Homemade Annoy-a-thing (Annoy-a-tron)

Thinkgeek.com sells a thing called an annoy-a-tron. Its basically a device that, when activated, beeps at a varied interval. While this instructable does not create an exact replica of think geek's annoy-a-tron, if you've got the materials and the know-how, you can make quite a few and deploy an entire fleet of them! :D

(please note that this is not an instructable on soldering or electronic components. prior knowledge is assumed)

Step 1: PARTS!

YOU WILL NEED:
PARTS:
- 20k ohm resistor (red, black, orage)
- 10M ohm resistor (brown, black, blue)
- 10 uF capacitor
- perforated circuit board
- CMOS 555 timer (MUST be cmos / low power consumption to run on a 3v battery!)
- diode
- 3v battery (2032) & battery holder
- asst. lengths of wire
- mosfet (i use a VN10KM, others may work)
- piezo buzzer (apply current and get a beep, just the piezo element itself will not work for this)
- solder
- switch

TOOLS:
- soldering iron
- wire cutters
- box cutter or exacto
- knowledge of soldering and electronics :D

Comments

[Derek Vigil]

What size of diode did you use?

[J-Five]

I believe it's a 1N914 Diode.

[KG989]

This may be a stupid question, but in the breadboard photo what are the large red 4 posted components in the top/bottom left corners of the photo?

[GASSYPOOTS]

na the more annoyin one is vuvulza plus fan

[glansj]

I made a boardless version shown below. The first three pics are during construction and the last is the final product. It does not use a mosfet. The wait is about a minute with a half second beep.

[DavidKaine]

Wow, those are some massive resistors.  Aren't  they a half watt and 1 watt, respectively? I was thinking about making a boardless one, but using 1/4 watt or smaller resistors.  Would they be able to handle it?

[joerice01]

An smd NE555 chip would work nicely with this.

[beehard44]

yah should work
i used 1/8 watt

[raykholo]

any suggestions as to where i might find a cheap piezo as used here?  perhaps chinese store such as dealextreme with free s&h ? :)
thanks

[krish98.sai]

I went to Radio Shack and got it for around 5 bucks, I hope this helps.

[raykholo]

I appreciate the reply, although the original comment is about 2 years old and I've found some better sources since then.

Save yourself a few bucks if you're planning to make more of these:

http://dipmicro.com/store/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=463

or

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/products.asp?dept=1108

I'm just giving you the general pages because these places change their inventory every once in a while and I haven't bought any piezos that recently. I can vouch for goldmine's "3 lead piezo disk" - it's ok quality and you get 3 for a buck. just don't drop it or the wire leads will come flying off.

These places also have good prices on all the other components needed for this instructable. If you only want to make on order, I recommend dipmicro electronics (first link).

[krish98.sai]

WOW thats a great price thanks for the heads up!

[cricketm24]

If you skip the mosfet would you connect the wires to each other

[Zem]

Help! D= When I apply voltage to my buzzer, it makes no sound. 

[beehard44]

you need to give a frequency to the buzzer, not just plain DC

[harishere]

Does this circuit really works with 3v?

[aldude999]

the voltage rage for the 555 is 4.5 to 16 volts, so it should

[beehard44]

the CMOS version goes down to 2.8V minimum, but if you use the regular one, it might not work

[beehard44]

i wanted to make an SMD version of this, but when i contacted my local electronics dealer (wiltron general merchandise), THEY DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT SMD IS!!!1!!!1!!!

[beehard44]

i'll just use a few SMD chips sampled and some resistors and capacitors scrapped from old electronics.

[Nickel1010]

 Could I change the interval between beeps by making the size of the 10m smaller and making the capacitor bigger?

[aldude999]

Just change the value of the capacitor, or you could replace the resistor with a potentometer

[Colonel88]

I am going to make one of these and stick it on the ceiling in our Mrs. Blecher's class. She is old and still says Okey-doke :D

[aldude999]

put it in the ceiling and she'll never find it XD

[raykholo]

I hate to bring up the transistor debates again, but the 555 can source 200ma of current, without need for the mosfet/transistor.  So the question is whether it is because of the diode and the voltage drop that it produces that the amplification is needed.  I am aware that it is not directly connected to the output pin and piezo but it is still a thought...

[ANDY!]

I made one! it wistles and annoys the heck out of people. I gave it to my friend and it went bezerk  at class!

[lmperkins]

Here is my version. I used a 3volt buzzer and skipped the MOSFET. I also played around with the resistor values to get a long pause and a short beep for maximum annoyance. I think it came out pretty nice. Thanks for the Instructable.

Jeff

[Nickel1010]

The biggest resistor I can find around my house is 1.5m, but if I used a 100uf capacitor would the interval between beeps be about the same? I'm not sure if I'm using the right logic here..

[far.peter]

Can you use a lin comos 555?

[Colonel88]

Hmmm... i did this without a MOSfet, just 555, a capacitor, and a resistor and it works just as well.

[tommck]

It would be cool to hear it in action or even better to show some unsuspecting person reacting to it :)

[harishere]

Try you tube you will find there, i have seen it working, people going crazy, lol.

[raykholo]

my finally finished product: using a normal 555 timer (not cmos), an NPN transistor and running off of 6 or 9 volts. Everything is free form built around an 8 DIP socket and the 555 was inserted when finished soldering...
my breadboarded version has the same exact circuit but a different buzzer, and can easily run off of 3 volts. That can work with a radioshack 3v battery clip. After taking the pics, i added 3 more 20k resistors to get a nice longer beep with a total of 80k ohms, and i might change around the 10m to make the intervals smaller.

U think this can work with an LED? if so then i want to use it in a new project of mine.

[jamesjamesjames]

i have a perf board where there are columns of copper.. i'm pretty new to this and would be very greatful if someone could draw me up a quick sketch of where to put things! also, what is the 20kohm resistor doing? could i use an alternative value? thanks in advance.

[let_it_out_org]

http://www.robotroom.com/Circuit-Board-Tips/Double-Sided-Patterned-Perf-Board.jpg a good example of where the 555 should go. note that the pin are separated from oneanother.

also, the 20kohm is just part of the timing; changing the value would change the beep interval.

[raykholo]

just to confirm, in the shematic pin 5 is not connected to anything, right?

[let_it_out_org]

correct, NC

[raykholo]

would a standard pnp transistor work instead of the mosfet?
i read the comments below about this topic, just unclear whether a pnp specifically will work.

im talking about a 2n3906, here it is on wikipedia: link
and u can find datasheets all over google

thanks

[raykholo]

sorry i meant NPN

[duckythescientist]

That should work well also. You will need a resistor between pin3 of the 555 and the base of your transistor (about 500ohm should work-just a guess).