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Adding Bluetooth

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    Adding Bluetooth

    I have been adding Bluetooth receivers to vintage clock radios; both analog and digital flipclock. I simply tap into the 115 V power source, and then send the Bluetooth output directly to the speaker. I by pass the earphone-jacks both for simplification of the process and because earbuds for my iPhone are easy enough anyway; I cannot imagine a need for earphone use out of a flipclock box when using Bluetooth, but I have had fun with Bluetooth music stream from the clock radios in my work office.

    #2
    Hey QuinnC I am looking to do something similar in my current build. To get it straight, you just tap into the power supply from the clock to power the reciever and then connect the output to the speaker? In doing the connecting, are you soldering the connection to the speaker? Also, what kind of reciever are you using?

    Thanks a ton

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      #3
      I buy these cheap (about $15.00) combo LED light/ Bluetooth speaker lamp bulbs from Home Depot or Lowes. I avoid the ones that provide the "rainbow LED colors" because I really do not need the light circuit anyway.

      I first test the intact bulb/speaker in a lamp to make sure it works (I had to return one unit for replacement due to no function when out of the packaging). I disassemble the bulb, starting at the lighting dome. I do this by gentle prying at the diffuser or by piercing the diffuser (this depends on the actual construction of the product) with a small hole by a knife and then using needle nose pliers and electrical dykes to snip-and-peel the plastic casings. There are small machine screws that become easily visible, and I remove them. I am careful to preserve all wires and circuits.

      I eventually arrive at the threaded sheet metal of the bulb base, then use the same technique to remove it. (If you are skilled with a Dremel cut-off wheel, you can use it to replace this procedure, but it is very easy to cut too deeply into the bulb, thereby nicking the circuit board you are trying to harvest.) When done successfully, I end up with some variation of a 115V AC-to-12 V DC converter that is hard-wired to a microchip Bluetooth receiver and audio output/ LED output circuit board.

      I immediately stabilize (i.e. - add strain relief to) the delicate 115 V wiring where it enters the circuit board. I used a hot glue gun for this purpose: just glob on the glue so that the wires cannot flex at their tiny solder joints on the circuit board, I then retest the integrity of the unit by temporarily attaching the 115 V leads to a 115 V supply, using small wire nuts. (No need to proceed with a transplant operation if my harvest surgery has killed the donor organ!). If it is still working (i.e. -- if I did not ruin it), I remove the temporary power supply, clip off the LED unit but leaving those leads as long as possible just in case I might want to use them for some extra lighting, but insulate the raw wire tips with hot glue) and clip off the 4 ohm speaker that was in the bulb, again retaining as much wire lead length as is possible.

      NOW MAKE SURE THE CLOCK RADIO IS UNPLUGGED.

      I solder a patch lead of a standard stranded-wire lamp cord (about 10 inches in length) to the harvested 12 V DC converter lead. (remember to put some shrink tube in place on the wires so that proper insulation can be created after the soldering), and then solder the other ends to clock-radio buss that is near the transformer. (Use a Volt-ohm meter to test for the 115 volt buss terminals; there is usually an adjacent terminal that has a resistor between that steps down the voltage to about 90 V for other purposes). Similarly, solder two low-voltage wires of the speaker output leads on the Bluetooth device, and then solder the other ends to the radio speaker terminals. I make the speaker lead wires for the Bluetooth the same length as the speaker wires for the AM/FM radio unit.

      Very carefully, make sure that there are no shorting contacts of this arrangement (e.g. - isolate your constructed device well away from the chassis of the clock-radio); double-check your work, and power up the clock-radio to see if your installation functions as intended. If it does not, attempt to trouble shoot the circuitry. (Frequent testing along the way saves the headache of ripping out a fully installed, non-functioning unit). It if works, UNPLUG THE CLOCK-RADIO.

      I then hot glue the Bluetooth circuit board onto some "stolen" space in the radio area; preferably on the chassis. The principle I try to follow is that I would like to retain the original access-to-repair design within the cabinet so that what I have now installed regarding audio does not impede access to the clock mechanism. I am enormously profligate with the hot glue, building a base that ramps up the sides of the Bluetooth/ power converter circuit board and which pools away on the base. After the glue cools to a room-temperature solidity, I give it a bit of a "wiggle test." If I detect too much play, I glob on more glue. I then make sure all extraneous wires and tools are well-away from any insulated circuitry. I then plug the clock radio back in o see if the unit functions.

      I do not install an off-on switch for the Bluetooth 115 V power line when I put this in one of the classic, plastic-case flip-clock units because I do not want to hi-jack any aperture already molded into the case (e.g. - the 60 minute sleep button) and I do not want to cut into a plastic case. This means that the Bluetooth function is "hot" when the clock is "hot." I keep considering a way to introduce an unobtrusive power switch in such devices, but do not yet know of one. I imagine there would be a way to install an infra-red detection switch, but that would mean having to keep up with a remote control external to the clock radio and it would mean have to provide the correct volt-current rated supply to the infra red switch inside the clock-radio. On some older analogue cock-radios that have an old-school Masonite back panel (usually pierced anyway) I have added a twist-knob, panel-design 115 V switch in one case with a pilot light that clues you in as to whether it is off or on; and a rocker-type 115 V panel-design on another that does not need a pilot light because the words ON and OFF are on it. Adding an on-off switch while retaining original access-to-repair require adding a lot of slack into the wiring that goes to the switch, and that is a lot of wire to have free-floating inside the clock-radio case.

      Volume control for the Bluetooth units is entirely from the Bluetooth broadcasting device (e.g. - iPhone). The installed circuit does not integrate into the radio POTS.

      I hope this description helps.

      Comment


        #4
        Thats pretty cool! The case of my clock even has an unused hole on the backside which I could use for a switch. Im gonna check out if I can find such a bulb you speak of. I never saw any here in Germany... then again I never really looked ^^

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