Veho 360 speaker: a must-have accessory for your Propeller BOE
Ken Gracey
Posts: 7,392
While playing around with some cheapo external speakers on my Propeller BOE at Parallax, Andy alerted me to one that Kwabena had last summer as an intern. I contacted Kwabena and found out it was the Veho 360, a really audible speaker with a short cord and jack, slider-adjustable volume, and USB recharging. Purchased two of them. They're $16 each on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Veho-VSS-001-360-Portable-Capsule-Speaker/dp/B002CS2T4I and probably cheaper elsewhere. Ask erco to find the best deal.
These are of great quality. Plenty of volume and responsive to different frequencies. They'll fit under the Propeller BOE on a PropBot and would be considered an absolute must-have for anybody who picks up a Propeller BOE when they are released (update: just after Christmas, and yes, I'm doing everything I can to get this production underway). Having seen some of the examples being developed by Andy and the education team I think you'll want one of these. Below is an example with my primary use at the moment, a talking ultrasonic distance sensor.
The speaker is louder than it sounds considering it's on level 2 (of 3) and that I'm talking directly into the camera's microphone.
From my home office, and only reporting erco-worthy news finds. . . Ken Gracey
[video=youtube_share;XXv3Nw5jqFY]
These are of great quality. Plenty of volume and responsive to different frequencies. They'll fit under the Propeller BOE on a PropBot and would be considered an absolute must-have for anybody who picks up a Propeller BOE when they are released (update: just after Christmas, and yes, I'm doing everything I can to get this production underway). Having seen some of the examples being developed by Andy and the education team I think you'll want one of these. Below is an example with my primary use at the moment, a talking ultrasonic distance sensor.
The speaker is louder than it sounds considering it's on level 2 (of 3) and that I'm talking directly into the camera's microphone.
From my home office, and only reporting erco-worthy news finds. . . Ken Gracey
[video=youtube_share;XXv3Nw5jqFY]
Comments
I really like the rechargeability aspect of that thing. I can't count the number of 9V batteries I've gone through with my little RadioShack speaker-amp because I forgot to turn it off. Do you have a sense yet of how much actual play time you get between charges?
-Phil
-Phil
That makes two of us, because I can never get by with just one of these boards. I'm very confident this is the best board we've ever delivered - it's all here, packed into a really handy size. The right number of decisions were made regarding I/O usage vs. I/O jumpers to connect to devices, leaving 14-16 I/Os free all the time. And those pins that are connected are attached to must-have tools! If C has been a hold-up in some educational situations it'll be the case no longer, too. Hopefully I convey confidence and not arrogance as I really just want people to know the Propeller BOE is a fantastic Propeller programming platform.
Ken Gracey
I have to have that!
Kenny
Hey Kenny, it came from EarthLCD but it is no longer available. It's a 5.7" VGA and I made the stand for it on our router.
Ken Gracey
However, the speech audio leaves much to be desired ATM. I could not understand the 22 at all.
I too loved the LCD display Ken.
-Phil
I slit the bellows in the middle, which is quite unecessary, as there are (As I discovered to my chagrin) four small phillips screws that hold it to the bottom of the casing. That reveals the back of the 4Ω 2W speaker and a glimpse of the circuit board in the bottom half.
The top of the bellows is glued to a slip ring that allows the top to rotate freely (at least up until the point that you over-twist the loose flexible speaker wires!) Again I jumped the gun by pulling the bellows loose from the slip ring. You can get it out with the slip ring attached by judicious prying with a screwdriver. Under the slip ring it becomes evident that the speaker and the grill have been put in place with an aggressive adhesive in a well on the other side.
The circuit board is sparse, one SOIC-8 audio amplifier chip. The chip is marked MD2103N, and the logo looks sort of like a crescent moon. I wasn't able to locate that chip in a quick search. Wire connections off-board go to the audio input plug, the lithium battery, and the speaker.
The battery charging circuit from the USB connector to the Lithium battery is pretty simple, a 2.2Ω resistor, a diode, and a capacitor. It is no wonder they instruct you not to leave it on charge for more than 4 hrs. Batteryspace.com sells a similar lithium polymer battery (PL502030) rated at 230 mAh.
Is the propeller BOE pre-order happening yet?
I see you now list the 360 speaker in new products, do you plan on a higher price package version of BOE with added accessory's like the 360 speaker?
I also like the display but alas not avaiable.
Tom
The veho360 speaker will be included with all Propeller BOE pre-orders.
There are a few other accessory parts we will offer in a single package (SD Micro Card, veho360 speaker, wires, and an XBee). That kit hasn't been defined yet, but if you wound up buying it you might have two veho360 speakers at some stage.
Ken Gracey
I suspect it should but won't regulate voltage too well. Actually I saw one of these the other day in a local retail shop nearby and was tempted to pick one up to go pull it apart and use it for something I am working on, then I ran into this older thread which had already done it. I did some digging online and think I have found a data sheet for it (but it is in Chinese). A google translation of it looks like it runs at up to 5V so it probably can run without the battery off USB. However the 2.2 ohm resistor and diode they used in series is a bit ugly and it probably relies on the actual battery for some of the voltage regulation. Without the battery fitted you'd want to strip those two parts out in order to keep a stable voltage supply when the current draw changes. Ideally I would add some type of dedicated voltage regulator between this chip and the power source. I can't say I like the charger circuit much, seems scary doing that with LiPo batteries.
Here's the best link I found with some specs. It doesn't say MD2103N but does show MD2103. I hope it is very similar or the same part but don't know for sure.
http://www.chipsourcetek.com/Downloads/MD2103%20v1.0.pdf
Roger
Thanks. I'll take a look at the specs and try to decide which way I want to go with the battery.
Maybe I'll test it without a battery in the circuit. I can always wire it back in.
So I picked up one from the store and opened it up like Tracy had done a couple of years back now. It still all looks the same, no apparent design changes. I plan to yank out the battery as I want to embed this in something else with its own power supply. One thing I realized though is that the usual 500mA current capacity of a USB port may not be sufficient to drive the power at full rated output on a 4 ohm load. I think the amp can put out 3W at 5V into 4 ohms which would pull more than 500mA (depends on gain and input levels etc). The LiPo battery can probably source enough current for that, while USB is in their design basically just for charging.
As I plan to run at a lower voltage in my application it shouldn't be a big deal to remove the battery and add in a 3.3V regulator between USB and the amp, and this lower voltage may limit the current on USB (it is very loud already so I am not worried to drop it slightly). One more potentially useful thing is that the Left and Right channels appear to be wired into the USB socket as its data pins, so you could in theory use one cable to run everything to it, power and audio signals combined. Could be handy...
Roger
No worries about that gwtthr. Drop my your shipping address and we'll replace it for you. I agree that the speaker shouldn't fall apart so quickly and we can do a warranty replacement for you.
Ken Gracey