It took me a little while to install he new relays board I made with Rectifier Bridge Diodes before each of the relays in order to cure that problem I was having with the SFX module I had put together. I had to do a fair amount of shuffling things around on my stock dash to make things fit right. (left). You may recall from earlier posts when I was working on my Voice Projection Unit that I had the on/off button hooked up to a Step Relay that was located about where my new relays board is now. What I ended up doing was moving the Step Relay to the same location as the on/off button for the V.P. Unit and mounting it behind the panel that the button is mounted too (right). I also made up a small Rectifier Diode Bridge module with terminal blocks that I could easily wire up to between the on/off button to the Step Relay and mounting that in behind the panel as well. I like it a lot better now because when you press the V.P. button the loud click from the Step Relay is right behind where the switch is located and not on the other side of the dash like before, so in many way it makes more sense this way.
This is a much nicer relays board than my last one which was more for experimentation more than anything just to see if certain things were going to work the way I wanted them too. This new one I put together is better laid out, has more relays on the board and more terminals for the DTMF request from the Voice Box. The board is a little shorter than my old one width wise but a little higher height wise but given that it better made and has more on it I'll be able to work that under the passenger side of the dash a lot easier than my last set up. This new board also has Rectifier Diode Bridges built in before each relay so this will eliminate the problem I was having with switches that activated relays interrupting my SFX module when the relays were switched off. I'm a little fuzzy on how that works exactly but it works and it cured the problem so that is what counts. ;)
I have a few of the SFX wired up in the car like the Turboboost sound, K.I.T.T.s introduction and the two Knight Rider themes (Narrated and Un-Narrated). The Turboboost SFX is connected to my switch pods Turboboost button and the other two or I should say 3 SFX are connected to my Space Matt buttons. The two Knight Rider themes are on the same SFX pin on the Adafruit board so they are hooked up to one button. After hooking up those few SFX out in the car and giving it a test I did notice something unusual that happens, the SFX all play fine when the buttons are pressed but while the SFX is playing if you hit another button the SFX stops or seems to reset, which is odd considering I have not yet connected up the reset pin wire. I have a hunch that I may need to add in some rectifier diodes into my wiring scheme and see if that cures the issue. I think my SFX module might be getting some kind of signal backwash from the other buttons so I'm hoping that the diodes should correct that. I'll do some experimenting today and see. lol it's funny how things work awesome on the bench until you actually install it into the car along with all the other electronics and then discover annoying little issues like this ;)
You may recall from earlier posts when I was working on my Voice Projection Unit that I had the on/off button hooked up to a Step Relay that was located about where my new relays board is now. What I ended up doing was moving the Step Relay to the same location as the on/off button for the V.P. Unit and mounting it behind the panel that the button is mounted too (right). I also made up a small Rectifier Diode Bridge module with terminal blocks that I could easily wire up to between the on/off button to the Step Relay and mounting that in behind the panel as well. I like it a lot better now because when you press the V.P. button the loud click from the Step Relay is right behind where the switch is located and not on the other side of the dash like before, so in many way it makes more sense this way.
