BlueClone - The Blue Room's Own Comms System

[callumb]

The LED is the right way round. It lights up very very dimly when you (accidentally) touch the pins.

 

When the call button is pressed it does call the other packs so that part works.

[Brian]

Hmm, if other packs respond then it can only be these few components...

 

[callumb]

I have ordered more of the two transistors. Should have bought more than the exact amount! Will report back when the eventually turn up.

[callumb]

So my stereo PC Style headsets arrived for testing the packs with. Plugged in and smoked R8... Checked wiring Mic and Headphones share a common ground (doh - they are stereo after all!) thankfully they have an in volume and mic mute so wired it so the left headphone is over Tip and R1 and the mic over R2 and Sleeve. Plugged it back in and the new R8 smoked again! No issues when theres no headset plugged in. What could I be doing wrong to cause R8 to smoke.

[sunray]

So my stereo PC Style headsets arrived for testing the packs with. Plugged in and smoked R8... Checked wiring Mic and Headphones share a common ground (doh - they are stereo after all!) thankfully they have an in volume and mic mute so wired it so the left headphone is over Tip and R1 and the mic over R2 and Sleeve. Plugged it back in and the new R8 smoked again! No issues when theres no headset plugged in. What could I be doing wrong to cause R8 to smoke.

The problem you have is explained in an earlier post where the headphones are connected to the common earth with the mic.

First question, are they 4 pole plugs? I'll assume they are as they are stereo plus mic. Mine have a screened wire plus a blue and a yellow for left and right, between plug and 'in line' mic mute (I cant remember how that relates to the plug connexions) then a screened wire to the mic, and for the phones black common (which was connected to the mics screen) plus red and white for the left and right.

 

My solution was to re-wire the in-line mute, the screened wires remained, I removed the black from the screen and connected it to blue, and connected yellow to red and white. This placed the phones in parallel on what was L&R stereo pins of the plug and completely isolated from ground.

I hope this makes sense and is enough to work your brand out.

 

 

 

[callumb]

It lead me down the right path and after wiring it up so the headphones are connected only to the out and not connected to ground and the microphone connected to ground and mic I can't get anything out of both headsets. Tried twiddling the side tone etc dead silence. Tried with and without the bias voltage. Might just bite the bullet and buy the right headsets than faff about with these.

[sandall]

IIRC "proper" comms headsets are 400R, with a 200R dynamic mic. PC headsets are usually 32R with an electret mic, which will present a low or high impedance, depending on whether you've wired it the right way round, but won't work without a bias voltage.

[sunray]

It lead me down the right path and after wiring it up so the headphones are connected only to the out and not connected to ground and the microphone connected to ground and mic I can't get anything out of both headsets. Tried twiddling the side tone etc dead silence. Tried with and without the bias voltage. Might just bite the bullet and buy the right headsets than faff about with these.

Let's take a step back and look at this before jumping.

 

First of all:Do your headsets have 4 pole jack plugs? [or indeed 4 pole XLR]Have you fitted 4 pole jack sockets?

 

If answer to both is yes, you need to check the plug and socket are wired the same. IIRC you have the boards without the 4 pin header for the jack socket.

 

Do you have a multimeter to be able to confirm the headphones are connected to R16 & R20 and mic screen is connected to GND & core connected to R9/R10 etc when plugged into the pack.

 

I have several sets of these: https://www.ebay.co....SEAAOSwJ8hcqJCz and after rewiring they work well so I see no reason your can't get yours working.

 

 

It might be worth checking R8, R16 & R20 to ensure they haven't failed.

 

[callumb]

It lead me down the right path and after wiring it up so the headphones are connected only to the out and not connected to ground and the microphone connected to ground and mic I can't get anything out of both headsets. Tried twiddling the side tone etc dead silence. Tried with and without the bias voltage. Might just bite the bullet and buy the right headsets than faff about with these.

Let's take a step back and look at this before jumping.

 

First of all:Do your headsets have 4 pole jack plugs? [or indeed 4 pole XLR]Have you fitted 4 pole jack sockets?

 

If answer to both is yes, you need to check the plug and socket are wired the same. IIRC you have the boards without the 4 pin header for the jack socket.

 

Do you have a multimeter to be able to confirm the headphones are connected to R16 & R20 and mic screen is connected to GND & core connected to R9/R10 etc when plugged into the pack.

 

I have several sets of these: https://www.ebay.co....SEAAOSwJ8hcqJCz and after rewiring they work well so I see no reason your can't get yours working.

 

 

It might be worth checking R8, R16 & R20 to ensure they haven't failed.

 

 

I got the exact same headphones.

 

 

 

So I have one headset working as expected after much fiddling thanks Sunray for the pointers helped massively. The other has a broken mic from new so that will have to get replace and why I wasn't getting anywhere with it and was just chasing my tail!

[sunray]

In that case you may have different wire colours, I think they were red and white but made up the blue and yellow to make it less confusing. They are not the best headsets in the world but they suit me fine.I also tried a very lightweight set but the common ground went all the way to the sealed unit and not openable without distruction.

