Emic speech board not working anymore

modemman

My Emic speech board started behaving weird. All of a sudden it started skipping words in sentences, after a while it started making hissing noises and say only one or two words, now it just hisses.

Tried 2 different BOE boards, one with BS2 and one with BS2p, using 6V battery packs and of course, supplying regulated 5V to the Emic. Tried the 2 demo programs from the Parallax site (EasyEmic.BS2 and EMICTTS.BS2). I only got it to say "Stamp" once, the number "four" and a version of "Parallax" - more like "Hissss-hisss LAX". Lights behave normal, I can do a software reset, a hardware reset, I get an "OK" if I query status, tried different pins, different speakers, etc.

I really don't think I fried this board and I can tell it's not dead, it just doesn't speak anymore! Arrggghhh, so frustrating......

Anyone has any idea if this is fixable? Am I missing something basic?

Thanks.

Tom C

modemman,

Have you tried fresh batteries?

If you are powering the EMIC from the Stamp, you will need batteries that are full up.

I suggest that you power the Stamp and the EMIC from a wallwart for consistent power.

Regards,

TCIII

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If you are going to send·a Robot·to save the world, you·better make sure it likes it the way it is!

modemman

TCIII,

I did power it both from batteries and a 7V-2A wallwart that I trust to be good. No difference. I can tell it's processing things and it's "trying" to say words, but it's just noise and hisses.

modemman

Rick Price

I don't really have any knowledge about this, but any floating pins? It seems like it could be having problems with table lookups...

Mike Green

Call Parallax Tech Support. There might be something wrong with the built-in amplifier since you can get a response from the device ("OK"). If you had the equipment to check it, you could look at the line-out connection (AOUT) to see if there's a reasonable signal there or try an external amplifier with a DC blocking capacitor (like a 10uF 6V electrolytic).

modemman

Thanks all. I got an RMA from Parallax, they'll take a look at it.

modemman