lbarnes

Looking for a way to add a small (pager type) vibrator to my TX. Due to my youth and lack of ear protection I cannont hear the tone buzzer in my TX's.

I dont want to keep looking down at the timer display during flying.

I have a small vibrator that I picked up at Radio shack and thought I could just wire it across the buzzer.

Did'nt work.[&o]

Anyone got a suggestion?

Maybe a small transistor driver ckt.

Larry

lbarnes

Well, I made up a NPN driver for the vibrator. It kinda works.

The problem is, it seems the logic on the 2 buzzer pins of the DX6I are negative and then pules
positive when the buzzer is activated.

If I knew the ckt of the buzzer in the DX6I I might be able to figure it out. It does not appear that one side of the buzzer is connected to ground.

It must be in series with a driver like the one I made up.

I was hoping to use the buzzer pulse to trigger the driver. I tried both NPN and PNP configurations and really no luck.

Hoping someone has done this before.

Larry

dirtybird

My Feedback: (5)

Your girl friend will love you!

flyinwalenda

My Feedback: (5)

Ha. The thread title had me thinking  !
I believe you are over complicating this. The buzzer is probably a simple piezo buzzer. You should be able to do either of two things. One would be to connect an earphone jack to the terminals , mount it in the case and plug a small earbud earphone in and listen to the "buzz" or connect it to a remote powered speaker or even a louder piezo buzzer. The second thing would be to forgo the "buzz" and connect a super bright led to the terminals and mount it in the case. Would need to measure the voltage and include the correct drop down resistor for the led.

lbarnes

I figured it out.

I will post a Schematic later.

Used a 555 one shot timer.

Larry

lbarnes

For those that have a problem with hearing the piezo buzzer in your TX.

You can do what I did, add a small pager vibrator to the inside of the TX case.

The current that makes the Piezo buzzer work is not enough to drive a larger buzzer or vibrator. I came up with the below design to sample the signal going to the TX buzzer and drive a pager vibrator.

It is a "one shot" 555 timer. Easy to build and very low cost. The timer and Radio Shack vibrator cost less than $5.

The INPUT to the timer is the positive side of the Piezo buzzer in your TX. The supply voltage can be tapped to your TX battery.

Now when you set the timer on your TX the case will vibrate and you will not need to take your eyes off your plane to look at your display.

Enjoy

Larry

acdii

Well... that would be one way to have my wife enjoy the hobby too.

lbarnes

Yeah, My wife wanted the one with the biggest antenna

Larry

A.T.

Nice, thank you, but concerned that whilst this will work well in the case of most 2.4Ghz systems, suggest a rider
be added that users should excercise caution adding any form of vibrator to crystal and or module based transmitters.
With earlier crystal based Tx, suggest a remote vibrator strapped to wrist will better avoid disruption or damage to the crystal.
Modules, which may be loose on pins, can be made secure with a tape wrapped around, also to form a "handle" for easy removal of module.

Alan T.
Alan's Hobby, Model & RC FAQ Web Links

lbarnes

The vibrator used in this application is from a small pager or cell phone.

The vibrations are small and I can understand your concern about the 72Mhz, Xtal, TX's, if the vibrator is mounted at the bottom of the case (around battery compartment) it should not effect the xtal.

The vibrations are only as long as the beep of the piezo buzzer, this device will not keep the buzzer going when the signal is off.

But, you did bring up a good point.

There may be a issue if a larger buzzer or very close to the xtal of the TX.

Larry

flyinwalenda

My Feedback: (5)

Don't use the paint shaker vibrator in a crystal TX !

lbarnes

Not only will this ckt drive a small vibrator, but you could also use a louder buzzer.

I did try a larger Radio Shack buzzer, it was loud but I went with the vibrator.

Another thing is that on my DX6I, every time I do any type of input (trim, menu, etc) the case will vibrate.

This is very nice when you are adjusting your trims.

You will know when the trim button is adjusted and by counting the vibrations you can tell how many clicks of trim you added.

Larry

lbarnes

MY BAD[:-]

Please note that the schematic I posted earlier is incorrect.

The schematic show a pull up resistor from pin 2 to +vdc.

The resistor should be a pull down from pin 2 to ground.

See corrected schematic below.

The value of the resistor can be 10 - 12k ohm.

Sorry for the confusion.

Larry

BubbasanJohn

How are you going to fly with that radio between your legs madam?