# MP3 Player Board



## bradndez (Jul 26, 2011)

I've seen the threads about the TTL from MDFLY, but has anyone used this board....... 
http://www.mdfly.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9_53&products_id=654

Any feed back? Not much documentation but to me it looks like it could be a simple solution to playing tracks.


----------



## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

I have an mdfly board. Other than connecting a few wires...for $8, what's not to like? I have several $30-$40 boards from popular haunt vendors that don't have near the functionality - such as SD card support.


----------



## HalloweenRick (Nov 25, 2005)

I bought the MP3 player you bought (the non serial type) and wish I bought the serial control. I wanted to use it with a microcontroller, but I would have had to have built a relay. I ended up buying a 50 sec USB board from Electronics123.com to run the prop instead. Here is the text from the earlier conversation I had with Jeff Haas about your board:
Jeff:
Just wanted to get some clarification on some points:
1) Jeff what you did was on the serial TTL MDFLY board only correct?
2) There is no way to connect either MDFLY board to an EFX-TEK Prop-1 as the baud rate differs, or do I read it as I can connect it but it will only play one file, not in an order or randomly?
I have been playing with the 50sec Electronics123 boards and got them done succesfully. Unfortunately I bought the NON serial MDFLY boards and hope that I can in someway use them in my props. If all else fails, can I hook them up to a Velleman IR Lightbarrier and have them trigger when the kid walks past, even if it only plays the one sound file over and over?
Thanks!

Rick,

1. I got the serial control Tenda board (from MDFLY). The other one didn't have serial control and was only a couple of bucks cheaper.

2. You're right, the Prop-1 is built around a Basic Stamp 1, which has a limitation in how fast it can communicate via serial. Unfortunately, this is too slow to talk to the Tenda board. All you'll ever get out of it if you use a Prop-1 and a Tenda board is a random file, because the Tenda board only sees the first "0" sent to it.

3. The 50 second boards look like you record only one sound on them and then play it back. So it's limited. You could have something else press the button on them...

4. I haven't used one of those Velleman IR light barriers, but it seems you could swap in a relay for the buzzer. See these posts on the Velleman boards:
http://forum.velleman.eu/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5353
http://forum.velleman.eu/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4768
It's such a cheap kit that it's probably worth trying out. To make sense of the advice to add a diode, look at this page with a schematic for using a relay with an Arduino:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Conn...The-Schematic/

5. The non-serial Tenda board seems to be just an mp3 player. You could use it with a microprocessor (like a Prop-1 or Arduino) to play a single sound file when you wanted, but you'd want to make a small board with a relay on it; the microprocessor would trigger the relay, which would be wire to press the "Play" switch. This would also work with the 50-second board, just use the relay instead of the pushbutton. 
serial ones.


----------



## bradndez (Jul 26, 2011)

Yeah I saw that on the other thread. I'm new to this so I could be completely off. But I have a Picaxe and figure I could write the program to start playback as well as randomize it by randomizing how many it times it triggers next (or previous). I wouldn't have to worry about baud rate because I am just triggering it like pressing a switch (if I understand this correctly


----------



## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

The layout for that mdfly boards shows serial control pins. Now they may not have been implemented but then again they may have. Worth a try!

Are there any product codes and/or maker names on the board?

The Basic Stamp on the Prop-1 supports serout command and I didn't see any comments on limiting it to 4800 baud which is what the Tenda wants?


----------



## bradndez (Jul 26, 2011)

I have looked over every mm of that board to find something saying who made it. All I can find is that the IC is MV c522 and there is anumber printed on the board that says 0MBLM3225_002. Google led me to the MV silicon site where it looks like the IC is an old version of the AU6850B. But nothing about the board. I emailed MDFLY but have yet to get a response.


----------



## JeffHaas (Sep 7, 2010)

Hi guys, I looked over the docs on that board on MDFLY's site. It seems to be a "minimum" board that only supports buttons, with no support for serial commands.

Let's keep things from getting confused here...there are two boards we're talking about. One is the Tenda board with serial control. The other is this new one, which looks like it's designed to work like a typical mp3 player.

bradndez, you're right - you can have the Picaxe trigger a relay to "press" the button. This way you don't have to deal with the limitations of serial communication. I suggest two relays...one to press Play and the other to press Next Track.

Based on the docs, my guess is that once you hit Play, this new board will just keep playing tracks until you tell it to stop. This is fine for background or atmosphere sounds, but doesn't work that well if you have a specific track you want to play at a specific time. 

Tell us what you're thinking about doing, I should be able to give you some tips.

