Batteries Not Included
Raksha
Since I last posted about it, my Tyrannosaurus Megatron toy has gotten a
few touch-ups ... as promised/threatened, I took apart one of those roaring
Godzilla toys and pulled out the sound effects part, fitting it inside the
Tyrannosaur body. Only problem is, the batteries were a pair of AAs, which
were much too big to be stashed in the TF. I've since developed a fascination
with sound-effects toys, and took apart the noisemaker box on my G2 Starscream
to see what powered that one, and found that it's run by two really small and
flat round batteries. Some of those would fit nicely inside Tyrannosaurus
Megatron. According to a friend, the small batteries have to add up to the
same voltage that the two AAs had, though, and I'd have to connect up as many
as necessary in sequence. From looking at the AAs, they add up to 3 volts,
total. There's no voltage listed on the little flat Starscream batteries.
Does anyone have any idea how I'd connect up the Godzilla noisemaker to such
little batteries, and how many of them I would need to add up to the right
voltage? With all the people modifying toys into new characters, surely
*someone* has done this sort of thing before....?
--Raksha
(under 100 posts left to read and almost caught up....)
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"I am the Plumed Serpent, I strike and I soar!"
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All-time favorite Transformer: Soundwave ("The secrets of the Universe
reveal themselves to those who listen.")
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e-mail: jk...@postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu Dept. of Zoology, OSU
Web Page: http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/1139
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Drogn
In article <4vo086$q...@charm.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>,
jk...@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Raksha) wrote:
> Since I last posted about it, my Tyrannosaurus Megatron toy has gotten a
> few touch-ups ... as promised/threatened, I took apart one of those roaring
> Godzilla toys and pulled out the sound effects part, fitting it inside the
> Tyrannosaur body. Only problem is, the batteries were a pair of AAs, which
> were much too big to be stashed in the TF. I've since developed a fascination
> with sound-effects toys, and took apart the noisemaker box on my G2 Starscream
> to see what powered that one, and found that it's run by two really small and
> flat round batteries. Some of those would fit nicely inside Tyrannosaurus
> Megatron. According to a friend, the small batteries have to add up to the
> same voltage that the two AAs had, though, and I'd have to connect up as many
> as necessary in sequence. From looking at the AAs, they add up to 3 volts,
> total. There's no voltage listed on the little flat Starscream batteries.
> Does anyone have any idea how I'd connect up the Godzilla noisemaker to such
> little batteries, and how many of them I would need to add up to the right
> voltage? With all the people modifying toys into new characters, surely
> *someone* has done this sort of thing before....?
>
> --Raksha
> (under 100 posts left to read and almost caught up....)
Okay, I haven't done this on toys before, but batteries I know about.
The only real way to know what voltage Screamer's batteries are is to get
a voltmeter from your local Radio Shack and check them, so it's easier to
just get some new batteries. There are a number of "calculator" batteries
that would work, and they usually have the voltage listed somewhere on the
package. Something else to try is opening the outer case of a 9volt
battery, they actually have six 1,5 volt cells inside, usually
shrinkwrapped separatly but sometimes wrapped in cardboard. For holding
them together, I'd suggest getting some sheet plastic from a hobby shop
(1/32 to 1/16 inch) and gluing it into your own homemade battery holder.
For contacts you can either try haveing the stripped ends of the power
leads or (better) get some thin K&S brass or copper sheet (which should be
in the same hobby shop) and make proper end contacts, soldering on the
leads. This ugly ascii graphic shuld be about the shape to bend the metal:
front |~| side |
._| |_. |
|~~~~~| | / batteries go on this side
| | |/
|_____| V
If a small hole is drilled or bunched in the tab, the leads could be
simply fed through and wrapped around themselves, then covered with
electrician's tape or a smal piece of duct tape to keep them from coming
undone.
Do be careful of the polarity (+ and - signs) as most sound chips
can be destroyed by hooking them up backwards. The wores should be red and
black (or white) with the red positive. If the batteries aren't marked,
the end with the bump is almost always positive.
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~h <- bump
|_______________Y <-
I realize that these instructions cover some of the most "obvious"
things as well as the less obvious, but I have no idea of how much
skill/experience you have with things electronic.
-Drogn, who had a few years of
Electronics courses
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Slick
<Snip of A nifty idea>
>Does anyone have any idea how I'd connect up the Godzilla noisemaker to such
>little batteries, and how many of them I would need to add up to the right
>voltage? With all the people modifying toys into new characters, surely
>*someone* has done this sort of thing before....?
Okay....Hooking the Batteries up is easy, git out the AA battery case,
and hook the wires up to the little batterys, it would be nice if you
had A some electrical tools (soudering(sp?) and such) and also soulder
the two batterys to together (+ to -) also it is easier if you put
the + side of the battery up, that way you will always be able to tell
by looking at the battery stack which is which. it should work now,
if the voltage is A little wrong, it will still work, it will just
sound A little funny.
To find out the voltage, get the number off of the battery and go down
to your local watch/jewlry store and ask them to look it up, you can
also get some spares there also.
Good Luck!
Slick
"Hey you, out there standing in the aisle with itchy feet and fading
smiles, can you hear me?" -Pink Floyd
My for sale or trade list is located at.....
http://www.vvm.com/~tkaufman/toy.html
Fireflight at TF2 mush (TF2.ORG 1996)
Dave Van Domelen
I would really advise against modifying types of batteries. While
you may get the same voltage from 2 AAs as X watch batteries or flat nicads,
the internal resistances and so forth are different, and you could really
mess your system up in the worst case. In best case, it simply wouldn't
work, or would drain the batteries rapidly.
If you do insist on trying, you'll need to work with a soldering iron
at some point in the process, and if you haven't done this before you might
want to find an engineering type to help.
Dave Van Domelen, suggests looking into the ID4 toys and seeing what
sort of battery they use....