Wesley Heung

Product

Plug the Finales Funkeln into your audio device, and party away as it flashes in synch with your beats!

Objectives

Follow the blueprints to create the circuit, then design and build an enclosure for the circuit. The device must be safe for home use when plugged into an AC power outlet.

Design process

Even though the circuit diagram was given for the circuit, it was still left up to us to decide the layout of the board itself. Planning ahead allowed us to create a clean, properly spaced out final product. Thus resulted in a clean and easily testable circuit.

Creating the enclosure introduced more problems. Originally, the project featured an ambitious clear case with EL lights inside. This can be seen in one of the early sketches. However, this also required logic gates to convert 3 channels into 5 channels. This would somewhat increase the complexity of the circuit.

It was soon decided to make the case translucent with three clear segments to improve diffusion of light, and simply rely on the LED lights to provide colour.

Time lines also forced a decision on the enclosure. Fancy shapes would be too time-intensive to mould, so a simple rectangular shape was picked to minimize construction time.

Safety was also a large concern during the creation of the enclosure. Plastic was chosen for the case since it is nonconductive to electricity. All of the circuit components are fully enclosed in the case when the lid is closed. Exposed wire and solder was covered with heat shrink or electrical tape. The fuse is externally inserted from a receptacle.

Overall, this project taught me a lot about which corners can be cut in order to achieve objectives, and which corners cannot be cut.