I just finished up my ecto containment unit from Ghostbousters. Works ok, but the buzzer isn’t real loud and the lights are just dim, white LEDs with 100ohm resistor. I’d rather not have to scavenge relays. Any good solutions for high powered lights or buzzers?
Lots of solutions.
clardae2:
I just finished up my ecto containment unit from Ghostbousters. Works ok, but the buzzer isn’t real loud and the lights are just dim, white LEDs with 100ohm resistor. I’d rather not have to scavenge relays. Any good solutions for high powered lights or buzzers?
You described some symptoms, but no clues as to what you are working with.
Paul
Lots of solutions? Cool! Like what?
Buzzer is some old piece of junk I found. 8ohm and says 25 watt and tied to a board that’s says DL-13.
LEDs are Chanzon, the 100 pack available online I bough off amazon for $6.
Board is an aduino 101.
I’m looking for the brightest and loudest I can get off the 3 volts I get on the output without spending tons of money
You are going to have to give us a lot more information on what’s happening. 
You cannot drive 8 Ωs directly.
Hardware used?
Show us a good schematic of your circuit.
Show us a good image of your wiring.
'Links' to parts used.
Read how you post you questions.
http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php/topic,148850.0.html
8ohm 25W is not a buzzer.
Do you have to stick with the 3V from the arduino rail, or can you use a different battery? It would be good if you could post a picture of the circuit you have now, along with a VERY detailed description of the parts (like part numbers, or link to amazon page)
clardae2:
Lots of solutions? Cool! Like what?Buzzer is some old piece of junk I found. 8ohm and says 25 watt and tied to a board that’s says DL-13.
LEDs are Chanzon, the 100 pack available online I bough off amazon for $6.
Board is an aduino 101.
I’m looking for the brightest and loudest I can get off the 3 volts I get on the output without spending tons of money
That is NOT a "buzzer". It is a "tweeter" from some hi-fi speaker system.
Paul
Your volume and brightness is going to mostly be determined by the current that your power source can source. And you have said nothing about your power source.
But what do I know, a box of tissues contains my ecto just fine.
INTP, not cool.
That type humor is best left in the alleys. There are young kids here who don't need to hear stuff like that and older people who just don't want to hear it. Keep on topic
Relax. It's pretty common to spill some ecto whenever poking the box.
INTP:
Relax. It's pretty common to spill some ecto whenever poking the box.
you should really improve your technique of poking boxes....
Ok, here's rough circuit diagram.
There isn't much description on the buzzer (or speaker or whatever), as I found and hacked a little red gizmo my uncle had (looked like one of those "easy" buttons you'd push. Same with the dial indicator, I stole it from junk pile at work. It was intended to monitor difference in amperage on a 3-phase circuit originally.
My question isn't a what's wrong with the circuit as much as what better stuff is out there I could buy? The LEDs are working correctly, and the buzzer is... buzzing when required.
My question is - if you've seen the movie, I really need something as bright as a 120VAC incandescent bulb but could still run off the 3-5 Volts on the board. Is there a 3V bulb that screws into standard light bulb plug? Best I can tell standard lightbulb thread is E26, and I found some on google, but not sure the board can supply amps needed.
Same with the buzzer - I need loudest possible that I could drive from the board. The one I have is just not real loud, and I have little info on it. There is a small green board inside the thing, has a few resistors on the board, or something that looks like resistors. My soldered connections are so precarious I'd rather not take it apart again, and that's kind of beside the point anyways. I want to know what's going to be loud. Again, I've found some low VDC solutions, but not sure the board can drive them..
Power source is USB cable from a wall outlet into the mini-USB jack on the board.
No diagram to be seen!
IF you want a bright 3 volt bulb, take one from a flash light or torch, where ever you call it where you live. IT would be powered by two D cells.
Paul
diagram posted to prior post, code posted below.
good idea about flashlight - I'll try to do that.
open to ideas about buzzer... perhaps I find a kids toy or something?
Ectounit1.ino (5.79 KB)
OP schematic:
You need individual resistors for LED’s and you cannot drive them like that from one output pin. At 100 ohms, you’re exceeding the maximum ratings for the pin and you’ll destroy the outputs that way.
You still are not telling us enough about your power supply. 500mA? 1A? 2A? 40 weight? 50 weight?
Regarding LEDs - I have one pin supplying X LEDs in parallel with 100 ohm resistor protecting that pin. I need 3 100ohm resistors in parallel with the 3 LEDs? I thought the 100 ohms would protect pin regardless of how many LEDs is on it. I'd agree if going to 3 separate LEDs to 3 separate pins, but don't know enough about LEDs then I guess?
Regarding power supply - Currently I'm using an iPhone wall charger I have, which google says has 1.0 amps, but I could get a wall charger that supplies 2 amps or something. I guess my power supply is whatever it needs to be. Should I try a supply with more amps? Would it make the LEDs brighter? Board would pull whatever amps it needs, no? What's the highest wattage wall charger I could use?
If I hacked a good 3VDC flashlight, would the power supply provide enough amperage, depending on flashlight, I guess?
You should not exceed 25 milliamps into or out of an Arduino AVR output pin and 40 milliamps is just about guaranteed to do damage to the device. Depending upon the type of LED's you're using, you can exceed that limit with a 100 ohm resistor.
With standard LED's, you cannot wire them in parallel. Each LED needs it's own current limiting resistor because LED's are not simple, linear devices. Exceed 25 milliamps and you'll need to drive the load with a transistor or mosfet. There is more about that on this page: Gammon Forum : Electronics : Microprocessors : Driving motors, lights, etc. from an Arduino output pin
The buzzer is also suspect for being able to damage (fry/kill/etc) your Arduino. Please tell us what it is, a datasheet would be best.
Your iPhone charge is maybe fine, cannot say. Need to know the specs for the LED's and buzzer.
If I hacked a good 3VDC flashlight, would the power supply provide enough amperage, depending on flashlight, I guess?
You guess wrong. But then it was just a guess.
clardae2:
Regarding power supply - Currently I'm using an iPhone wall charger I have, which google says....Board would pull whatever amps it needs, no? What's the highest wattage wall charger....
First of all, why did you Google for a squiffy answer when you could've just read the damn thing? AFAIK iPhones typically make use of a 2A charger.
And as for the board, yeah, no. That's your problem right there, wanting to run power through the board when it's best to feed things that need power straight from the power source.
If you want bright, you get a Cree xm-l or xp-e or xp-g etc on a 20mm PCB disc, drive it and heatsink it.