Connection Help... P5.R and Out5 for 5v supply?

[BigRez]

Hi All -

I have a little store-bought device I'm modding and want to control and power the little sound card in it from the Prop-1.  The card used to run from three AAA batteries and had connections from the batteries to Vdd and Vss- on the card.

The card starts singing as soon as power is applied, but then not again until a little motion sensor triggers it.  That's fine; I want to eliminate the need for the motion sensor anyway and just power it up when needed to trigger the sound.  Of course, I could keep the batteries in place and use a relay, but I want to power it from the Prop-1.

Wouldn't this simply be a connection to OUT5 (for Vss-) and P5.R (for Vdd)?  And then just define it as

Code Select Expand

SYMBOL  Scream  = PIN5                  ' sound card


Thanks,

mike

[JonnyMac]

Not knowing how much current the device requires, I would suggest connecting P5.R to the device, and then the ground side of its power input to OUT5. This will let you switch the power safely.

[BigRez]

Thanks Jon, that's what I thought.  However, when I make that connection, when the switch is in position 1 the V+ led on the Prop-1 is partially lit. (It goes to full light in switch 2.) I don't recall seeing that with any other props, but maybe I wasn't looking that closely. 

It'll fire once using this connection but the second fire either doesn't play anything or plays just static.  I decided to switch ground through a relay. That too will fire one time and then not correctly again.   

If I cycle power and try again, it still plays garbage or nothing.  However, if I turn off the prop-1, disconnect P5.r and wait about 3 minutes, reconnect p5.r and power back on, it plays that one time again. (Like I'm waiting for a cap to dissipate or something.)

Pretty sure this has more to do with the little sound module rather than a Prop-1 connection. I really love the scream and music out of this little thing though and wish I could use it rather than having to go with some other sound.  :(

mike

[bsnut]

Mike,

I would suggest you use the relay connected to V+ and OUT5 and let the sound module power be switched by this relay, that way it's running on its own power supply.

[JackMan]

Caps don't take that long to discharge, my guess is that it's the constant 5v from P5.R that is causing the problem. Somehow it's backfeeding and getting slight current through the player even when OUT5 is low.  Try connecting the negative side of power to the player to GND of the Prop-1 and use the relay to connect any "R" pin to the player. By doing this, the player will only get 5V+ when your program executes.

[BigRez]

Thanks Jack.  Yeah, I know they don't take that long to discharge but the behavior is "like" I need to wait long enough for something to discharge. :-\

I tried switching the 5v through the relay with the same results; I must wait several minutes before a subsequent play will work. Although, this does seem a little better - I don't need to power down nor disconnect anything to get it to run again. I just need wait a minimum of 5.25 minutes before it will successfully play a subsequent time.

[JonnyMac]

You might try a small relay with the common terminal connected to the positive input of the device, the N.O. terminal connected to +5v, and the N.C. terminal connected to ground through a 1K resistor. The ground side of the device would connect to the GND terminal on the Prop-1. When the device is not powered its supply will discharge through the 1K (not a direct short).