In this instructable, I'll show you how I build this Bluetooth Speaker which has a music visualizer at the top. It looks really cool and makes your song listening moment more awesome. You can decide whether you want to turn on the visualizer or not to save battery life and consequently get a longer play time.

Let's get started.

Step 1: Watch the Video.

The video has detailed information about all the steps involved in the process. Watch it first so that it's even easier to understand what you are going to read next.

Step 2: Parts Required.

The Bluetooth Module:
INDIA - http://amzn.to/2pfVT5o
US - http://amzn.to/2pfVT5o
UK - http://amzn.to/2pfVT5o

Speaker:
INDIA - http://amzn.to/2DqCC6E
US - http://amzn.to/2DqCC6E
UK - http://amzn.to/2DqCC6E

Arduino:
INDIA - http://amzn.to/2FAOfxM
US - http://amzn.to/2FAOfxM
UK - http://amzn.to/2FAOfxM

MAX9814 Module:
INDIA - http://amzn.to/2pgQdse
US - http://amzn.to/2pgQdse
UK - http://amzn.to/2pgQdse

WS2812B LEDs:
INDIA - http://amzn.to/2FPmz7t
US - http://amzn.to/2FPmz7t
UK - http://amzn.to/2FPmz7t

Battery Charger with Protection Circuit:
INDIA - http://amzn.to/2FHxgpn
US - http://amzn.to/2FHxgpn
UK - http://amzn.to/2FHxgpn

Switch:
INDIA - http://amzn.to/2Gqml4E
US - http://amzn.to/2Gqml4E
UK - http://amzn.to/2Gqml4E

Micro USB Breakout:
INDIA - http://amzn.to/2pgQtYe
US - http://amzn.to/2pgQtYe
UK - http://amzn.to/2pgQtY

Step 3: Test the Bluetooth Module.

Solder a 3 Watt speaker to the Bluetooth Module and apply 5 Volts to it. Now connect it with your Bluetooth device and play some songs to check its working.

Step 4: Quick Prototyping.

I made connections according to the attached circuit diagram but removing the Bluetooth Module part. Then I uploaded the sketch, also attached to this step, and quickly checked if the LEDs are doing what they are supposed to, which is reacting to the sound of course.

Note that the same sketch will be used throughout the project.

Adafruit_Music_Neopixel.ino
Download

Step 5: Plan the Enclosure.

Time for some measurements. I took my time to measure everything and make a plan for the enclosure I’m going to build. This is necessary because once the material is brought down to size, you have to do a lot more to change it if anything goes wrong, unlike electronics in which you can just change a line and upload again or desolder a wire and solder it to the correct place. So, if you are going to design your own enclosure, do it with patience and very carefully.

After my planning was done, I drew outlines on the material I am going to use which is a 12 mm thick MDF. Do this step quite carefully too, as a 0.5 degree error at start point can become a couple degree error after travelling a distance. Better use a tri-square and check the dimensions after the outlining is completed.

Step 6: Cut It Out.

I’ll be using a regular blade for straight lines and a curve cutting blade for cutting the hole for the speaker.

I started cutting from the speaker hole. For removing unevenness, use a file. After I was sure that the speaker will fit in perfectly, I moved on to cut straight lines.

You might want to be careful while choosing the speeds with which you are cutting the wood. Less speed is good for curved cutting while for straight cutting with a regular blade you should definitely use higher speed.

Using glue, I stick all the sides together. I have marked the speaker depth inside the enclosure as well as the height required for LEDs to diffuse through an acrylic sheet completely, which is around 1.5 cm. Now, keep in mind that while placing the components, nothing should be within these marked lines.

I marked the holes for the speaker and drilled it using a fitting drill bit.

At the same time, I also made openings for the switch I'm going to use and the micro USB breakout board, using drill and jigsaw with curve cutting blade.

Step 7: Make It Look Good.

Now, to make the enclosure look good, I cut carbon fiber vinyl for all the 5 sides. I cut them a little bigger than required and after sticking to their respective sides I removed them using a sharp blade.

While I was at cutting things, I also cut the acrylic sheet after measuring the top of the enclosure. I drilled holes of size of the nuts I’ll be going to use. Using the same holes as guide, I made markings on the enclosure where to drill the holes to fix the sheet and then drilled it out using a drill bit one size less than that used in sheet.

Step 8: Do the Connections.

So after all this, I soldered two wires to the li-ion charger input. I fixed the battery and the step up converter at one corner with some hot glue. Then I took two sets of two wires and shorted them at on end. I will solder the shorted end to the Bluetooth mp3 player module and from the other end, one wire goes to a switch and other will go to Arduino. You only need to solder 5V wire to the switch and ground wire can directly be soldered to the device. The wires soldered to the Li-Ion charger input can now be soldered to the micro USB breakout board and the board can be fixed in place with some hot glue.

To reduce the wire hassle, I made a small PCB with Arduino and the sound sensor on it with all the connections. The connection is really pretty straight forward and will not require much time to complete. The connection diagram is attached in Step 4.

At this point, you can check your connection by shorting the power wires. I had to replace my battery with a different one, as the previous one suddenly stopped working.

Step 9: Some More Connections.

Using a thin white cardboard, I made a tray like this in which I’ll mount the LEDs. I made three holes for power and data in wires and soldered them to their respective places. I shorted the power and data wires on both the strips. For shorting the data in, I used the previously used technique.

Using a FTDI board, I uploaded the sketch to Arduino. I put everything to place and before finally setting all up, I tested the setup by shorting the wires to the battery and everything worked fine. The pin 7 is used for deciding whether the LED will be on or not. When it is high, LED must glow and when it’s not high, LED must be off(the yellow wire connected to pin 7). I pulled the pin 7 low using a 10k resistor to remove false triggering.

Coming to the switch connection, I shorted both the middle terminals and soldered the 5V from step up converter to it. I also shorted the two poles of any one side so that it doesn’t matter where the switch is moved, the Bluetooth module and Arduino should turn on (see picture). The difference will be in the fact that I solder the pin 7 of the Arduino to any one of the remaining pole. In this way, the pin 7 will get connected to 5V or ground indicating the Arduino to turn on or off the LEDs. I made the connections as I described and everything is working fine. Flipping the switch one side turns only Bluetooth speaker and Arduino on and flipping it to the other side makes LED on as well.

Without wasting any more time, I quickly soldered the speaker wires to the speaker. Using a little hot glue, I fixed the switch at its place. Then I fixed the speaker at its place using fitting nuts and bolts.