Advice on powered vs non-powered speakers

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cansc
 
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Advice on powered vs non-powered speakers

Post by cansc »

Hi, I purchased 1 x Adafruit Audio FX Sound Board - WAV/OGG Trigger with 2MB Flash[ID:2133]
= $19.95
1 x Adafruit Mono 2.5W Class D Audio Amplifier - PAM8302[ID:2130] = $3.95

Space is at a premium (very small amount of space) and I have a tiny 8 ohm speaker. Will this work or should I have purchased the other sound board with built in amp? Can I return those and get that other one?
Thanks.
Chris

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Re: Advice on powered vs non-powered speakers

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

That combination will work. But if space is really tight, the Fx board with the integral amplifier will be more compact.

If the boards are new and unused, we can accept them for an exchange. Please contact [email protected] with a link to this thread to arrange it.

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cansc
 
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Re: Advice on powered vs non-powered speakers

Post by cansc »

Hi, I decided to keep and try the boards. I connected them but get no sound. I connected (on the main board) Vin, ground, L and R and Ground to the amp. To the amp I have A+ connected to L and A- connected to R, then ground of the amp connected to corresponding ground (beside L/R on main board). Vin is connected on the amp. speaker is connected to + and -. What am I doing wrong? I get no sound. Thanks so much for your help.

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Re: Advice on powered vs non-powered speakers

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Please post some photos showing your soldering and connections between the boards.

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Re: Advice on powered vs non-powered speakers

Post by cansc »

Hi, thank you so much for your help. Here is the picture. Vin and Ground on the main board are connected to power (+3.6v), red wire coming out of the picture from the amp is connected to battery positive as well. I connect ground to 0, 1, 2 or 3 which are programmed in and show as correct filenames according to the instructions.
Thanks so much!
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Re: Advice on powered vs non-powered speakers

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Can you post a photo showing the solder-side of the boards also?

Are the Fx and amp boards powered by the same supply?
Have you plugged a set of headphones into the Fx to see if any sound comes out there?

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cansc
 
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Re: Advice on powered vs non-powered speakers

Post by cansc »

Hi, here is the solder side of the board. I will try connecting the speaker jack to see if that will work also, but I planned to remove that as there is no space for it in my application. Thank you so much.
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Re: Advice on powered vs non-powered speakers

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

It is a little hard to see in the photos, but some of those joints do not look like the solder has flowed onto the solder pad. This guide has some tips on fixing that:
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-gui ... n-problems

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cansc
 
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Re: Advice on powered vs non-powered speakers

Post by cansc »

OK, but I connected the main board to power Vin and ground and have a green light on indicating the board is powered. I use headphones and connect 0,1,2,3 to ground and get no sound. Any suggestions about what I'm doing wrong? All pins are programmed with sound files named per the tutorial. Thank you.

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Re: Advice on powered vs non-powered speakers

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

We can try replacing the Fx board. Please contact [email protected] with a link to this thread.

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cansc
 
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Re: Advice on powered vs non-powered speakers

Post by cansc »

Ok, thank you for your help. I will do that.

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Re: Advice on powered vs non-powered speakers

Post by cansc »

Hi, I connected the new board and got a voice saying "left-right" repeating. What does this mean? It seems I have sound now so I'm on the right track! Thanks.

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Re: Advice on powered vs non-powered speakers

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

I believe that is just the sound-files they use for testing the boards in production.

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cansc
 
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Re: Advice on powered vs non-powered speakers

Post by cansc »

Thanks, I will try reprogramming the board.

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Re: Advice on powered vs non-powered speakers

Post by cansc »

Hi, works beautifully, there is not enough volume though. I adjusted to the maximum on the potentiometer and can still barely hear it. Can I adjust the volume with the volume pins? It says that only works in GI10 mode or something? Not sure what that means, can you please help out? Thanks so much, almost there!

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