Any one good with circuits and electronics?

[Drac]

Not much of an update but I have sorted the grille and the Perspex that goes behind it, also just ordered a few more of the Electronics needed. I'm determined to get back to this as it's been neglected for a few months, as I said I will do a finished thread once I get it sorted

 

[propmaster2000]

Thanks Drac for the updated information.
Looking forward to the finished prop.

.

 

[Drac]

Hi to those still interested in this project, it's been a while since I really looked at this much. I had a set plan on what I was putting together but as I've had so many other things going on I'd kind of forgotten what my plan was, so I've had a day trying to run through it again.

Anyway, I think I have most of what I needed and have done a quick mock up of what I'm doing. However I'm a little stumped on a few things.

1. I'm puzzled on how I'm meant to be attaching the amp to the sound board.
2. The two bottom right orange and yellow wires on the diagram are meant to be for power source however I am using a power pack instead which connects to the sound board, so if I do it that way will it power both sides with that setup? Or does it need changing?
3. Any other advice you can give lol

As a note I realise I've used only three colour jumpers but they were the only sizes I had so apologies

Kind regards

P

 

[Drac]

Ok if I've got this right I need to connect the R L & Gnd from the adafruit board to the R L & Gnd of the amplifier? But which ones? I don't get the single ended signalling and the differential signalling. Image of the amp:

Cheers


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[nomuse]

They are differential inputs, but if you don't have a balanced signal to feed them, just send signal to "+" and tie "-" to ground.

 

[Drac]

They are differential inputs, but if you don't have a balanced signal to feed them, just send signal to "+" and tie "-" to ground.

What would be a balanced signal? lol I'm so out of my depth here but I'm learning as I go


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[propmaster2000]

Hi Drac,
Since your amplifier is designed for Stereo inputs (Right and Left channel), you would connect 2 signals to the inputs.
But if you are only using one signal from your sound board (mono), you would connect as stated above and
you would only need one speaker.
You can add a potentiometer to control the input signal and the volume.

(this page may help)
https://learn.adafruit.com/stereo-3-7w-class-d-audio-amplifier/downloads?view=all

.

 

[Drac]

Hi Drac,
Since your amplifier is designed for Stereo inputs (Right and Left channel), you would connect 2 signals to the inputs.
But if you are only using one signal from your sound board (mono), you would connect as stated above and
you would only need one speaker.
You can add a potentiometer to control the input signal and the volume.

(this page may help)
https://learn.adafruit.com/stereo-3-7w-class-d-audio-amplifier/downloads?view=all

.

Thanks for the link that's the one I've been trying to wrap my head around lol I have two speakers for this set up, so does that mean I only need one?


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[nomuse]

Yeah -- BALANCED audio is not the same as STEREO signal, but as long as you are using MONO material you'll only need one speaker. Left channel is traditional.

BALANCED audio is...let me make this as simple as possible. The signal from your sound board swings from a positive voltage down to ground. A balanced audio signal uses THREE wires; the pair carrying the signal swing from positive (in reference to ground) to negative (in reference to ground). Basically the waveform is twice the voltage.

The reason you get balanced leads in pro audio is that over long wire runs outside interference gets into the signal. Motors, fluorescent tubes, cell phone transmissions, etc. The trick is, since the outside signal is the same polarity on both wires, when they are combined at the amp the interference cancels itself out. Or so goes the theory.

For an application like this you don't need it. Just put your signal on the positive lead, and tie the negative lead to ground so it doesn't float and cause trouble.


I hope that wasn't too much information!

 

[Drac]

Yeah -- BALANCED audio is not the same as STEREO signal, but as long as you are using MONO material you'll only need one speaker. Left channel is traditional.

BALANCED audio is...let me make this as simple as possible. The signal from your sound board swings from a positive voltage down to ground. A balanced audio signal uses THREE wires; the pair carrying the signal swing from positive (in reference to ground) to negative (in reference to ground). Basically the waveform is twice the voltage.