 

 

I don't recall how but I opened one of the headsets to fix the wiring joint for a DOA mic, I don't remember if they are screwed or clipped together. Be gentle and you could be OK.

It lead me down the right path and after wiring it up so the headphones are connected only to the out and not connected to ground and the microphone connected to ground and mic I can't get anything out of both headsets. Tried twiddling the side tone etc dead silence. Tried with and without the bias voltage. Might just bite the bullet and buy the right headsets than faff about with these.

Let's take a step back and look at this before jumping.

 

First of all:Do your headsets have 4 pole jack plugs? [or indeed 4 pole XLR]Have you fitted 4 pole jack sockets?

 

If answer to both is yes, you need to check the plug and socket are wired the same. IIRC you have the boards without the 4 pin header for the jack socket.

 

Do you have a multimeter to be able to confirm the headphones are connected to R16 & R20 and mic screen is connected to GND & core connected to R9/R10 etc when plugged into the pack.

 

I have several sets of these: https://www.ebay.co....SEAAOSwJ8hcqJCz and after rewiring they work well so I see no reason your can't get yours working.

 

 

It might be worth checking R8, R16 & R20 to ensure they haven't failed.

 

 

I got the exact same headphones.

 

 

 

So I have one headset working as expected after much fiddling thanks Sunray for the pointers helped massively. The other has a broken mic from new so that will have to get replace and why I wasn't getting anywhere with it and was just chasing my tail!

[callumb]

In that case you may have different wire colours, I think they were red and white but made up the blue and yellow to make it less confusing. They are not the best headsets in the world but they suit me fine.I also tried a very lightweight set but the common ground went all the way to the sealed unit and not openable without distruction.

 

 

I don't recall how but I opened one of the headsets to fix the wiring joint for a DOA mic, I don't remember if they are screwed or clipped together. Be gentle and you could be OK.

 

I cracked open the volume and mic switch part, removed it all and wired straight through.

 

Mines had:

Left - Blue,

Right - Green,

Mic - Red,

Striped blue/ Copper - Audio ground,

Copper/clear - Mic Ground

 

with the Mic and audio grounded at the plug end so needed some tinkering! So I ended up wiring like this and seems to work:

Blue and green to Tip (blue on plug side of the cable),

Stripped to ring 1 (green on plug side of the cable)

Red to ring 2 (Stripped on plug side of the cable)

Clear/copper to sleeve (red on plug side of the cable)

Hopefully someone finds this useful and avoids cooking things.

 

 

 

[sunray]

Well done.

I left the in-line unit in as an easy way to make the joint, I think it's all still functional too.

In that case you may have different wire colours, I think they were red and white but made up the blue and yellow to make it less confusing. They are not the best headsets in the world but they suit me fine.I also tried a very lightweight set but the common ground went all the way to the sealed unit and not openable without distruction.

 

 

I don't recall how but I opened one of the headsets to fix the wiring joint for a DOA mic, I don't remember if they are screwed or clipped together. Be gentle and you could be OK.

 

I cracked open the volume and mic switch part, removed it all and wired straight through.

 

Mines had:

Left - Blue,

Right - Green,

Mic - Red,

Striped blue/ Copper - Audio ground,

Copper/clear - Mic Ground

 

with the Mic and audio grounded at the plug end so needed some tinkering! So I ended up wiring like this and seems to work:

 

Blue and green to Tip (blue on plug side of the cable),

Stripped to ring 1 (green on plug side of the cable)

Red to ring 2 (Stripped on plug side of the cable)

Clear/copper to sleeve (red on plug side of the cable)

 

Hopefully someone finds this useful and avoids cooking things.

 

 

 

 

 

[Cberg88]

Hi everybody.

 

found this thread a while back while searching for plans for a diy solution for a party line intercom, And this BlueCom is amazing in what you guys have accomplished! :)

I was wondering if anyone has any up-to-date BOM/parts list, since I'm not sure about some of the values from the parts list.

 

I have started looking at all the parts in the 1.2b parts list, but most, of not all? parts from CPC seems to be unavailable from CPC (most likely they have been replaced by other parts).

 

I should mention I'm in Sweden, and Farnell I think is the better solution for ordering parts here, right?

 

Best Regards

/Christopher

Edited April 25, 2020 by Cberg88

[themadhippy]

Id go with farnell,cpc have slashed there stock of components,especially ic's in recent years.The only real issue is making sure the footprint of the devices like capacitors will fit the pcb's. Edited April 25, 2020 by themadhippy

[Cberg88]

Id go with farnell,cpc have slashed there stock of components,especially ic's in recent years.The only real issue is making sure the footprint of the devices like capacitors will fit the pcb's.

 

Yeah, my thinking too. Though many posts with documents and pictures in the thread has broken links, but trying to figure the values out.

Except for the footprints, how sensitive is the voltage rating for the capacitors? The PSU schematic has some references for voltage, but the Beltpack schematic only mentions the capacitance..

 

/Christopher