Dewalt Portable Bluetooth Speaker

I love Dewalt. I work on site installing networks and repairing computers and such and I have a couple of the dewalt radios, but I want one that has bluetooth, I also had a bunch of extra parts sitting around begging for this project.

Step 1: Gather Your Materials

Here are the materials I used to build this speaker

1. Dewalt DW920 case - Availiable on amazon
2. Logitech 5.1 computer speaker set - controller was broken, so i salvaged the speakers
3. On / OFF switch -- the one im using has a LED lights in them, but you can use whatever.
4. Several momentary switches for play, stop, volume up and volume down --- I did install these but they would not work with this bluetooth board
5. 8v-24v battery and charging circuit --- Im using a broken laptop. It will run at approx 12v.
6. TDA7492P 2 x 50 Watt Digital Bluetooth 4.0 Audio Receiver Amplifier Board
7. various wires
8. Micro USB Extension to extend charging to outside of case.
9. Self adhesive cable tie mounts
10. cable ties
11. 8 M3 x 12mm hex end bolts and 8 nuts to fasten speakers

Step 2: Prepare the Case

To get the case to were we can use it to hold all of the electronics we will have to remove some plasic. All of the plastic meant to hold the drill, charger and such needs to be removed so that we can fit in the speakers and such. I have found that the easiest way to remove this plastic is to use a multisaw (dewalt multisaw, if possible, lol).

After the case is empty, I cleaned it out of dust and such. and then measured and marked the holes for the buttons and the power switch. I used a spade bit to drill the hole for the power switch.

After deciding what speakers i was going to use and how many I layed out the faceplates to mark and cut the holes for the speakers. I cut the holes using a dewalt drywall cutout tool.

Step 3: Prepare and Test the Electronics

OK now how you wire this up is going to be dependent on your battery and charging system, but with any system it should be similar to the schematic above. There should be some sort of battery, some sort of charging curcuit, and a switch to shut it off.

I found that the Bluetooth / amp board was powerful enough to run 4 speakers but i could not find a good way of arranging them so that it would be functional and look good.

Step 4: Install the Electronics

I used the sticky cable ties blocks to mount most of the electronics with zip ties. I used the Micro USB Extension cable to extend the charge port to the outside of the case.

Step 5: Clean It Up and Make It Pretty

I ended up painting the speaker faceplates yellow to match with the dewalt theme and used my vinyl cutter to create a matching "bluetooth speaker" sticker. I included the vinyl file if you happen to have a silhouette cameo.

Step 6: Closing Thoughts

The Bluetooth board that i found was impossible to solder the buttons to extend them to the outside, this was for the play, pause, volume up and volume down buttons. This is not a huge deal as the volume can be controlled by the phone. I also will probably add a USB port for charging my phone as well. I love the way it turned out and am very happy with this build.

I hope you enjoyed this instructible and will consider voting for me in my entered contests.

Comments

[WillyC6]

HI

I am selling my gear check out if you need it

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182868558968

[teaMJPx]

that's cool. I have a box just like that from my circular saw... I might use it like this too... cool!

[wilkinsonaw]

did you think about using a dwalt battery to power it. those boards handle 18v power source. Also you mount your amp board in a way that you could extend the board switches through the wall of the box, I did a simular project and just used bullet head nails cut down to make the button extensions.

[wilkinsonaw]

very cool project by the way. nice detail with the speaker rings and box text

[MakrToolbox]

Thank you, I have always loved the positive feedback that is given on this website. You are all a great fixture of the maker community.

[MakrToolbox]

I did think about using a dewalt battery, but i have boxes of old broken laptops, and they are free :)

[SonnyR1]

What do you estimate your cost if one has to buy the parts?

[MakrToolbox]

Here is a total add up with purchasable parts.

battery and charger -- amazon $23.99 for 3000mah
4in Kicker speakers-- amazon $19.95
dewalt case--- 13.99   currently sold out
Latching LED power button -- amazon 10.65
Bluetooth Board -- amazon 11.72

Total. $80.30 if you started from scratch

Hope that helps

[Kendrickxy]

Hi, really nice project!

I would like, to know how long does the battery hold ? Because I'll use some 18650s 2000mAh for my amp project and I would like to know if they'll be efficient, because i'll be in 12V (If I want more Ampers) or 16V (If I want more noise) and my amp can get up to 60W (mono channel)

Thanks!

[MakrToolbox]

I have not tested the battery for longevity, but it seems to last a LONG time. I will try to test it for time tomorrow. I would test it at 12v and then test the different battery configurations to try to get the best ratio of volume vs battery longevity.

[Kendrickxy]

Ok Thanks for the information,
I already tried to use my amp with a 2x9V battery (the cheap ones non rechargable), with the volume at max and it worked ~ 40 min but 20 min after I started to use it on my digital voltmeter I could see the voltage going from 18 to 9V when the bass was too loud :)
They had arround 100 mAh and last for 30 min so I bet that with 2000 - 4000 mAh I can get more than 2 - 3 hours with the volume at max!

[seamster]

I've had so many tool cases over the years, and I never know what to do with them. It's been nice to see how you've reused a couple of yours. Well done :)