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Novelty
VHS Bluetooth Speaker
This
is a ridiculously easy to build Bluetooth speaker made using one of
those Chinese Bluetooth receivers with on board amplifier
available on
eBay. There's not much actual work involved other than getting the
parts together and assembling it. A nice 'job done in an
hour' Sunday afternoon project!
 All
you need is the aforementioned Bluetooth module, two 40mm speakers
(also from eBay) and of course an old VHS cassette. The BT module comes
with an on board 3S JST-XH socket for the speakers and a micro USB
socket for 5V power input. I already had a suitable USB cable which is
the
same as that used for charging most smart phones, but if you can also
find as I did on eBay, a pre-wired 3S JST-X plug then things are
simplified even further
 The
speakers are glued in with contact adhesive and the PCB is held down
with double sided foam tape. You would think there is plenty of
room inside a VHS cassette shell
and there is, but there are plastic mouldings that limit where the
board can be placed. In the end I could only find one spot where it
could go without hindering the connectors. The USB power cable exits
through a filed out
slot in the front half of the shell. And that's all there is to it!
 A bonus
is that the onboard 'Bluetooth paired' LED can be seen through the
spool windows as can the rear of the drive units themselves. Remember
this is just a fun project so don't expect too much from it. For
listening to the odd podcast or a bit of background music it is
perfectly adequate
The
Bluetooth Module
 The BT module used is
labelled as Sanwu. It has nice simple tones to
indicate connection status and doesn't suffer
from digital noise.
There are others available that
look very similar but have the two ICs at 90 degrees to each
other or slightly staggered, not exactly in line like the Sanwu shown
above. I tried one of these and was put
off by an awful electronic voice that said "bwoo tooz iz connacteed"
and
it suffered
from dreadful digital noise as well
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