First of all I have to say that I don´t know much about electronics at all. I just have an idea and I am very clear about what I want. Just need help to acheive it.....
I am working on a project with a vintage telephone for my classic car from the 60s. I am thinking of using the normal android cell phone as "master and telephone". To that divise I want to build a remote number nano keyboard with keys 0-9 and hang up/answer calls so I can made a call from that keyboard in the car without the cell phone. (The Samsung is then hidden). To that I even want a nixie IN17 tube to show the latest dialed digit. When I press 1 on the keyboard the nixie shall show 1 and when I dial 2 it shall show 2 and so on. I think it shall be a bluetooth connection to the cell phone? I have a bluetooth transmitter for the hands free function to the car speakers from the cell phone that works just fine. On that one the funktion "answer" and "hang up" works perfectly well. Now I need the remote funktion to dial the numbers from the remote devise.
I shall design the remote control as they looked like in the 60s (the manover part back then)
The number keyboard should be as small as possible. (about 90 mm length in total for the digits 0-9)
I hope that someone have some infos about what I will need to acheive this.
I will design it. I only want to know if someone know what boards I need....
I have to ask somewhere. Where to ask if not here? Perhaps someone has done similar things.
Being very new You aim at a rather advanced project.
A common advice is: cut the project down in smaller pieces. Controller <-> one sensor, controller <-> other device. Usually any controller is good enough. Your aiming at telephone contact, study controllers capable of using BT or similar. The ESP category is one alternative.
When You master sensor and device, start designing how the sensor data should be outputted, to a display, to motors, whatever.
Nixie tubes require a custom high voltage power supply (130 to 160V), and most people use nearly extinct digit driver ICs from the 1970s, so start there. The search phrase "nixie tube clock" will turn up some Arduino interfaces.
In order to drive your phone and not hit security restrictions you could use a Bluetooth enabled arduino with the Bluetooth Hands-Free Profile (HFP).
This profile allows for basic phone functions, including making and receiving calls. Of course the arduino and the android phone will have to be properly paired for seamless functionality.
The Hands-Free Profile (HFP) specification details how to send a phone number to the phone to make a call.
On the hardware side, see these modules - they supoirt multiple profiles like A2DP, AVRCP, MAP, HFP, PBAP, SPP and BLE. (There are other modules).
Side note: it’s definitely not a beginner’s project both on the hardware and software side. You’ll have to be patient and build up skills. Don’t rush to the finish line. Split the project in tasks and learn to master each task before putting everything together. First task might be learning C++ and the basics of electronics
as a power source i use this step up module. Actually drives up to 180v, 170v is the spec for the nixie bulbs i have (recycled USSR bulbs)
and these driving transistors, one for each digit, and a simple bit-shifter to address them, but if you have the pins available that would work just fine as well.
A car is electronically speaking a hugely noisy environment. The 12v supply is so noisy that even the step up module should be protected i'd say.
This is one thing, the android phone and the bluetooth is a different matter. It is not hard to get data input from a simple 12 key keypad, but to connect the bluetooth to the nano is something else again.
you could use a simple HC-06 (or 05) and connect to it with the phone.
So get a keypad, and get that working first. There are lots of tutorials online for that, google will point them out for you.
There are tutorials for the bluetooth modules as well.
The Nixie is programmatically not hard, but does require some electronic work.
Get everything working at home before moving it to the car, and in the car your power supply will be the tricky thing. A 12v filter will probably help you a lot.
Thank you. Yes. I understand. I think of getting the remote keyboard to communicate with the cellphone Samsung S20 via bluetooth to begin with. Then add the display funktion. Is it preferable to get an old cell phone with proper keys to get the hardware? The are very small and could be an alternative I think. Perhaps you could order the keys in a row that I want as well (0-9) Then it is a job to cut the original board of the phone and solder them together as I want but with the original function. Just a thougt...?
I would go for something like this or take one out of an old phone, or maybe a dial would be even better. I have working code for that btw. I should really finish that phone i have one day.
And use an HC-06 or 05 to connect with the Samsung and tell it what to do, but not bother about the mobile phone keypad, that won't look good enough.