The reason you get balanced leads in pro audio is that over long wire runs outside interference gets into the signal. Motors, fluorescent tubes, cell phone transmissions, etc. The trick is, since the outside signal is the same polarity on both wires, when they are combined at the amp the interference cancels itself out. Or so goes the theory.

For an application like this you don't need it. Just put your signal on the positive lead, and tie the negative lead to ground so it doesn't float and cause trouble.


I hope that wasn't too much information!

Thanks for 'dumbing it down' lol ;-) I think I understand.....ish. So I only need one speaker, and put the signal from the sound board to the positive of the amp, and negative from the sound to the ground of the amp? Have I got that? Lol


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[nomuse]

Connect one of the "signal ground" pins from the SFX chip (the grounds that are right beside the audio outputs) to the "negative signal" or "signal -" of the amplifier board. The left (or right) signal from the SFX chip goes to the positive (+) input lead of the amp board. Make sure you use all left or all right for the signal chain -- makes it easier to keep from getting anything crossed up.

 

[Drac]

Connect one of the "signal ground" pins from the SFX chip (the grounds that are right beside the audio outputs) to the "negative signal" or "signal -" of the amplifier board. The left (or right) signal from the SFX chip goes to the positive (+) input lead of the amp board. Make sure you use all left or all right for the signal chain -- makes it easier to keep from getting anything crossed up.

Got ya cheers for the input. As soon as I get a decent soldering iron I'll get on this


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[propmaster2000]

Hi Drac,

Just checking in on your progress.

 

[Drac]

Hi Drac,

Just checking in on your progress.

Hi, thanks for the check in unfortunately I have nothing for you at the moment, I have been focusing on other projects in between my busy work schedule. I have all the Electronics I need and bought a new soldering iron ( a decent one) and I have found out that I can't solder to save my life, not good.

I will get back to this at some point though as I really want to get it done I just need to find someone to solder for me lol [emoji23]


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[Gixxerfool]

Hi, thanks for the check in unfortunately I have nothing for you at the moment, I have been focusing on other projects in between my busy work schedule. I have all the Electronics I need and bought a new soldering iron ( a decent one) and I have found out that I can't solder to save my life, not good.

I will get back to this at some point though as I really want to get it done I just need to find someone to solder for me lol [emoji23]


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Like many skills, soldering is a lot of practice. I recommend just reading up on what a proper solder joint should look like, if you haven't already. From there it's all technique. Get some plain wire. Heat it then apply the solder to the opposing side allowing the solder to be drawn towards the heat.

 

[Drac]

Like many skills, soldering is a lot of practice. I recommend just reading up on what a proper solder joint should look like, if you haven't already. From there it's all technique. Get some plain wire. Heat it then apply the solder to the opposing side allowing the solder to be drawn towards the heat.

Thanks, I will get round to it at some point I need to practice for my R2 project so I'll need to build the skill lol


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[Drac]

Well after spending hours today playing around with this project I have soldered the sound board and the amplifier and put the circuit together on the bread boards, I have given up. Activating the sounds won’t work, although by bridging between the ground and the activators I could play the sound through the headphone port on the sound board but couldn’t get the amplifier to work. And to top it all off for some reason that won’t even work now either. I’m completely lost on this one. For some reason I couldn’t get it to power up through the sound board either. I’m stumped. :-(

Having absolutely no idea about how this all works doesn’t help.

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[Jintosh]

There's a sound board from Adafruit with a built in amp. It has a 2watt amp built in. Minimal soldering.

https://www.adafruit.com/product/2210

 

[Drac]

There's a sound board from Adafruit with a built in amp. It has a 2watt amp built in. Minimal soldering.

https://www.adafruit.com/product/2210

Yeah these were apparently withdrawn from the market when I started this project, and I had bought all the stuff already, but typically now they are clearly available.

Unfortunately there is still soldering involved putting the pins on for the bread board, I guess I can manage that. It’s more why the whole set up isn’t working I have followed it step by step but clearly there is an issue somewhere :-/


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[xl97]

I do lots of Arduino based stuff..

not sure what you all have as far as hardware... but if you post a list of your hardware, and some ics of how it is currently set-up/soldered...


I'll take a look.