Music Box With Light Show

Hello and welcome,

in this tutorial we will show how you can make your own music box with an included light show. All you need is an empty case. We took a case that is normally used for tools. In this Project you can be very creative, so you dont need to replicate every single step, for example you can put the speaker where you want, you can add as many LEDs as you want. In the end, most important is that everything is wired correctly.

If you like the Instructable I would be happy if you vote for me at the audio contest.

I had a lot of fun doing this and so i hope you did.

Step 1: Parts / Supplies

In this step, you can see all the Parts you need for this Project.

Besides of the Parts, you should also have some of the following Tools:

- Soldering Iron

- Wire stripper (should also work with Pliers)

- Knife

- Screwdriver

- Pliers

- Glue (Hot glue or similar)

Step 2: Preparing the Case

Depending on how the case is mounted from the inside, the attachments for tools or similar must first be removed. Afterwards the charging socket can be inserted on the side. Then you can install struts for the batteries so that they do not lie loose in the case. We have decided for a permanent solution and used hot glue. We also glued the Fan in place. Under normal condition you don't need a fan, but we decided to put one in, since the amplifier and voltage regulators can get quite hot on summer days. Depending on where you place everything you have to decide where to put some holes for air to get in to have a proper airflow inside.

Step 3: Preparing Wooden Plate for Speakers and Switches

In this Step we are going to prepare a wooden plate. In this plate we will fit 2 speakers, 4 switches, 1 main switch, 1 voltage meter and an USB Charging port with Audio Jack outlet.

After drilling all the holes we prepared the wood with some oil and finish, to look a bit better.

After everything has been dried, we mounted everything in place.

We placed the amplifier on the back of plate, between the two speakers.

IMPORTANT!: The amplifier has an volume knob, i recommend turning it on half. If you start playing music for first time start on lowest volume on your phone and slowly turn it up. If its too loud or quiet, you can change the volume knob.

Step 4: Adding the Support Frame

Because the speakers are inside the box, the box must be open for operation. Therefore I have removed the back wall of the case. Now music can be played even when the case is closed.

In order to keep the case stable, I used a frame which I created with a 3D printer. The files for this are available at Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4546947

If you don't have a 3D printer you can also be creative and use some aluminium rails where the LED Strip can fit in or many other ways!

The single parts are glued with adhesive on the case.

Note: most likely you don't have the same case I do. Hence, the frame won't fit. So you need to measure the inner frame and scale it to fit :

Scale factor width: your width (cm)/ 41cm

Scale factor height: your height (cm)/ 29,5cm

Use for the transclear A parts scale factor width.

And for the transclear B parts scale factor height.

Step 5: Building the Light Chanel

The LEDs are now glued to the frame. Test the LED´s, so they work properly. Afterwards the transparent 3d print parts can be glued on the frame. The parts must be printed with 100 percent infill, otherwise the light effect won't be that good.

Step 6: The LED Strip Controller

For the LED Strip we used an WS2812B, these LEDs are addressable and gives so many possible ways in lighting everything up. For the controller we used and Arduino Nano, but you can also use any other arduino controller. Normally you only have to solder an 470 Ohm resistor between Pin 6 on the controller and the Data+ of LED Strip. In the following photos and schematic we also added an IC that can analyse the audio signal and let the LEDs react to the playing audio, but this is going to be an future project and will not be part in here. The Orange cable in the pictures is for the Data.

The arduino is programmed with an fading programm, so the LEDs will fade to every color. You can also change the FADESPEED to make it faster or slower. The programm only includes fading right now, but you can change it to your likings. The programme uses the adafruit NeoPixels library, you can get the latest on their github page.

Arduino Program:

The arduino controller and the LED Strips both use 5V supply voltage, more of that in the next Step.

Step 7: Step Down Converter

For the controller, LED strips and smartphone charging we need a 5V Power supply, for that we are using a step down converter but you can also use an DC/DC converter, we used one of both in the project but its up to you and doesnt matter. If you are using a step down converter you have to adjust the output voltage to 5 volts, you can do that by powering the module with the 12V batteries and turn the potentiometer on the board counterclockwise till the output voltage reaches 5 volts. We used the step down module to power up the controller and LEDs strips and the DC/DC module for the phone charging, we used two separate modules, so we can charge the phone without having the LEDs on all the time.

If you are connecting the USB cable to the DC/DC module, you have to short the two data lines (white and green), this will enable the fast charging for smart phones. After shorting it, we isolated it with shrinking tube, you can also use isolation tape. Connect the red cable to 5V+ or Vout+ and the black to GND or Vout-. In the picture you can see we also hooked another USB cable, so we can use an bluetooth to audio module and can play audio via bluetooth.

Step 8: Cabeling Up

This part seems more complicated than it is. In the attached cabling overview you can see how anything is connected. All red wires are "external" connections, so these are cable you have to wire up. Everything is modular in the overview, so if you don't want a fan or USB charger or BT to audio module, you don't have to.

For all the cables i recommend using minimum of 2.5mm^2 and for the fuse we used one with 30A. We used black cables for GND and red cables for positive (12V and 5V).

If you are using more than one Battery, than you have to connect them parallel, so + on + and GND(-) on GND(-).

Audio connection:

Connect every audio cable you have to the splitter, doesn't matter what port you use. Don't forget to connect the Bluetooth to audio module.

Step 9: Testing and Finishing

Due to copyrights the video has no sound

Press the main switch and the Voltage meter should show the voltage of the Batteries.

The first switch turns on the amplifier and you should be able to play music, be careful when removing cables from the audio jack as it can get some loud rustling noise.

The second switch is for the LED strip and controller. When you want to upload new code onto the controller you should flick this switch on, otherwise the LED strip will draw the power over your USB device you want to upload with and some devices don't provide so much power.

The third switch turns on the USB charging function and the Bluetooth to audio module. You can really charge every device that need 5V and it provides fast charging OR a maximum of 15W. The Bluetooth module works the same as any other bluetooth speaker.

The last switch turns on the internal Fan. Maybe adding a sensor that tracks the internal temperature and only turns the fan on when needed.

For charging the Batteries we first had an 230V connector on the case and had an internal converter. Since this is not the safest option and there are other mains voltages out there we decided to just install an 12V DC Jack on the case. From there you can hook up a normal 12V Battery charger fitting for your project.

If you have any questions or some steps are unclear, please leave a comment.

Thanks and have FUN!