Thank You Deva!
My though by referring to an old cell phone was that all details are small and the quality is good. But the problems are the placing of the keys. I want them in a row 0-9 and not longer than ca 90 mm. The answer and hang up key shall be separated from the 0-9 keys. I have searched but nothing found yet. They shall have "long stroke" as well for the correct feel when pressing them.
Is there a solution where I can build a keyboard for each key and array them freely?
Best regards to you!
Of course, you can choose any button you like. Depending on how you wire them, you will need a few pins.
I tend to use bit-shifters to read buttons, but there are ready made multiplexer and pin expanders available.
Ready any number of buttons with bit-shifters requires 3 pins Data, Clock & Read. Also for the Nixie you should probably just use a bit-shifter. To code it is not really complex.
Still i think you should go for a Dial ! That will just be awesome in a car.
Thank you.Very interessting and impressive! The dial was not in my cars from the 60s. I need the correct period look as it should look like if you called as you do today. In thoose days you got a channel to choose, and turned a knob until this channel showed in the display.
It is preferable with a keyboard with 2 rows with 45 mm total length (0-4 and 5-9)
or 1 row with 90 mm total lenght (0-9) and than one answer key and one hang up key that communicate with my cellphone over bluetooth. In total is a board with 12 keys needed. The height of the keys should not be higher than 6-7 mm. The space of the front of the display is very limited to get the original look. The keys itself are probably not the problem. It is the board behind and the bluetooth solution, I think.
What Arduino board can be used to acheive this? I am sorry, I am sorry I have no experience with Arduino or other such things. Therefore I need help to get the correct hardware.
In the next step I need the nixie to show the number when pressing each key.....
I have the Nixie. I need the board behind it to show the pressed key. Do I need a special keyboard for this function or can I add the Nixie driverboard afterwords to the (any) keyboard?
best regards
You can choose whatever buttons you like, then there are ways of wiring them up. The choices i would choose from would be
A pin per button, INPUT_PULLUP on every pin and grounding out with the button.
A Matrix of 3 x 4 using either 3 In- and 4 out-put pins or vice versa.
Using resistors to create voltage differences between the buttons and connecting to analog inputs
Using a bit-shifter to ping every button and read the output.
Or combinations of it.
I suggest you start with that and get results of the pressing of buttons on the Serial monitor first.
This is a fairly basic part, but it still involves some understanding of how button presses are handled.
De-bouncing and sorts. There are alos libraries to help you with some of it, but you have to decide how you want to do it.
Personally i would go for a simple Nano or Pro-mini board and add a HC-05 or HC-06 to that. You should be able to get then to perform the tasks you want it to. You could even consider ditching the Samsung phone and go for a simcard shield, which would remove the need for the bluetooth altogether. Actually i think that is the solution i would go for, why bother with the phone and bluetooth if you can make calls directly with a simple SIM-card unit.
You will need to make sure that you get the connections right, but it is not more complex than connecting a BT module.
You can also for a board that has bluetooth built in like the ESP32.
We have mentioned that you need additional hardware for that. A 170v step-up and controlling transistors or open-collectors, and possibly bit-shifters if you don't want to dedicate a pin to each number you want to show.
I have a Arduino board in what the nixie sits. But I don´t know what to do with it. I bought it in 2014....The nixie sits mounted on a board.
You are right going for a SIM card unit is a thought too. But I can cosider both solutions since I want the gear in each car without moving it from a car to another. Therefore it is nice to get it working with BT to my cellphone.
Does the ESP32 contain all that I need (keyboard and BT)? Were can I get that one?
What is Nano or Pro-mini board? I have see a lot in the links you posted but I don´t know what to choose to get the right stuff. Sorry, perhaps silly questions. I want to get the right hardware for my project and then I have to get someone who can make it work technically.
Sorry no picture, but in the 60s you got a channel from an operator to call from. And that channel you turned with a knob and the channel chosen showed fully analog in the display. But it is fully unrelevant for my project. I want to get it work with modern GSM technology but with the optical design from that period.