I've got six Picaxe 08M controller boards that I'll be using for our haunt, so I'm going to get pretty good at making these things do what I want.


----------



## bradndez (Jul 26, 2011)

I am just starting with the Picaxe (08M also) so bear with me. Since this MP3 is 5v it seems like I wouldn't need a relay. Just send the command (high/low) directly to the MP3 board (am I missing something).


PS I really appreciate all the help ya'll are the greatest


----------



## HomeyDaClown (Oct 3, 2009)

Looks like the control buttons are multiplexed accross the C4 - C7 pins and then to ground.

I would think you could mimic at least some of them with setting pins LOW.
I think for a buck more, the serial version board offers more control with only two connections RX & TX.

Also look like they're shutdown until Sept 10th.


----------



## pshort (May 6, 2008)

It looks like the Play, Next and Prev pins can be handled by just driving the appropriate pin to ground (you probably need to leave the micro outputs tri-stated the rest of the time). If you want to make use of the other switches (vol+, vol-, USB/SD) I'd use a cd4066 transmission gate chip.


----------



## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

I agree with Homey though - for the little extra the Tenda board costs, I'd rather use that. Although the Tenda is a bit sensitive to the power supply used.

If you don't need a lot of power, here is a cheap amp to go with it (under $5). Got 2 on order to try

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Dual-cha...175?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f0ce1b4ff

Buy 10 from a different supplier and the price drops to under $2.50 each!!!!!

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/10pcs-Mi...ultDomain_0&hash=item2a12d6e011#ht_2154wt_802


----------



## HomeyDaClown (Oct 3, 2009)

Just ordered 10 Fritz thanks for the link. Just what I needed, more toys.

Actually my son will like playing with em, he loves soldering up noise makers!


----------



## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

Yeah - just can't believe that you can get them down to $2.50 each - that's crazy!!

OK, no volume control but the Tenda boards have that onboard anyway. 

I dunno - these people can't be making any money at all by the time you factor in postage. I just bought some USB power supplies (500mA) to run some MP3 players for music on hold on phone systems - $1.20 each inc postage. Professional music on hold players are hundreds of $ and I can put one together for $35. OK they have some limitations but they work fine.


----------



## JeffHaas (Sep 7, 2010)

Wow, that little amp could be useful. I looked closely at the chip and could tell what it was, a quick search turned up the specs:

http://www.poweranalog.com/pdf/PAM8403.pdf

Let us know how it performs!


----------



## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

Hmmm wonder how well they would go with those cheap electronics123 soundboards?


----------



## Cole&Jacksdad (Jan 20, 2011)

Would these MP3 boards work well with an Aduino? They are about 1/4 of the cost of the wave shield.


----------



## JeffHaas (Sep 7, 2010)

You should be able to use any microcontroller (Arduino, Picaxe, EFX, etc) with this. The only question is do you need to build a small relay board to trigger it, or can you make it work with a direct connection.


----------



## Cole&Jacksdad (Jan 20, 2011)

Here are the features.


Play mp3 files directly from SD card & Flash drive (Priority: Flash drive)
Auto-Play
Loop all mp3 files
Push&Push SD Slot
Support SD card up to 4G
Support Flash Driver up to 8G
Stereo Audio output
5VDC power supply
Compact Design
I think since it is powered by 5 volts, it should be a direct connect to an Arduino(has a 5 volt DC output). I'm not sure about the other controllers.


----------



## JeffHaas (Sep 7, 2010)

The other controllers also supply 5 volts from a connection. That's not the issue as I see it, it's just what it will take to "press" the buttons to give it commands. Someone who gets one of these will have to answer. I have two of the Tenda boards that take serial commands, so I don't need this type as well.


----------



## robp790 (Jan 8, 2008)

*Tenda board*

The serial Board from MDFLY also has the pins for the same direct control of the MP3 files. You could use an output from any microcontroller to activate the sound stored at that location. Thus, 8 outputs from the controller allows us to play 8 separate sounds. Serial control allows us to use ONE output from the controller to activate any of 200 plus sounds stored on the SD card. There are 20 pins on this Tenda player, only the last 5 pins are used for serial activation.


----------



## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

There are different versions of the MDFLY boards. The ones on the site today are not the same as the ones there a year ago. I have one of the older version (as mentioned earlier in this thread) and I can't seem to make it work. They no longer have the specs posted. What I recall is that the TX/RX weren't usable. You had to go to the TTL board to control it.

If anyone has one of the original non serial MDFLY boards working, could you please send me a photo, diagram, or something?


----------

