1 Topic by southboundpachyderm

(2 replies, posted in Circuit Bending)

I found an interesting bend in a children's toy, and then realized that it still works even when the leads are just close to each other, but not physically touching. In fact, the sound is a bit different that way from when it's a physical connection. Has anyone run into something like this? I have no idea what could be causing it. Some kind of electromagnetic interference, maybe?

It creates a great sound, though, so I'm trying to figure out how to include it in the project and be able to control it in a more predictable way. Since I can't use a toggle (the two bend points wouldn't be far enough away), I was thinking I could use a couple of RCA jacks with some distance between them and just patch it, although I'm not sure that would work. Is there a better way to handle this kind of thing?

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2 Reply by southboundpachyderm

(9 replies, posted in Circuit Bending)

I switched to AA's and you were right - it decreased the amount of dimming on the LED considerably. It also changed the sound quite a bit, and in a really interesting way, so I'm thinking I'll add a switch to be able to go back and forth.

When I increase the resistor value (right now I'm using a 470 ohm), the LED becomes too dim overall. The transistor solution sounds interesting. How would I wire that up?

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3 Reply by southboundpachyderm

(9 replies, posted in Circuit Bending)

Okay, thank you. The batteries are 1.5v each, so I think I'll upgrade to three AAA batteries.

One more question...I notice the power LED dims when there is audio output. Do you know why that might be happening? And is there any way to prevent that?

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4 Reply by southboundpachyderm

(9 replies, posted in Circuit Bending)

Thank you! That solved the problem. I'm still pretty ignorant about certain components, so that was a good lesson.

It's powered by three coin cell batteries, by the way. Would it be better to replace those with larger batteries?

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5 Reply by southboundpachyderm

(9 replies, posted in Circuit Bending)

Here we go. Sorry, this is a bit of a mess, but hopefully you can kind of see what I mean.

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6 Reply by southboundpachyderm

(9 replies, posted in Circuit Bending)

I took a photo, but I'm not sure how to add images on this forum. What I'm bending is from of a children's book that has a simple audio device attached. All it does is play sounds when you press the buttons. It's very basic.

I'm relatively ignorant when it comes to incorporating LEDs into projects. The way I have it right now, I just clipped the wire coming from the positive battery terminal and inserted the LED in line. Are you saying I should be including a resistor in this setup?

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7 Topic by southboundpachyderm

(9 replies, posted in Circuit Bending)

I'm bending a small book strip and I'm trying to add a power switch with an LED to show the unit is turned on. The power switch seems to be working fine, but when I test the LED in line, it cuts all audio from the unit. The LED does light up when the unit is powered on, though. I've tried placing it in several different points on the circuit and it does the same thing every time. Does anyone know why it would block audio like that? Is there a different way you're supposed to wire up a power LED that I'm not aware of? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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