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.

Upper Console DPDT Latching Rockers DTMF Tone Request

Here is a little something we are working on to add a little more flash to the Upper Console. The momentary switches are simple enough to have request a random DTMF tone from the Voice Box, but for latching switches this is a lot more complicated. So what we have here is a circuit scenario that makes use of a few simple components to achieve just that. This scenario makes use of the 555 timer IC chip to send a short one second pulse to the Voice Box's DTMF tone generator which is roughly about the same as a momentary button. In this diagram I have 2 mapped out for simplicity but essentially you would continue the pattern for each DPDT Rocker Switch. The LED indicator lights board is optional but I like it. On the indicator board I have green LEDs and red LEDs that would each light up for about a second when each corresponding Rocker Switch has been turned on, also a short signal is sent to the Voice Box to request the random DTMF tone.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

There are a few errors in the 555 Timer circuit above, also this new one has been simplified a little eliminating one Capacitor and swapping out a Resistor for a Variable resistor. Out side of that just swap out the Piezo Buzzer for your LED connection. :)

 

DTMF Tone Request Experimentations

In making sure that I well isolate the Voice Box's DTMF tone request from any momentary buttons I have I figured I would rig up a mini Songo 12V Relay very close to the Voce Box. Now what happens here is that when a DTMF Tone request is called by any momentary button I have hooked up to a wire that I am calling "DTMF Tone Request" THAT wire goes to the magnetic coil of this mini Songo 12V Relay's Ground (-), the other side of the magnetic coil goes to 12V (+). So this then trips the Relay's internal isolated switch which I then have connected to both the Voice Box's Ground (-) and also the DTMF Tone Request port. You will have to excuse my somewhat over sized piece of PCB board it was all I had kicking around that I could use to mount this small relay onto and connect wires too. I'll most likely change it later when I get some smaller pieces of PCB Proto-Board. The wires from the Switch Pods that request the DTMF tone I just have going directly into the Voice Box's DTMF Tone request port.

Now the other part of today's fun was to wire up my Relays board for some experimentation just to make sure that I am understanding correctly just what is going on with this thing and how it interacts with my buttons. All of this stuff gets pretty complicated if you are new to electronics like me. ;) My latest video that I posted to my blog explains best and visually how I have it all hooked up. But basically the Ground pulse buttons from my Space Matt buttons go into the ports on the board that connect to the Diodes, they connect to the DTMF Tone Request wire and also to the individual relays on the board. Each relays gets it's own ground pulse from each of the Space Matt buttons activating the Relays internal switch which I can hook up to any device I want to activate, in my case 5 of the Space Matt buttons are simply activating buttons that control the setting for my LCD screen. Although I have not yet hooked it up, a 6th button will cycle the Message Centre while producing a DTMF tone with each press of the button. The rest of the Space Matt buttons I don't have plans for just yet.

My Voice Projection unit activation button is wired up the same way as the Dash Power Button and makes a connection to ground to activate the Step Relay, this one was a little more tricky. You can see in the image above (middle left) that branching off from the wire that comes from the Normally Open terminal of the V.P. power button that I have placed a Diode in-line connecting to the DTMF Tone Request block.... which I moved onto the back of my Relays Board. Without the Diode in place the Space Matt buttons would activate the Step Relay for the Voice Projection unit as well, not good, so the Diode sure takes care of that as it only allows current to travel in one direction... taking me a while to get the hang of that but it works and it's cool... gotta love electronics ;)

So now with all of this in place I'll have to test it out on the Voice Box once the replacement I.C. Chip 01 comes in the mail. If everything works out well, and so far I can't see what not as a Relay does what a Relay does ;) But as I say if all goes well I can look into experimenting with the Optocouplers when they arrive and see if I can make a set up like this that takes up a lot less space. This would be fine if I only wanted to use a small amount of my Space Matt buttons but I can see eventually wanting to use more down the road as I trick out K.I.T.T. with more cool gadgets ;)   

VB Theme Cut Off Button Update

On the left my custom button name plate as it arrived from the engravers and on the left the button installed next to the Voice Projection button. When I solder the wires from the connector that attaches to the dash and to the Voice Box this button when in the "On" position will disable the Knight Rider Theme from playing during the dash's start up sequence.

 I have an extra custom name plate and button if anyone is interested, just eMail me at: mdk.graphics@rocketmail.com

$30.00 shipping included,

shipping may be more depending on location.