Silly little project! "Tic-Tac Tuner"

Post by **bicostp** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 6:56 pm

What is it?
It's a really tiny radio which is designed to fit entirely in a Tic-Tac container.

Why?
For the hell of it.

Actually, because I have tons and tons of junk lying around and I want to make something fun / semi-useful out of it all.

Parts list

stuff I have:
Tic-Tac box
AAA battery
tiny scanner FM radio (Performance Tini Tuner)
soldering stuff
really tiny on/off switch
speaker from old crappy McDonald's LCD game thing

stuff I need:
1x AAA battery holder

Questions
1. Is there a really small transformer that can amplify the voltage from the battery's 1.5v to 3?
2. What's the GBC link port pinout? I searched quite a bit but couldn't find anything on it.

<a href="http://images.channeladvisor.com/Sell/S ... ER.JPG">Oh and here's an image of the cheaparsed radio I'm using</a>

Post by **marshallh** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 7:51 pm

It seems odd that the batteries are 3v yet it puts out 5v, must have circuitry to increase the voltage (maybe a flyback regulator?)

http://fms.komkon.org/GameBoy/Tech/Hardware.html

Post by **bicostp** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 8:17 pm

Aww crud it's 5v?

I wonder if I could get it running off of 3v...

I might wind up melting 2 Tic Tac containers together for this one...

Well I brought the multimeter in so I can test the Tini Tuner for voltage and polarity.

I wonder if there's any way to add an antenna from Rat Shack onto it...
*searches for schematics*

Sorry about the rambling.

I'll make up a concept pic and post it tomorrow.

bioniclebert · Post by **bioniclebert** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 8:19 pm

I put a Radio in A "POWER PLAYER 3" battery pack with 2 AAs. I used a GBA radio thing. I saw the 2 wires going to the GBA Cable going to the radio. One of them was obviously ground, so the other had to be 3V, though I'm guessing yours isint so obvious.

I removed the other metal plates and put the radio board in there, along with a speaker. then I cut holes in the case for buttons and Done! about 20 minutes of "work" Most of that just casework.

Post by **bicostp** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 8:21 pm

Yeah from the sopund of it this thing's pretty similar. It's got 2 wires going to the link port conector, one red one white. I'm guessing the white wire is ground but I'm not too sure.

I know this isn't a very complex mod, but I like the challenge of making stuff in tiny cases, like the tic-tac boxes! (so far I have tic-tac box speakers and a flashlight)

Post by **marshallh** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 8:34 pm

My best guess is that the game boy radio simply has a resistor in it to drop the voltage down from 5v, you could probably find it easy by tracing from the link port terminals.

daleighan · Post by **daleighan** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 8:36 pm

You should use a lobeman at www.lobeman.com

nos_slived · Post by **nos_slived** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 10:53 pm

But that's already a working radio, which isn't quite the point.

MIRAGE · Post by **MIRAGE** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 8:56 am

i had that idea once...

Sega-Man · Post by **Sega-Man** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 10:08 am

/me can make one in 10 mins

Buy a "Pocket Radio" from a dollar store, fit it in a Tic Tac case

cennar · Post by **cennar** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 12:41 am

bicostp wrote:Aww crud it's 5v?

I wonder if I could get it running off of 3v...

I might wind up melting 2 Tic Tac containers together for this one...

Well I brought the multimeter in so I can test the Tini Tuner for voltage and polarity.

I wonder if there's any way to add an antenna from Rat Shack onto it...
*searches for schematics*

Sorry about the rambling. I'll make up a concept pic and post it tomorrow.

7803 that bastard when you go to rat shack to buy a AAAbat holder.