Here we go for some improvement on my retro radio which integrates a PC/media player. The first version had an external touch screen which just ruin the overall look … So I’ve decided to integrate it in the radio itself.

I’ve stripped down the original speaker covering, everything was attached with screws, it was pretty simple to do.

A part of the ‘grid’ of the speaker is use to keep the touch screen in place. As this screen does not use the full opening, I’ve tried to keep the look of the radio as it was.

I’ve not cut the fabric right on the edge to be able to fold and glue it to have a nicer result.

I’ve glued the screen with a glue gun. It’s pretty harsh, I agree, but I don’t have the courage nor the tools to do a proper removable system.

The main point, beside the look of the radio, is the simplification of the cabling. The screen is now powered by the power supply of the PC and the VGA cable is kept inside the box.

Another improvement I’ve made is the ability of the system to communicate with external modules thanks to an arduino using a custom made RF shield.

The first wireless communication tests I’ve made were using Xbees, but they are expensive and I was never able to have more than 2 arduino exchanging data and staying fast and responsive enough. 

So, I’ve tried a simpler solution that fit my needs : RFM12B modules … very cheap (5.5€ @ Jeelabs) and pretty simple to use with the library you can find at Jeelabs. Here is my prototype :  

All the pins are wired as I’ll probably use them later on.

On the other side, I have anothe prototype of multifunctional module. This one is based on an arduino mini pro, a temperature and humidity senser (Sure electronics), a light level senser (Sure electronics) and two multicolored leds (BlinkM).

The idea is to build several of these modules to keep track of the temperature and humidity of my house’s rooms. I’ve added the leds here as I’ll use them to backlight my tv set, which is the first module I’ll put in place.

I’ve soldered the RF modules on pin headers that I’ve bend in order to be able to use them on breadboards and other standard protoboards.

The other modules : 

Everything assembled together with a regulator to allow the powering through a regular/cheap transformer : 

I’ve modified the interface of my media player to easily change the leds color, it’s still a rough one, but at least, it’s working.

I’ve not yet integrated the temperature, humidity and light values … The arduino sketches are already done, I just miss the c# part on the interface.

There is still room for improvement, mainly on the interface side, but for a daily usage, it’s ok ;-)