TuneSash – a wearable audio player speaker system
By Corey Menscher on Day 1
The TuneSash is complete! Unfortunately, I spent over six hours attempting to hack the iHome iH85, but in the end it just did not work. Instead, I created an audio amplifier out of an LM386 chip, and I have to say…it sounds awesome!
Most of my day was spent taking apart the iH85 and resoldering the iPod dock’s ribbon cable, as well as a couple of solder points that came apart from handling the dismantled unit. Here’s what the iH85 looks like when taken apart:
Before I got started, I went to Paragon Sports to pick up a shoulder strap and spare Timbuktu pad:
My intent was to use the strap as the sash, and then velcro the replacement pad would be velcroed around it by removing the padding. Here’s how I would have laid out the electronics:
I needed to extend the iPod dock connector to extend to a separate pouch for holding an iPhone, which I also purchased. I used a ribbon cable and resoldered the EXREMELY tight solder points, and extended the existing ribbon cable on the dock connector to the new cable:
After I fixed this and added a battery holder, I tested the setup…and it didn’t work! Actually, one of the components started to smoke. So, I must’ve had a short in there somewhere…even though I tested it as best I could with a multimeter. So at that point I gave up and switched to my backup plan of creating my own amp with an LM386 and using a standard 2mm audio jack instead of the iPod dock. So first I created my circuit:
Then I soldered it to a perfboard:
I hot glued a small ~2″ diameter speaker to the pad as well as the perfboard and battery. I also added a power switch and LED:
I’m actually glad that the iH85 didn’t work…using a 2mm input now allows me to use both my iPhone and an iPod shuffle (or any other device with a headphone jack…like a radio). This offers more flexibility in the long run. Here’s a shot of the TuneSash itself:
You can view a demo at Blip.tv!
July 29th, 2008
2 Comments
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1. Taylor Ridgeway | June 16th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
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Mr. Menscher:
Do you have any photos of the separation of the iH85 tubular housing? I want to open one for modification and I would like to preserve the housing if I can.
Regards,
Taylor
taylor.ridgeway@gmail.com
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2. Joseph Quilty | November 11th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
What capacitor and resistor did you use?