This article shows how I built a custom made boombox from an old construction site lantern!
Click here for the full post!
Let's start with all the components:
Let's start with all the components:
- One seven segment voltage meter for checking the boombox's battery (can be found here).
- One ultra bright 5V 6~8V LED to be added to the lantern's existing lighting (can be found here).
- Various switches and push buttons to be connected to the lantern's media player board, LED and voltage meter (can be found here and here).
- One bluetooth audio receiver dongle to be connected as bluetooth receiver to the media player's analog audio input (can be found here).
Above you can see the media player board I used. It has a SD-Card slot, an USB port and an analog 3.5 mm audio port for external music. Five menu buttons let you navigate through the music on the SD-Card or USB stick. It runs on 7~15V and has 10 Watt audio output for each 4 Ohm speaker. You can find additional data here.
As housing I chose an old construction site lantern which I bought off ebay.
Then I removed its electronics, salvaged some 6V batteries and added my super bright LED to the existing lighting setup.
In the next step I soldered switches and wires to the media player's buttons and audio level potentiometer. This helps with installing everything inside the housing later.
I also disassembled the bluetooth audio dongle and removed its USB plug since I am directly connecting it to the media player for 5V power.
Here's a short video about this project including more details and some cinematic shots of the finished custom boombox:
After a lot of soldering, heatshrinking and drilling I assembled all components.
As mentioned in the video at the top I had to replace the mediaplayer board after a short circuit mishap. The new board had an integrated bluetooth receiver but no built in amplifier. So I added a small amplifier board as you can see on the left in the picture below. Luckily the rest of the wiring stayed almost the same.
As audio source you can use a SD-card, flash drive, bluetooth or a regular 3.5 mm audio jack!
Using the built in voltage meter I can check the built in 12V battery pack whenever I need to.
Since I forgot to include an audio sample in the official video here's a short audio sample. As you can see below the speakers weren't sealed yet. After sealing them and adding some cotton inside the housing I'm really pleased with the audio quality!
