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Repurposing Old Bluetooth Speaker Guts To Send Signal To My Powered PA Speaker

Last Edited: 2021-07-06 17:14:29

Repurposing old bluetooth speaker guts to send signal to my powered PA speaker(s)

This is my first attempt at making a video for one of these one-off projects that I have on my list. I thought this one was really neat. It started with this bluetooth speaker that I got a few Christmases back:

It was a pretty decent speaker considering being a cheap little speaker. Eventually, what I thought was the woofer blew out. I found out later when opening it up that the top speaker that looks like a tweeter was actually just decoration.

First I threw the speaker away because it sounded so crackly I couldn't handle it. As I stood there staring at it in the garbage can in my garage, I couldn't help but think what a waste that is. I looked at my PA speakers stacked next to my work bench and thought, it would be outstanding if I could bluetooth to those.

I started tearing apart the speaker which was more of a demolition job as everything was just glued together. I eventually was able to remove the circuit board, the antenna (has FM radio in it too) and the battery which looks like an 18650 battery which holds a pretty good charge. I'm guessing since it's now just sending a signal and not driving an actual speaker coil, it will probably last much longer which is great!

I started designing a box to hold everything in tinkercad and was concerned about how I would print a box without seams. I thought it would either need to be on it's back or face, but on it's face it would definitely have to use a lot of plastic for supports for the back. My plan was to print it face up and be sure to set that special setting that does supports that do not touch the build plate. However, I had forgotten to set that special setting. Surprisingly enough, it must have bridged enough with my stringy PETG that it was enough to support the overhangs:

I am starting to get a tad more concerned with the way my prints look. Since starting 3D printing, I had only been concerned with functionality but I think I would like smoother prints now. I think this turned out pretty good. You can't really see the sides in this picture, but overall I'm happy.