Introduction: WWII Era Bluetooth Radio and GeoBox
A friend of mine asked if I could make him a Geobox. This is something in the paranormal hunters' world that channels the voices of spirts.
Basically, its a remastered WWII Era radio with animated LEDs and a Bluetooth enabled amplifier. The Bluetooth amplifier allows you to connect your mobile phone to it wirelessly.
So, I took on the project and found that in the world of sound and lights, there is little custom design needed. With a glue gun and wire nuts, I was in business.
Once you have the parts, the build is only 2 hours, but the results are fantastic!
Supplies
Volume Control
Purchased Price: $27.72
LED Matrix
Purchased Price: $21.30
Dimming Sheets
Amazon.com: Dim It Light Dimming Sheets: Home Improvement
Purchased Price: $9.63
LED Controller
Purchased Price: $25.69
Donor WWII Era Radio
ebay.com
Purchased Price:varies
Voltage Regulator
Purchased Price: $9.99
3D Printer Filament for amp bracket
Purchased Price: $5.00
Bluetooth Amp
US TPA3116D2 2*120W Wireless Bluetoth 4.0 Audio Receiver Digital Amplifier Board | eBay
Purchased Price: 14.98
Step 1: Remove the Original Amplifier and Knob Controls
The original amplifier was built with old school vacuum tubes. These were readily removed with a screw driver by removing just three screws.
To remove the knobs, I used a plastic prybar to prevent damage.
Step 2: Design Necessary Brackets (Optional)
The next step would be the only customization one would need depending on the radio they have. It is to design a bracket to ensure the parts do not rattle around. Alternately, you could just use spacers and a glue gun, but I had some extra time on my hands.
I did not want to add any new holes or damage to the radio itself. So, I designed my bracket to utilize the original mount holes using Autodesk Fusion 360. (If you never have used that software - stop and download now - it will change your life!!!)
If you are wondering what all those little holes are in the picture in the bottom right, they are to mount the power regulator. I did not have a power regulator on hand to measure dimensions at the time, so I made the design ready to accept just about anything.
Step 3: Assemble the Parts
The radio still had a great (80 year old) working speaker. So, assembly could be as simple as wiring the speaker to the left channel of the amp. However, I liked the idea of having volume control with one of the original knobs.
So, as seen on the bottom left of the picture, I added a rheostat to control the volume. Amazingly, it's profile matched the original knob location perfectly. All I needed to do was glue gun it in place.
The LED controller has a built in microphone. So, it was just a matter of wiring its power and then wiring the controller to the LED matrix. The wiring was simply black to black (ground), red to red (5V), and green to green (data).
Step 4:
Step 5: Power It Up
Since this was a Geobox, it needed to be portable. So, I used a 11.1 V battery. However, you could use a 12V/5Amp or greater barrel jack wall supply as well.
Step 6: Enjoy!
Although it took about 6 hours of research to come up with this final design with the off the shelf components, the actual build was one of the easiest I ever performed clocking in about three hours. Of course, if I were to do a second one, I could knock it out in 30 minutes. The results were absolutely outstanding as you can find in the video.
This was a great build for my son and I. Check out our other projects we've made at Raising Awesome on YouTube.
-Sean
Our Projects: http://www.raisingawesome.site
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