Boombox Project: The Riese

[Jeff F.]

Looks good! Nice wiring job too. How's the sound?

[Millstonemike]

And I was waiting for woodwork ... silly me. Really nice, love the retro look.

Are those NPE caps on the TBs?

I've used these to add some customization / personalization to projects: If you search around eBay, you'll find vendors offering different tag colors, shapes, sizes and fonts. I've used MS-PowerPoint to model, print and cutout tags to see how a design would look prior to ordering.

[Gordy]

And I was waiting for woodwork ... silly me. Really nice, love the retro look.

Are those NPE caps on the TBs?

Yes they are NPE caps from PE. It was the easiest place to put them. I just talking to the wife this AM about a plate to put on the back. I already have an idea on that one.

Jeff,

It sounds pretty good given the enclosure and its limitations. The Lowe end is present and the off axis is decent as well. The 1053 is a great little 3". It is a highly portable and light solution which makes it great for a 7 year old.

[Gordy]

Today was her birthday. I took half the day off and surprised her by picking her up as school. The wife normally picks her up. I told her this morning I had a surprise for her when she got home. I handed her a plain brown box and as she opened up a box full of parts she had the biggest smile. She had a blast assembling and and got to learn what drivers, amplifiers, chargers, bluetooth modules and batteries are. She is a pretty hands on kid and is not afraid to dig in. We got her an iPod Nano and loaded some music on for her. The first thing she asked for was AC/DC Back in Black.






She installed each board and plugged everything is.

[shibby]

That is too cool, she's very lucky!

[Chris Roemer]

A simply wonderful DIY birthday project ! She could end up being the youngest future member of the Design Team !

[Jeff F.]

That's awesome!

[Kevin K.]

She looks right at home with all the hand tools, very cool. And who would have guessed AC/DC would be on her wish list, Daddy doesn't like AC/DC does he? You can't buy what she will have learned about this project from a store and she will remember it and appreciate it for a very long time. Nice Job Gordy!

[Derekj]

Awesome project! Great idea to let her put it together.

[3rutu5]

How have I never seen this thread? I've scoured the internet for boomboxes and 3-5v applications and still nothing, but here we are : that is a tidy little speaker.

Where did you get that battery holder? Not only does it look like a tidy install I could be mistaken that it is a screw thread as well?

[Gordy]

Where did you get that battery holder? Not only does it look like a tidy install I could be mistaken that it is a screw thread as well?

The battery holders are just cable tie mounts. The 18650 fits well in them and I used Cobra style cable ties to hold it down. The Cobra style ties when trimmed make a smooth termination on the cable tie. Nobody would see this but I sure did. Below are some up close pics of the back panel and the threaded stand offs that each component is mounted to. Everything was designed to be fully serviceable incase a customer had an issue hence the JST connectors. I was all about back then making my own. The electronics are rock solid and I sold a good mount of these. Only one came back, customer plugged in a 12v (should be 5v) charger and toasted the charger board and amp. The Adafruit charge board is a true gem. Charge and listen at the same time, user selectable charge rates, outputs for external charge LED indicators. It is a must for any 5v mini speaker project. The battery life of this speaker is about 15hours at normal volumes.

[blue934]

I am in awe, man! That's just excellent.

[3rutu5]

Oh that's a black sleeve on the battery, I thought that was a case lol...I'm finishing a beer can build and was going to use a TP4057 board, but instead going to use my adafruit one like shown.

How did you find the adafruit amp? I was looking at them a few times but had a couple of randoms lying around so didn't end up buying them? Get good sound out of them?

[Gordy]

Oh that's a black sleeve on the battery, I thought that was a case lol...I'm finishing a beer can build and was going to use a TP4057 board, but instead going to use my adafruit one like shown.

How did you find the adafruit amp? I was looking at them a few times but had a couple of randoms lying around so didn't end up buying them? Get good sound out of them?

Yes a PVC sleeve on the battery. I used specific batteries back in the day and wanted to keep those details to myself. The amp is product number 987. The sound is really smooth and nice and in the setup I had there was zero noise. But, I attribute the "zero noise" to the Sure BT module. I tried many 5v amps and BT module combos. Every time I added a cheap BT module, I would get noise. Once I found the Sure BT board it solved any and all noise noise issues. The amp also has 4 jumpers for gain (volume). I tried out what worked best for each application and then soldered across the leads. To charge I also used product ID 276. It was perfect for the voltage, UL listed and cheap.

[3rutu5]

Yes a PVC sleeve on the battery. I used specific batteries back in the day and wanted to keep those details to myself. The amp is product number 987. The sound is really smooth and nice and in the setup I had there was zero noise. But, I attribute the "zero noise" to the Sure BT module. I tried many 5v amps and BT module combos. Every time I added a cheap BT module, I would get noise. Once I found the Sure BT board it solved any and all noise noise issues. The amp also has 4 jumpers for gain (volume). I tried out what worked best for each application and then soldered across the leads. To charge I also used product ID 276. It was perfect for the voltage, UL listed and cheap.

That's fantastic, I'm going to take the plunge I think. I have a couple of cheap unknown amps and BT chips and have been hunting for that perfect name branded item in that 3-5v range.

I looked into the sure board a few times but just couldn't bring myself to purchase it as the shipping and price was a bit expensive for me not being situated in the states.