deskthority

xxhellfirexx wrote: ↑

22 May 2019, 08:47

User101 wrote: ↑

22 May 2019, 06:47

Interestingly, your typing video sounds very different compared to the other supposedly same keyboard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl-Z9zH7A8Y
This one i mean.
Any idea whats the cause?

Not having the top case can affect the sound.

Indeed. Also, it seems like that in the video OldIsNew did not bottom out the switches. So we can only hear the leaf spring sound.
Just an assumption. Nothing certain.

Last night I was trying to figure out how to integrate the speaker and volume knob into this project. The circuit is a bit over my head. Anyone out there feel like dropping some knowledge on me? I tried to make a schematic of what I see on the PCB.

By the way, this speaker is LOUD. Even on the lowest volume it's pretty loud, but crank it up and your neighbors will think you're testing your fire alarm. At least that's what my girlfriend thought I was doing.

halp

snacksthecat wrote: ↑

01 Aug 2019, 02:07

halp

Mood.

User101 would really like to see this reborn with a buzzer.

I don't think I can keep the buzzer soldered onto the original board like it is and get it working like that (in place). So I'm borrowing a buzzer from another keyboard. I understand conceptually how this should work (i.e. apply power, produce sound) but I have no education of circuits and how electricity works.



I've got this little guy, how do I make it buzz?

Connect positive lead to any free pin on the controller.
Negative to the ground.

The rest is software really. Set the pin as output and change the state (High, Low) when button is pressed.
If the buzzer is to loud add resistor in series to the positive lead. High resistance = lower volume. Or add potentiometer as a volume knob.

Thanks purdobol.

purdobol wrote: ↑

02 Aug 2019, 12:03

Spoiler:

Connect positive lead to any free pin on the controller.
Negative to the ground.

The rest is software really. Set the pin as output and change the state (High, Low) when button is pressed.
If the buzzer is to loud add resistor in series to the positive lead. High resistance = lower volume. Or add potentiometer as a volume knob.

I finally revisited this project with some fresh eyes and I think I was overcomplicating the issue the first time around. I was getting frustrated because all I could get out of the buzzer/beeper was a little click (nothing that would be audible once installed inside the case).

Finally I did some very obvious googling that I should have done earlier and came across this stackexchange post that described my problem exactly:

https://arduino.stackexchange.com/quest ... ot-working


So since CommonSense does not yet support tone generation, I figured that I need to get some active buzzers. I bought some cheap ones off Amazon to see if these would suit my needs.

Unfortunately, it didn't turn out so well.

Warning: Loud I guess there are a couple of things that bother me about this.

• I don't like the tone that it makes... It's very unpleasant
• Piezo buzzers don't really have much volume control. Their range is very narrow.
• Trying to adjust the volume (voltage) also changes the pitch in a wild sounding way

So now I think it is just a matter of finding the right buzzer. I'm looking for something that works of a range of voltages (e.g. 3.3 - 5V). I'm guessing that a buzzer like that would do the trick.

Alternatively, there may be other "sound indicator" components that I'm not aware of. If that's the case, I would love to hear some suggestions

Thanks for reading and sorry for the lack of updates on this project!

Thanks for not giving up dude.

User101 would like not just the buzzer to work but also for the volume knob to be functional as well. From what I can tell so far, active buzzers have a very narrow voltage range, and it's not particularly useful for controlling volume. I decided to abandon this idea and move onto something different.

I had the idea that I could use something like a pro micro to detect the solenoid trigger signals and output a "tone" to a passive buzzer (which I have plenty of). I wired everything up and this is what I got:
It's simple, I don't think I'd call it "elegant", but it works!

User wants this buzzer LOUD. That's my next goal.

Edit: Btw, sorry for the noise in the video. My computer is obnoxiously loud due to some poor planning on my part.

Oh no, it's so big. This will never fit in the case. I have a feeling I will be rebuilding.



I tried a few different passive buzzers that I had from various keyboards. Interestingly enough, the largest one (from a Televideo board) was the quietest. I ended up pulling one from a Zenith board. This one was the loudest out of the bunch, despite its tiny size. The tone of all of them was basically the same.

snacksthecat wrote: ↑

27 Aug 2019, 01:09

Oh no, it's so big. This will never fit in the case. I have a feeling I will be rebuilding.

Appreciate all the hard work man. Cant wait to use this keyboard haha

The last thing I must do is finish retrobriting the caps. If you remember, they started out quite yellow.



I've already done one round of gentile retrobrite but they could use a bit more. There's no sun in Chicago today (plus I've got no outside space to let things sit) but we've got something almost as good; a lamp!



Sorry for inserting the Ariana Grande overlay. The gif is very bright and obnoxious to begin with. I decided to go over the top with it.