Project:Festival Radio: Difference between revisions

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|date=hopefully June 2019
|date=hopefully June 2019
|initiator={{£}}
|initiator={{£}}
|team={{HelpNeeded}}
|team=[[Patrick]], [[Martin]]
|materials=
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|tools=
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Revision as of 20:12, 6 June 2019

ProjectInfoBox

Festival Radio

Project-default.png
Status: figuring out which parts to buy
Release Date: hopefully June 2019
Initiator: Lukas
Team: Patrick, Martin


I want to turn an old radio into a digital music player for festivals and garden parties.

Originally I wanted to keep the old radio functions in, but will probably scrap that plan to gain more space for batteries and ease of assembly.

If you're good with audio, electronics or Raspberry Pi, I'd apreciate any help!

Major Steps

  • remove unneeded hardware
  • add batteries & charging electronics
  • get basic functionality (e.g. 3.5 mm jack)
  • convert the cassette tray into an SD card reader
  • (optional) display ID3 information about current song somewhere (old tuner scale?)

Starting Points

Shopping List

I got delayed with this project for a bit and wanted to get started quickly, so the sources were selected mainly for speed of delivery, not pricing:

MAKE

Pi Configuration

moOde audio experience:

  • set ALSA volume to 80 % as there is not quite enough power for 100 % (sound cuts out) - this setting prevents user errors
    • only efficient for local playback - bluetooth devices can still go too high
  • bluetooth functionality was rather easy after finding the appropriate settings (bluetooth "on"/pairing agent "on")
  • SD cards inserted into the USB OTG card reader are automatically added to the library after setting "Automatically update MPD database on USB insert/remove" to YES
    • removing the SD card in the middle of a song will cause it to continue for a few seconds from RAM, then internal songs start playing -> make sure to put a few "always great" songs onto the remaining space of the internal SD!

Hardware Assembly

urgent TODOs:

  • come up with a solution to an apparent problem with the battery balancer: needs a charge coming in once before opening the output - problematic when 18650 cells are exchanged with fresh ones and it shuts down
    • Patrick had an idea involving a resistor which I can't quite remember :-(
      • Patrick idea is to add a resistor (maybe 100 Ohm) between B+ and P+ that can be switched in via a button. This would simulate a charge to the circuit and release it from its lockdown state. Not sure if the voltage on the power in/out side needs to be higher than the current battery voltage. In that case one could use a small battery (like a coin cell) to lift the voltage briefly.
  • start using IO pins
    • shutdown script for a push button
    • volume control (sliding potis from original radio)
      • moOde audio has a "use rotary encoder" option to try out
    • output battery status?
  • a bit of cooling?? the amp gets quite "warm"...