Adafruit Mini SFX Board With TDA2030A Amp. Module UPDATE

I combined the Optocouplers board for the button inputs for my Space Matt buttons by soldering it onto the other piece of Protoboard that I had already attached the Adafruit SFX mini and TDA2030A Mini Amplifier boards onto. I soldered the inputs for the Optocouplers to 3mm screw terminal blocks to make connecting the wires from my Space Matt buttons easier later on when I install this module into my K.I.T.T.

There are a few things left to do like add in the power regulator to convert 12V into 5V for the Adafruit board, right now I just have one 100 uF Capacitor soldered onto the board seeing how I had it on hand, I still need to add a 10 uF Cap. and a small ceramic 100 nF cap to go with the power regulator but those are minor details that just basically involve waiting for them to arrive in the mail. Now the Optocoupler board you see mounted onto my main board also sends a pulse for the DTMF tone request on the Voice Box through a wire that will be connected to the screw terminal block mounted on the lower right side of the board (above left). I have four more sound effects options that do not require a pulse to be sent to the DTMF because they will be wired to the Switch Pod buttons and they already have a tone request being sent from the Switch Pod buttons. So I'll see if I can squeeze in four more Optocouplers onto the board somewhere for those loose green wires you see sticking out of the left side of the main board next to the Adafruit module and see if I can also squeeze in two more 3mm screw terminal blocks, it's going to be tight but I think I can do it, if not then I'll just have to add in another side board with the Optocouplers on it.

In the meantime to make things easier for me to install this module when completed I worked out a diagram to illustrate where all the pin outs are located on the module (right). It's coming together though just a few more things to do and then I can wire it up for a test in the car before seeing about perhaps stuffing this into an enclosure to make for a nice install.

Adafruit SFX Mini Flash Sound Board with TDA2030A Amplifier Module

I have put together the Adafruit Mini Flash SFX Sound Board along with the TDA2030A Amplifier module onto a piece of Protoboard. Took me a little while to solder out the pins and Speaker connection screw terminal block so I could solder the pins onto the back of the board and add some more pins for where the speaker connections go. I relocated the original screw terminal block from the Amplifier board to just the right of the module on the Protoboard and then connected the two with some jumper wires.

Right now I am powering the Adafruit SFX board with a USB cable but I have some LM7805 power regulators on order so I can just wire in 12V and split a portion of that off to power the Adafruit board with the 5V output from the LN7805.

I also started to make my Optocoupler board for the Sound Effects that will be generated from the Space Matt buttons. Some of the sound effects will be generated from the Switch Pods and I will not need the DTMF request wire that I have worked into this board as the Switch Pods already send a DTMF tone request. But I figure just incase I ever re-purpose these little boards for something different in the future it might be a good idea to have the ability already on the little boards. Here is a diagram of how I have the Optocoupler board wired (above left). Some other buttons I may need to get a little tricky with using that 555 timer board to request the Monitor Activation Sound when I turn on the lower console buttons for either the GPS or LCD screen as they are latching buttons and the Adafruit SFX board just needs momentary connections to activate any of the sounds on the pins.

Adafruit Mini Sound FX Board Wiring Diagram

I have worked out a wiring scheme (above) for the mini Adafruit 2MB Sound FX Board for supplying power to the board, wiring up the momentary buttons that activate the sound FX on the board and the audio out jack.

The power supply is simple, I'm basically using the same 12V to 5V step-down converter (right) or transformer model that I used for my GPS screen, I solder the 5V output wires onto the Adafruit board. I may introduce an on/off switch into the wiring scheme to have further control over if the board is powered or not. If I do I'll probably do that on the 12V input side of the step-down converter module. A simple switch to Relay should work well for that.

The momentary buttons to activate the various sound FX on the Adafruit board I will hook up to both my Lower Console's Space Matt buttons and my Switch Pod buttons. So far on the sound FX board I have:

1. Knight Rider Theme (Narrated)
2. Knight Rider Theme (Un-Narrated)
3. File Open Sound FX
4. File Close Sound FX
5. Scanner Sound (Loop)
6. Radar Sound (Loop)
7. Turboboost
8. K.I.T.T. Introduction
9. Surveillance Mode FX

I have a little room to add more if I like but I think for anything more complex I will get the 16MB version of the same board in order to use more sound if I find I need more. But for now these should do for simple things.

The Knight Rider themes I have set on the board to play in next order so when you press the button the first theme plays and at the end of the theme when you press the button again the other version of the them plays.

The File Open sound FX I have sent to just play when the button is pressed, my thought is that I will have those sounds play when I turn on the LCD Screen or GPS Screen.

File Close sound FX will play when I turn off either monitor.

Scanner sound FX loop I have set as a "Latching" function on the Adafruit board, the sound plays until the button is pressed again, so looping sounds are best for the boards "Latching" function.

Same set up for the Radar and Surveillance sound FX loops. 

Turboboost FX is set as just a single play on button press same as K.I.T.T.s introduction. I could very easily add other introductions and have those play in a random order as the Adafruit sound FX board has a very nice feature for playing random sound files too, but for now I'm just using the classic K.I.T.T. introduction ;)

Here is a little additional work done on the diagram to include a power on off switch and to use the option of either a Relay or Optocoupler as switch option for the momentary button to activate the board sounds.

Adafruit Mini 2MB Sound FX Board Test

So I finally got around to testing out the Adafruit 2MB Flash Sound FX board I had picked up quite some time ago, I had been meaning to get around to it but was constantly getting side tracked with so many other projects. Today I hooked up the USB cord and plugged in the mini board and copied over the WAV and OGG files with the correct naming convention as per the instructions on the Adafruit web site. The board works like a charm and is very simple to use just like they say. This will be perfect for some sound FX that I know will get used a lot and I think should be built right into my K.I.T.T. project. I have a demo video here, I do apologize for the focus though but it's gets the point across as to what is going on and how easy it will be to hook up these contacts that activate the sounds on the board very easily to some of my Switch Pod and Space Matt buttons.

Season 1 Monitor Frames Ordered

I ordered my season one monitor frames today from Knightscan on eBay. They had the best price I was happy with and at this time of year who doesn't need to save a few bucks ;) I like this shape too as I have always been fond of the season one monitor frames, they kind of remind me of Battlestar Galactica for some reason?? Don't know why but I like it ;) I think also I am going to get my LCD 5 inch touch screens from Adafruit as they seem to have the best price and a wide range of 5 inch LCD screens to choose from.

Received The Adafruit 2MB Audio FX Sound Board

I received the 2MB Audio FX Sound Board by Adafruit, it was dropped off late yesterday by UPS. Now all I need is the step down transformer to convert 12V DC to what this little board needs. Once I get that I can begin working on how I want to incorporate this into my dash to work with the switch pods. I know for sure I want it to reproduce the Turbo Boost sound when that button is pressed. Some other sound effects too that I'll see if I can work into my K.I.T.T.s Voice Projection System. It's going to take some figuring out but this tiny little board which was designed for props is small enough to stash just about anywhere.