Hacking Kid Connection Dinosaur Play Set

Other Hardware Device Hacking
1

I am trying to incorporate the electronics of a Kid Connection Dinosaur Play Set into my Arduino project, but I am hitting some snags.

The electronic components were removed from the dinosaur. It consists of a small circuit board (no label) with two wires running to a small speaker, two wires running to some batteries, and two wires running to a small tactile switch.

The speaker has the following stamped on it: "(ROHS)" 16O 0.25W. I guess that means 16 ohms, 0.25 watts and ROHS is the maker.

The batteries are two small LR44s (1.5V each for a total of 3V).

Setup
Using an Arduino Uno R3, I connect the Arduino 3.3V pin to the red power wire. I connect an Arduino ground pin to the black power wire. I cut the switch wires and determined which one needed to be used for activating the device. The other wire I did not connect to anything. I also built two voltage dividers to reduce 5V voltage to ~3V (3.28 on multimeter). The Voltage dividers are connected to the Arduino 5V pin and the Arduino ground pin.

Voltage Divider - each voltage divider has an R1 resistance of 2K and an R3 resistance of 3K.

Setup #1 - Works
Dino board powered by Arduino 3.3V pin (red wire to 3.3V pin, black to Arduino ground pin).
When my switch wire touches the 3V voltage divider point, the LEDs light up and the speaker issues forth a mighty dinosaur roar...

Setup #2 - Not Working
Dino board powered by Voltage divider. Red wire connected to 3V voltage divider point, black wire attached to Arduino ground pin. When my switch wire connects to either Arduino 3.3V pin or a voltage divider, the speakers and LED do not fire.

I plan on using a different 5V Arduino board for the final project, but it does not have a 3.3V pin. I do not know if I am doing something wrong, but dont know where.

I am showing 3.1 to 3.2V on all circuits, but the dino board only likes the voltage from the 3.3V pin.

Kid Connection Dinosaur Play Set.png
Kid Connection Dinosaur Play Set.png640×560 512 KB

Voltage Divider.png

Kid Connection Dinosaur Play Set.png
Kid Connection Dinosaur Play Set.png640×560 512 KB

Voltage Divider.png

2

ROHS means "Restrictions OF Hazardous Substances". For anything electronic it means the solder used is lead-free.

With all the writing, I don't see an actual question that can be answered to help you. Guess I missed it.

Paul

3

I was a little wordy... I was just trying to lay everything out.

QUESTION: Why does the toy speaker fire off the Arduino 3.3v, but not the 3v voltage divider? I've tried everything I can think of. Changed it to 3.3v voltage divider (using 2K for R1 and 4K for R2). I've checked with a multimeter, and voltage is good. It just wont work off the voltage divider. Is it a matter of Amps? If so, please explain it to me (I'm not a electrical expert, just a hobbyist).

Thanks for any help ya'll might provide!

4

Yes, a matter of current. Your circuit is called voltage divider, not a current divider for a good reason.

Paul