Push Button Speaker Box with Built in FM Receiver - As presented at the Perth 2023 Mini

[Skymaster]

One really quick mod you could do to that design to make it "interactive":

Rewire the ground to go to the common of the timer relay.
This means it'll either switch to the NC (when timer is not on) or NO (when timer is on).
The NO then goes to the speaker relays, keeping the logic the same.

BUT- the fun bit- you now hook the arcade LED up to the NC on the timer.
This way, when the sound is off, the LED is illuminated. Once the button is hit, the speakers will turn on and the button will extinguish

 

[Johnnyboy]

One really quick mod you could do to that design to make it "interactive":

Rewire the ground to go to the common of the timer relay.
This means it'll either switch to the NC (when timer is not on) or NO (when timer is on).
The NO then goes to the speaker relays, keeping the logic the same.

BUT- the fun bit- you now hook the arcade LED up to the NC on the timer.
This way, when the sound is off, the LED is illuminated. Once the button is hit, the speakers will turn on and the button will extinguish



View attachment 26506

See, this is why I love this forum. Really good idea!

This would give a nice interactive feel to the button! Nice!

 

[bpratt]

finally hooked it up and put it in place for some testing today.

Button works great (did Skymaster mod for the button), and it receives the signal fine, however I get a lot of background static noise, and it really is noticeable.

I've got everything, including the meanwell inside the box, so I'm guessing the meanwell is my noise source.

How have you been able to silence this annoying static like sound, or do you have your psu separate from the box ?

 

[Johnnyboy]

finally hooked it up and put it in place for some testing today.

Button works great (did Skymaster mod for the button), and it receives the signal fine, however I get a lot of background static noise, and it really is noticeable.

I've got everything, including the meanwell inside the box, so I'm guessing the meanwell is my noise source.

How have you been able to silence this annoying static like sound, or do you have your psu separate from the box ?

I finally did a full setup outside rather than just a very low volumes when i got it all to work. Like you I got a lot of static background noise. It was horrible, way worse than the amp I used in the original design. I tried various inputs, FM, direct, by-passing components and in the end, it was just a really poor-quality amp. Waste of $30.

I ended up going out and purchasing a second hand 240v Stereo amplifier/receiver. Lots more power. If you wanted to replicate this, you just need to ensure that the amp has a physical on/off button so that you if you turn off/on the power for your wall outlet, the amp turns on/off etc. Other than that, any home theatre / 2-channel gear would be great.



Updated Wiring Diagram with external amp
This wiring diagram now functions as just a time delay relay for the push button. No FM Receiver, no amp, no frills. Your setup will need to be able to have speaker cables from the amp to your speakers. For my setup, I will have the amp in the roof space, speaker cables running to outside where it will hook into the time delay box, then to the speakers. Its not something that will work as well for everyone but given how may wires are going in/out of our houses, what's one extra hole your house!




Really hope this is the last update to this box i need to make!

 

[paullyxmas76]

Just my 2 cents worth that worked for me....In My experience with eliminating the static...I invested in Shielded RCA cables my go to cables I bought 7 years ago for My FM transmitter and to my speakers were the "Evergreen" range of RCA cables....I thought well with all the cash splashed on lights and power supplies and all the Bunnings trips...I bought these cables after using alot cheaper non shielded cables and had continuous static...put these Evergreens in the mix and voila..static went completely...just what worked for me and My FM transmitter is really close to my controller and power supplies and network switch so alot of "noise" would be generated one would think...these shielded cables really helped and completely got rid of the static problems for me....
link from where I bought them 8 years ago for my first show...alot more expensive now but shop around and you might be able to snap up a bargain for them....

https://www.audiotrends.com.au/catalogsearch/result/?q=evergreen

 

[JacksonHo]

Just so I order the right thing, I also might get a 2nd hand receiver. This would mean I only need to order the following electronic componets
1 x button
2 x relay modules (I noticed these also come in 2 channels, will one of those work?)
1 x time delay relay

I can then power it off my 12v power supply doing all the rest of my show. After that just get cables and mounting hardware?

 

[Johnnyboy]

Just so I order the right thing, I also might get a 2nd hand receiver. This would mean I only need to order the following electronic componets
1 x button
2 x relay modules (I noticed these also come in 2 channels, will one of those work?)
1 x time delay relay

I can then power it off my 12v power supply doing all the rest of my show. After that just get cables and mounting hardware?

Yup that list will do the trick. I would grab a few spare buttons as the one i got isn't waterproof. It's experienced several showers this year and still going strong, but a few spares is always a good idea just in case.

2 channel relay will work fine, can't remember the reason why i got the single channel ones, i think i had some lying around.
As long as your receiver has a physical on/off button, and defaults to the last input your set.

I've been running this setup for Halloween this year and the clarity is massive step up from my previous version.

 

[Snicko]

I'm currently working on a variant that uses an ESP32 controlling the relay.
The idea being that the ESP32 can run the timer function but can also host a web application to configure it.
This allows me to disable the button remotely or let the music run indefinitely (for when I'm out there enjoying the lights).

I'll update more here later but here is a link to the code if anyone wants to follow along or contribute

GitHub - RossBille/push-for-sound

Contribute to RossBille/push-for-sound development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

I love this idea with the ESP32!