No clue what I'm doing.

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maleyps
 
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No clue what I'm doing.

Post by maleyps »

I'm 10 years old and I'm working on a project for school. I need help getting supplies for my project because I am not sure what I will need. I want to create a small button that sets off a very loud siren/alarm when the button is pressed. I want to make it small and flat. About the size of a gambling chip, with a flat disc-shaped battery. I think I will need the Adafruit Gemma M0 but I am not sure what else. The Piezo buzzer is not loud enough. I would be thankful for any help.

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Re: No clue what I'm doing.

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

The Piezo buzzer is not loud enough.
Which Piezo buzzer are you using and how are you driving it?

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Re: No clue what I'm doing.

Post by maleyps »

I'm not using anything. I don't have any supplies I'm just trying to understand what I would need to create this. I haven't even purchased the microcontroller board. I'm starting at the very beginning. I checked out a microbit from my library and learned how to code it. Now I want to make my own project. I don't understand any of it, but I am trying to learn. Thank you for the reply.

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Re: No clue what I'm doing.

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

I'm not using anything.
Then how did you determine that the Piezo buzzer was not loud enough? Piezo transducers are probably the best choice for achieving maximum sound pressure level from a small, low-powered device. That is why they are used in smoke-alarms.

You can find integrated buzzer modules with built-in drive circuitry so all you need to do is apply voltage. Or you can use a plain Piezo transducer and build your own circuit to drive it. It is possible to drive one directly from a microprocessor like the Gemma M0, but you are unlikely to get maximum volume from it due to the voltage and current limitations of the M0 GPIO pins.

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Re: No clue what I'm doing.

Post by maleyps »

Hi there. This is Siri's mom and I'm going to try to explain better.

My daughter is 10 and she won $2500 in an R&D contest for an "invention" idea. She now needs to bring her idea to life. We are starting at zero and have no idea how to do what we are attempting. Even your replies are way above our heads. She has been trying to do her own research and she saw a video of "Piezo speaker" or something and it wasn't very loud. That's where she got that idea from (we didn't know there were different kinds). She's been googling and watching videos but hasn't come across anything that explains what we need to piece it all together.

We don't know what any of the parts and pieces are called that we need (we just learned what a microcontroller board even IS just last week). We have taken apart an earbud, a Tile, and a smoke alarm trying to understand how these items work. Having something that we can program to sound like a smoke alarm, but in a very small profile is ideally what we are looking for. Any guidance for her on what to purchase from Adafruit would be appreciated. She's just a little squirt trying to learn something new in an area that we're all clueless about. Thank you.

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Re: No clue what I'm doing.

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Thanks for clarifying that. And congratulations on the prize!

The simplest solution is a piezo buzzer module like this one: https://www.adafruit.com/product/1536
That has a built-in driver, so you would just need a battery, a button and the buzzer. When you press the button to make the circuit, you will get a high-pitched (2KHz) beep. You could power it with a 3v coin cell like this one: https://www.adafruit.com/product/654
And use a little pushbutton like this: https://www.adafruit.com/product/3347

If you want to get fancy and do some programming, you could use one of these: https://www.adafruit.com/product/1739
And a microprocessor like the Gemma to drive it: https://www.adafruit.com/product/3501
That would allow you to experiment with different frequencies. Piezo transducers usually have one or more resonant frequencies where they will vibrate the loudest.

For real smoke-alarm level loudness, you would need to use higher voltages than the Gemma alone can produce. We can help you if you want to pursue that path. But I'd recommend starting with something simple (what an inventor would call a 'proof of concept'). Then you can expand on that later.

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Re: No clue what I'm doing.

Post by maleyps »

This is exactly what we needed. Thank you so much for your help.

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