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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : It Must be Xmas.
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palcal Guru  Joined: 12/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2006 |
A friend who is into the Xmas light thing in a big way, gave me something she would love repaired. It is 3 rubber snowmen about 300mm high. One is the master and the other two slaves. It was dead, so I opened the main one up and found a circuit board and a huge rats nest of wiring. This thing operated off 12v AC that is rectified on the board. It was immediately obvious that the diodes in the power supply were shot. I had some spares but then the trouble started. The board probably had 10-15 wires soldered to various parts of the board and they started breaking off and I did not know where they came from. It was obvious that I was not going to repair it so the alternative was to start from scratch. There is an IR sensor that activates a motor and the sound of Xmas carols as soon as anyone gets close enough. It is also illuminated from the inside. It seems it will be easily doable with a Mite but my problem is the sound. I have searched everywhere for a module that plays Xmas carols, I need something like the ones in a door chime that play a different tune each time it is activated. I thought maybe one of our members who is into the Xmas light thing may know of something. Paul. "It is better to be ignorant and ask a stupid question than to be plain Stupid and not ask at all" |
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Azure Guru Joined: 09/11/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 446 |
Silicon Chip published a XMAS lights digital controller project using a DSPIC in their Oct 2010 edition. I have built it and both the AC and DC slaves, works great. It plays sound files that were synced with a preset light show output to slave modules using a dsPIC33 in the master unit. If you have access to those articles or the code it might help. Doesn't the MM eXtreme have the ability to play audio files? find some public domain xmas jingles and put them on an SD card for playpack as needed. |
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Grogster Admin Group  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9749 |
Further to Azure's comment above, even the latest firmware for the MM+ series(both the 64-pin E64 type module and the E100) now support WAV file playback from the SD card. That would indeed be how I would be looking at doing it. All you need is a simple external passive RC filter on the PWM output pins, and an audio amplifier. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| palcal Guru Joined: 12/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2006 |
I thought about the SD card playback but a module would be way simpler. I have told her not doable this Xmas so I have a year to play with it. Paul. "It is better to be ignorant and ask a stupid question than to be plain Stupid and not ask at all" |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9749 |
Okey dokey then, I have used the DF-player Mini with great success on a few different projects, and control-code samples are available here on the forums. ....or are you meaning a module with the sounds ALREADY recoded, and you just select the one you want via an I/O pin? Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| Azure Guru Joined: 09/11/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 446 |
I would also look at one of the slave units wiring (carefully) and what you can work out from what is still connected on the main unit. It should not be to hard to work out what wires go where on the main controller if it still works. I guessing wires for functions would be: IR, Speaker, Battery possibly via extenal or seperately wired on/off switch, movement motor(s) and light(s). Usually wiring inside does look messy with all the single loose wires. If you trace them out it is not that hard to then work out connection points with a little reverse engineering approach. |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9749 |
I did find this thing which is a Christmas tune player, but only seems to do one tune. Cheap though. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| isochronic Guru Joined: 21/01/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 689 |
There are xmas cards that have a chip in them, when the card is opened it plays an short audio segment and a motor runs. I gather the motor is running from the rectified audio..looks like grogsters chip. |
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Quazee137 Guru Joined: 07/08/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 600 |
Here is something to look at Record module A look on ebay for "ISD1820 Sound Recorder Voice Recording Module With Micophone Loudspeaker" will get a lot of hits. A good DIY with eagle sch and brd try seeed Grove_Recorder I had a few awhile back but my Granddaughter snagged them. The DFPlayer looks fun for a 28 pin mite DFPlayer |
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CaptainBoing Guru Joined: 07/09/2016 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2171 |
some thoughts to get you going and cheap enough to experiment Sound playback module here "person sensor" here USB powered LED disco ball here MX170B + software of your choice |
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| palcal Guru Joined: 12/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2006 |
Thanks for all the suggestions, @CaptainBoing the "person sensor" looked too good to pass up so I ordered some. I have some record-able sound modules here somewhere I will have to dig them out, they seem like an easy way to do the sound. Thanks all Paul. "It is better to be ignorant and ask a stupid question than to be plain Stupid and not ask at all" |
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| CaptainBoing Guru Joined: 07/09/2016 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2171 |
The rcwl-0516 is a seriously good module, so easy to interface you'll have it running in 60 seconds flat. You can completely hide them (not behind metal or glass) I have them hidden behind fascia and the guy in this vid shows it working through a brick wall so shouldn't struggle as a person sensor for your singing snowmen. They can be a little bit of a pain coz if you put it on the front of your house, it will see you moving inside! I used one as part of my dusk to dawn light - that is on from dusk to 1AM and then goes over to the sensor until dawn. (MM controlled - dead easy) and I love it because it will switch on the porch light if I go near the front door. I am soooo lazy  I rarely use PIR now unless I need it to cover a specific area i.e. the coverage over-spill is intrusive... for instance I can't use it for the interior lights in my garage because it sees me walking past outside. |
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| palcal Guru Joined: 12/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2006 |
I had a good look at them and they do seem dead easy to use. From your experience sounds like they are super sensitive, I might experiment with a metal dish to see if I can make it directional. Paul. "It is better to be ignorant and ask a stupid question than to be plain Stupid and not ask at all" |
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