Just for fun - tiny scarecrow skeletons playing banjo music, placed under the control of the UniRemote!
- https://github.com/Mark-MDO47/UniRemote
- DuelWithBanjos now at version V1.0!
A quick 38-second video demonstration:
A story-line showing how to do Over-The-Air (OTA) Web updates to the Banjo Player ESP32.
| My two little banjo players - BEFORE | My two little banjo players - AFTER with new electronics and sound |
|---|---|
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| The new electronics on a prototype board | The new electronics inside the cardboard box |
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Table Of Contents
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I have two country style skeleton banjo players approximately 14 inches tall ordered from Amazon.com but apparently that exact model is no longer available there.
I think they might be similar to this one:
Version V1.0 includes the following capabilities:
- respond to controls from my UniRemote remote controller via ESP-NOW
- play music using a YX5200 Audio Player which reads sound files from a MicroSD card
- blink LED "eyes" using Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)
- Have volume control for the sound
- Fixed my bug; this now seems to work! I may make it more elaborate later.
- support Over-The-Air (OTA) re-programming
The future plan is to make them
- support OTA debugging via the extension "Visual Micro" for Visual Studio Code
- I am still working on it - getting ESP-NOW, ota_webupdater, and OTA debugging to play together
- https://www.visualmicro.com/
- https://code.visualstudio.com/
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This is the schematic of the interesting part of the design, including the ESP32 module, sound control, and LED control.
- The ESP32 of course has I/O at the 3.3V rail. The YX5200 uses 5V power and TTL voltage levels, which could be up to 5V.
- I use resistor networks to drop the YX5200 output voltages from 5V to 3.3V to be compatible with the ESP32 inputs. The ESP32 is NOT 5V tolerant on its inputs.
- The YX5200 is nominally able to work with TTL-level inputs (and 3.3V should be fine), but I use a SN74HCT125N quadruple bus buffer to raise voltages from 3.3V to 5V. I have had some issues with ESP32 outputs to WS2812B in the past and just like to beef the signal up to avoid problems.
- The 1K resistor in the path to the YX5200 RX line prevents coupling of digital noise into the sound output.
- I had to move to ESP32 pin D26 because of my horrible soldering.
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I didn't know about this when I did my perfboard design for Dueling with Banjos but I wish I had used DIYLC instead of hacking away at my perfboard!
- https://github.com/bancika/diy-layout-creator
- https://github.com/bancika/diy-layout-creator/releases
Here is a nice YouTube showing how to use it
- Design Circuits on Stripboard or Veroboard for FREE with DIY Layout Creator by TekSparkz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzje3eHqi2E
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The code is starting to take shape; you can find it here
I wanted my PWM LED control to be automatic in between commands but also to respond to commands. I made some code to do this. Once everything is initialized, you only need to call led_pins_pwm() periodically from loop() to have the LED eyes follow the requested time pattern.
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Work In Progress...
| Title | Descrip | URL | each |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skeletons | 2 @ Pose-able banjo playing skeletons | https://www.amazon.com/XINANDHAO-Halloween-Animated-Skeletons-Musicians/dp/B0DC56RL1F | $10.00 |
| ESP32 | 1 @ ESP32 Devkit V1 ESP-WROOM-32 | https://www.amazon.com/Hosyond-ESP-WROOM-32-Development-Microcontroller-Compatible/dp/B0C7C2HQ7P/ref=sr_1_4 | $3.50 |
| YX5200 | 1 @ Sound Module with MicroSD (TF) card socket | https://www.amazon.com/Organizer-YX5200-DFPlayer-Supporting-Arduino/dp/B07XXYQBNS/ref=sr_1_1 | $2.00 |
| SN74HCT125N | 1 @ Non-inverting 5.5V buffer 14-pin DIP | https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/texas-instruments/SN74HCT125N/376860 | $0.63 |
| Proto Board | 1 @ 3.125" x 2.25" Prototype Board | from deep in my closet | $ who-knows? |
| speaker | Metal Shell Round Internal Magnet Speaker 2W 8 Ohm approx 1 inch | https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0177ABRQ6 | $2.80 |
| JST SM 2.5mm | 2 @ pair JST SM 2.5mm 3-pin Male/Female connectors and cables for banjo players | https://www.amazon.com/mxuteuk-Connectors-Connector-Adapter-Electrical/dp/B0DHKC3ZSF/ref=sr_1_2?th=1 | $0.45 |
| resistors | 4 @ 200-Ohm 1/4 watt through-hole resistors | https://www.digikey.com/en/products/filter/through-hole-resistors/53?s=N4IgTCBcDaIE4FMDOBLJAXA9nEBdAvkA | $0.10 |
| resistors | 1 @ 1.0-KOhm 1/4 watt through-hole resistors | https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/stackpole-electronics-inc/CF14JT1K00/1741314 | $0.10 |
| resistors | 2 @ 3.3-KOhm 1/4 watt through-hole resistors | https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/stackpole-electronics-inc/CF14JT3K30/1741376 | $0.10 |
| resistors | 2 @ 6.65-KOhm 1/4 watt through-hole resistors | https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/stackpole-electronics-inc/RNF14FTD6K65/1682364 | $0.10 |
| on/off latch button | 1 @ ON/Off Switch Self-Lock Micro Push Button Switch DC 30V 1A | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086L2GPGX | $0.20 |
| UBEC 5V | 1 @ 5V/6V HOBBYWING 3A UBEC | https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805502614547.html | $1.50 |
| 18650 Battery | 2 @ 3.7V 18650 & charger URL has 4 batteries plus charger so price each is inflated |
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CP6V26QX | $5.00 |
| 18650 2-slot holder | 18650 Battery Holder 2 Slot 3.7V 18650 Battery | https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09LC13D9P | $2.60 |
| JST SM 2.5mm | 1 @ pair JST SM 2.5mm 3-pin Male/Female connectors and cables for power connection | https://www.amazon.com/mxuteuk-Connectors-Connector-Adapter-Electrical/dp/B0DHKC3ZSF/ref=sr_1_2?th=1 | $0.45 |
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This repository has a LICENSE file for the Apache 2.0 License. There may be code included that I have modified from other open sources (such as Arduino, Espressif, SparkFun, Seeed Studio, DFRobot, RandomNerds, etc.). These other sources may possibly be licensed using a different license model. In such a case I will include some notation of this. Typically I will include verbatim the license in the included/modified source code, but alternatively there might be a LICENSE file in the source code area that points out exceptions to the Apache 2.0 License.