Any ideas how to make a battery-powered device that plays 3 sounds triggered by a golf ball?

Sensors Sound & Audio
1

Hello all

I’m new to SparkFun, Arduino etc. I’ve made a few weird digital art things before using a laptops and projectors before, but now I’ve been asked to make a crazy golf hole that plays sounds. The ball will drop into the top of a box, roll down several gutters, before coming out the bottom. On the way it needs to trigger three different predetermined sounds.

I got a proof of concept working using a windows laptop with a Makey Makey (which is a small usb-powered board that mimics key presses via crocodile clips - https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14478). I used cardboard flaps hit by the ball to connect the makey makey circuit to trigger each keypress and Processing code to get the sound files to play. However I’m a bit clueless about making the actual thing.

This is what I need it to

  • run off a battery

  • be able to play at least 3 different sounds loud enough to surprise people!

  • be triggered by somehow by a ball rolling down a bit of guttering

  • be easy to set up / turn off because someone else will be setting up and packing it up many times over several weeks.

  • be somewhat weatherproof (it will be enclosed, but there may be moisture)

Browsing the Spark Fun site I thought this looked possible:

Would that do the job do you think?

And if so, any advice about batteries, speakers, sensors to use with it?

Any help very much appreciated.

Chris

2

Hi Chris,

I think the [Qwiic MP3 Trigger would be the best option SparkFun has to meet your project requirements. If you just need to trigger three tracks, you can use the [trigger pins broken out on the side of the board similar to how you are closing the contacts in your MakeyMakey prototype.

I would recommend taking a look through our [Hookup Guide for the Qwiic MP3 Trigger to familiarize yourself with the board and how to use the trigger pins. The first [example shows a quick demo of using one trigger pin to play a track. [This project Nathan built with the Qwiic MP3 Trigger is a good demo of a “simple” application using this board.

The simplest way to make this project battery powered would be to use a USB-C battery pack. The other, more complicated option, would be to use a single-cell Lithium-Ion battery and our [LiPower - Boost Converter to regulate the battery’s output voltage to 3.3V (this requires adjusting the voltage jumper on the LiPower) and then run that to the 3.3V and GND pins on the Qwiic MP3 Trigger. Another option would be to use a battery source between 3-16V fed into the [SparkFun Buck-Boost Converter and then run the 3.3V output to the 3.3V and GND pins on the Qwiic MP3 Trigger.

I hope this helps you decide if SparkFun has the right parts for this project and gives you a place to get started. Let us know if you have any other questions about the Qwiic MP3 Trigger and this project and we would be happy to help as much as we can.](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/15208)](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10255)](GitHub - nseidle/Money_Vacuum: A kid's museum exhibit that vacuums donations out of the user's hand)](https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/qwiic-mp3-trigger-hookup-guide#example-1-play-track-1)](Qwiic MP3 Trigger Hookup Guide - SparkFun Learn)](https://cdn.sparkfun.com/assets/learn_tutorials/8/5/9/SparkFun_Qwiic_MP3_Trigger_-_Pins_2_.jpg)](SparkFun Qwiic MP3 Trigger - DEV-15165 - SparkFun Electronics)

3

That’s great. Thank you, this sounds promising. I’ll have a look at the options you suggest. Thanks again.