I need a small module or system for my Uno R4 wifi to help play sounds and voice recording playback. I have seen the DFPlayer mini USB recommended but I know nothing about it.
I have used speakers for tones, so I am familiar with basic Arduino functions, but I need to scale up.
Basically I want to build a robot that speaks various sentences (maybe ten short recordings) and play some simple music, that is pre-recorded. I assume I need some storage, I don't know if SD cards are good for this or not, I assume yes. I don't care especially about quality of sound, so WAV files or MP3 may be moot.
With a DFPlayer I may not need an amp or separate power but will need some speaker. To start I dont need loud sound, but I may need it eventually so a separate power supply might be needed.
Is this a fairly generic design, with many suppliers, or is there a preferred supplier?
It seems to use only Arduino power, how limited is it in volume?
For the speaker, great idea to cannibalize a toy - does it use an 8 Ohm speaker, powered by the module?
Presumably libraries are readily available?
Any Arduino accessory can be powered separately. Separate power is actually required for high power devices like motors, servos and audio amplifiers. You need only connect I/O lines and grounds.
DFRobot has Arduino tutorials for the DFplayer mini, and there are others on line. And, by the way, the DFPlayer mini does not even require an Arduino to be fully functional. Pushbutton control is all you need.
I have used DFplayer Mini in a few projects and I think it would be ideal for your project.
But you said "DFplayer Mini USB". I'm not sure what that is. Can you post a link? It may in fact be an ordinary DFplayer Mini but had been given an incorrect description by a careless seller.
A DFplayer Mini looks like this. It doesn't have any kind of USB socket.
Excellent comments, thanks. I think this is what I need. I dont know what the USB relationship was, I may have found some reference on Amazon that wrong, as you say.
Here are a few more questions, if you have the time to answer:
Would you recommend DFRobot version or is a generic one OK?
For power, it seems you can use the +5 VDC from the Arduino, but IF you wanted to connect separate power, I assume you just put put into a bread board from say a separate wall wart?
For speaker I assume you need 8 Ohms, and just connect wires into pins in the breadboard to connect to the module output?
I have had very little trouble with clones. I did get a faulty one once but was able to fix it easily with soldering iron.
Yes, but don't forget to connect common ground.
I use 8 Ohm, 1 Watt. I have tried different speaker designs, some smaller ones designed as laptop speakers, others ordinary, larger, circular designs and found a large difference in the volume of sound between them. The larger, circular ones were much louder. I have one in a project and that can be clearly heard all over the house.
In that project I mentioned, the whole project is powered with a 5V 1A "phone charger" PSU connected to the micro-USB input of a Wemos D1 mini. From the D1's 5V pin, the DFplayer Mini and a 60-LED circle of WS2812 LEDs is powered. Those LEDs might sound like they could draw a large current, but only a few of them are ever on at the same time, so there isn't a problem.
OK so sounds like you have a wall wart basically powering your board, where its +5 VDC output is powering the speaker. So same setup as I would have with Arduino powered with 9 VDC 2A wall wart and using +5 VDC and speaker direct drive from module, as shown in the DF Robot schematic down this page. I would target to have an 8 Ohm 1 W round speaker. So sounds like a good place to start and see if I like it. Thanks, much appreciated.
The 'DFPlayer mini USB' you saw no doubt refers to the USB version of DF Robot's player. It has a USB socket for conveniently copying MP3 or WAV files from your PC. Its main disadvantage is limited storage capacity of only 128 MB.
The far more popular micro SD card version (DFR0299) is the one being discussed so far in the thread.
I typically power my own projects for the latter with 3 x AA batteries, or an external 5V supply. Of course, options include rechargeable NiMH or Lithium-ion cells. With a single 8 ohm 3W miniature speaker the volume rarely needs to be set near its max to fill a medium room.
Slightly different scenario. Your circuit will run off 5V, so if you supply 9V, something has to convert 9V to 5V. Were you thinking of using the Arduino's built-in regulator? What type of Arduino is it and what type of regulator does it have?
The reason this might be an issue is that if it is a linear regulator, that regulator will have to burn off nearly half the input power as heat, and could overheat and fail.
Once you know the current the whole circuit is likely to draw, you can work out how much heat the regulator will need to dissipate and know for sure if it is or isn't a problem.
Great question. Its an Arduino Uno R4 wifi and it would use the default built in voltage regulator. I just assume that this is designed properly by Arduino as the default power requirement for the Uno from what I can generally tell (I have three now, including an R3) because my sense is its designed to be operated without grid power and operate on a 9 VDC battery for long-ish periods. Please correct me if I am wrong!!!! Thx, Steve
This uses a ISL854102FRZ buck regulator, so should be significantly more efficient than a linear regulator like those used in Uno R3, and will produce much less heat.
A linear regulator would be only 5/9=55% efficient, but buck regulator should be 80~90%.
