FlyboyEUC Posted March 24, 2020 Share Posted March 24, 2020 (edited) Trying to figure out a solution to put my buzzer externally pointed upwards on my wheel. Or somehow amplify the beeper or use a more powerful beeper while maintaining the size. If I wanted to increase the volume of the beeper, would something like this work? Would I need to upgrade the buzzer or would it be able to handle a 35v output? Edited March 24, 2020 by Flyboy10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planemo Posted March 24, 2020 Share Posted March 24, 2020 (edited) Very interesting! Well the stock buzzer is rated to 24v so it might be OK at 35. Alternatively, maybe the module you found is available in a 5>24v version. My only concern is that without an external power supply, to increase voltage I would assume it has to reduce the current. Whether that current would then be too low to drive the buzzer I have no idea. For the price of the module I am tempted to just try it. Cheers Edit; just seen it has an adjustable output. Dont know how much increase we would see from only (what I believe) is a 5v input though. I very much doubt it will be a big jump, and then there is the further concern about whether it would try to draw more amps than the board could deliver. Who wants to be the guinea pig? Edited March 24, 2020 by Planemo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyboyEUC Posted March 24, 2020 Author Share Posted March 24, 2020 I'm certainly not going to guinea pig my favorite wheel. But I would like a quick fix since I'm barely hearing my buzzer. Has anyone upgraded to a louder beeper without dramatically increasing the size of the buzzer? Is the board supplying the amps going to be the limiting factor? Would linking a bunch of buzzers in series be louder or would that just lessen them all? I should have paid more attention in my intro to electrical engineering class... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrelwood Posted March 25, 2020 Share Posted March 25, 2020 I moved the buzzer to below the power button, pointing upwards. Either the new position doesn’t get as much acoustic support or I damaged the buzzer, but the sound is either the same volume or lower than original. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planemo Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 On 3/25/2020 at 11:33 AM, mrelwood said: I moved the buzzer to below the power button, pointing upwards. Either the new position doesn’t get as much acoustic support or I damaged the buzzer, but the sound is either the same volume or lower than original. Yeah these piezo buzzers really do have some weird acoustics. At first I thought they were highly directional and to a point they are. Point it directly at your ears and they are ear splitting, angle it away a few degrees and the loudness drops off exponentially. But it doesn't end there - the sound is also highly reflective but it doesn't have to be direct reflection either. It's a weird one. Also don't forget that the stock buzzer has rectangle slots in the sides and from my testing these must NOT be covered. I believe that the stock mounting was probably the best that Gotway could come up with to give an alarm that would generally be heard by most riders under most conditions. It's not ideal but having it inside the wheel does mean its done most of it's reflecting before it hits the rider. Whilst this means the loudness has dropped off considerably, it is at least consistent wherever your head may be at any given time. I have ended up mounting mine in the side panel, down by my left heel. Despite what sounds like a pretty bad location, it's is definitely considerably louder than the stock location, and I never had any trouble hearing the 80% alarm on my 84v, but now I have 100v I am a little more nervous. I have seriously thought about moving it forward to the front of the side panel (near my toes) as I wondered if my heel is blocking the sound a little but in reality it may well be reflecting off my heel and actually helping. If I move it to the front it may be 'nearer' to my head as the crow flies but may not reflect off my toe as well as my heel does. I also considered mounting it as you have - on top of the wheel pointing upwards but the directional problem remains that if your head goes out of line with it by a couple of inches the volume is dramatically cut and without anything to reflect off it might (as you have possibly found) be worse or the same as the stock location. It would likely help immensely if a small horn/cone was fitted to diverge the sound if the buzzer was fitted to the top of the wheel, but we are then getting into a bit of an ugly solution for sure! Just realised I have waffled on a bit about something as boring as a buzzer but I am a bit OCD about it simply as it could mean the difference between a nice ride and a life changing injury. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrelwood Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 It doesn’t take OCD to see the importance of hearing the GW beeper! Well worthy of using some time pondering. One idea worth testing might be to attach the buzzer inside the side panel cover. While it would have to be unplugged or unscrewed every time when taking off the sidepanel, the direct physical contact to a large ”membrane” outside the wheel could be effective. I might try that when at some point I’m adding a switch to drop the buzzer volume to 1/10 or something similiar. During long group rides it’s been a common occurance where we ride gently back for more than 10km, accompanied by the restless 15% battery warning of my MSX. The message has been received, it doesn’t need to disturb every other rider and every pedestrian and bicyclist we pass. And me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan acoustic-unicyclist Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 My MSX 100v buzzer sits right below my handle, on the outside of the wheel. I can hear the 80% beeps even at a full battery, all the way up to 40mph I have also spliced in an LED on my 84v MSX that blinks at the same frequency as the beeping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike_bike_kite Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 I seem to remember some folk were fixing a vibrator to their wheel (that might have the wrong word ) so, rather than hearing the beep, you could feel the beep. I'd normally google for the correct term but I suspect google would just send me adverts for sex toys for ever more if I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrelwood Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 34 minutes ago, mike_bike_kite said: I seem to remember some folk were fixing a vibrator to their wheel Someone at the forum tried to simply replace the beeper with a bass shaker, but since the basic operational principles weren’t understood, it failed to do much anything at all. Would be cool to read about a functional mod like that. Although I have large suspicions about feeling the shake through the extremely rigid pedal hangers and 1/2” worth of rubber and soft cushy foam. Which would be a darn near perfect combination of materials if one wanted to isolate a source of vibration... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FULspeed Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 I repost my old solution to the buzzer problem, in case... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyboyEUC Posted March 27, 2020 Author Share Posted March 27, 2020 8 hours ago, Declan acoustic-unicyclist said: My MSX 100v buzzer sits right below my handle, on the outside of the wheel. I can hear the 80% beeps even at a full battery, all the way up to 40mph I thought about doing this. Can you post a picture? 5 hours ago, FULspeed said: I repost my old solution to the buzzer problem, in case... Can you post the Y connector and buzzer you used? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FULspeed Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 Hi Unfortunately I don't have the wheel with me, and here in Paris I don't have the possibility to pick it up again soon (we must stay at home...), so for the moment I can tell you what I remember... The buzzer I used, after several tests, was the closest to the original I found. Others, more powerful or different gave bad results, with even lower sound than the original alone. For the Y connection there are no connectors, I just connected them in parallel (cutting and soldering the cables together). Hope this can help 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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