've just taken delivery of a 50 second sound player from electronics123.

Initial assessment was that the sound was poor quality but after downloading the software which allows you to store your own samples on the board via USB, I reconsidered and can state that this unit is well worth the $11 I paid.

The unit comes mounted on white plastic card with a small, poor quality speaker placed face downwards and 3xAG10 batteries on a separate board. This battery set can easily be replaced by a normal 3xAA battery pack or a 5V supply such as the one from DealExtreme (DealExtreme: $4.90 PSP AC Adapter)

Having downloaded my sound sample choosing the high quality option the software offers you I was quite pleased with the quality even with the crappy speaker supplied. After I cut off the speaker and linked it to a cheap Practice Guitar Amp, the quality was more than good enough for prop use.

Converting this to being prop triggered will be easy as the activating switch is on 2 wires - simply chop the switch off and wire onto your prop relay contacts instead. I'll also be trying to work this with a picaxe using a common ground and seeing if I can trigger it off a normal Picaxe output.

This unit is brilliant for the money - especially if you can't find a modifiable MP3 player.

http://www.electronics123.com/s.nl/i...c=8&category=2

I'm just assembling one of their sound to light kits for use as a lightning machine and will report on that as well.

Link dosent work

50 second USB recording module

They're pretty decent boards. We've been discussing them here...

Electronics123 audio boards

The bad news is that one of mine died tonight. It doesn't play and shows an error when connected to the computer. I'll have to give them a call on Monday. I do have the other one running with my prop controller and a pair of cheap computer speakers and it's more than adequate for prop sounds...

YouTube - Pneumatic sit-up prop test run

Sorry mate - I didn't mean to hijack the other thread. I missed your posts there (brain fade). I've done much the same except I haven't built it into a box yet.

The info about the USB power is handy as I have a number of external battery packs with USB sockets on that I use with my PSP and my daughters' DS Lite - they should do fine!

Bit worrying about one dying though - I should have ordered a couple but I wanted to find out how good they are first.

How are you triggering yours? Have you tried an output level trigger yet?

Also did you find when you desoldered cables that there was some kind of coating on the board?

No worries. I did some more testing today and one of mine is indeed dead. Kind of worrisome but we'll see what they have to say tomorrow.

My prop controllers are based on time delay relays and in some cases, simple 110v coil relays. I use RCA jacks for my triggering ports. The relay just closes the switch. The board is indeed covered with some kind of plasticized film. It's very annoying. On my second unit (the one that is still working) I just used the existing wires instead of soldering on new ones.

Originally Posted by OpenTrackRacer

No worries. I did some more testing today and one of mine is indeed dead. Kind of worrisome but we'll see what they have to say tomorrow.

My prop controllers are based on time delay relays and in some cases, simple 110v coil relays. I use RCA jacks for my triggering ports. The relay just closes the switch. The board is indeed covered with some kind of plasticized film. It's very annoying. On my second unit (the one that is still working) I just used the existing wires instead of soldering on new ones.

I'm going to order 2 more today as spares. Yeah, I'll do the same with the wires next time.

These boards are a real find - thanks for the original post!

Update on my dead board: I called them this morning and they were very helpful. They're sending out a replacement board today. Outstanding service! Now I'm thinking that I should order a spare as well because you never know what might happen on the big night.

Sounds like the boards are Parylene-coated. This makes a good moisture and electrical barrier; unfortunately, Parylene C (the most common coating for this purpose) has no known solvent. It can be burned through, and aggresive ultrasonic cleaning in a 70% IPA/water solution can damage it, but complete removal is damn near impossible. The good news is that the boards will stand up to wet weather.

Another update. I received the new board and it's working perfectly. I installed it in the same project box and have been putting it though it's paces to make sure it's reliable over the long haul. So far so good. I did order an extra one to have on hand just in case. Better safe than sorry!