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Underwater air bubbles controlled by audio

jaslion

So basically I'm tasked with making those typical 90's tubes with air bubbles and fake fish in it things. See image for that.

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I'm about 80% of the way into making these. But they will be done a bit differently. As for starters there will be gravel in the bottom and fake/real plants. At the top will be the led. All the rest remains the same.

 

The minimum viable product would be rgb adressable lights with a functioning tube where gravel + plant can be inserted in to. This I have already made and is functional.

 

Step 2 add rgb control. Works well will add a round light later

 

Step 3 make audio responsive. Works well with a 3.5mm input to a arduino. Which might be replaced by a pc.

 

Step 4 make a mesh network.

 

This is where I'm out of my depth. I've used some old ESP8266 ESP-01  modules for this. Using the arduino as the controller here. I am starting to make a simple python program to allow some selection for patterns and stuff. So far it works but not well and my range is limited. I'm not sure how I would be able to increase the range (make it a actual mesh?) and how I can keep it going ok that they do not desync.

 

Step 5 make the bubbles also react to music.

 

I have no idea how to acomplish this. By hand it's pretty easy I can just open and close the value of a aquarium pump manually. But thus far no experiment has worked. I've tried a motor with a gear on the valve and that was far too slow + the motor got waaay too hot quickly. I also tried a solenoid valve. But it can be too slow and struggles.

 

This feature would really finish the project off but I honestly have no idea how to get this going. Any advice would be extremely appreciated.

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43 minutes ago, jaslion said:

I also tried a solenoid valve. But it can be too slow and struggles.

get a way bigger solenoid that should have worked. thats what pipe organs do

 

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17 minutes ago, emosun said:

get a way bigger solenoid that should have worked. thats what pipe organs do

 

Yeah but that goes a bit too expensive very quickly. Is there any you recommend in the 10 euro range?

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2 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Yeah but that goes a bit too expensive very quickly. Is there any you recommend in the 10 euro range?

I mean do you want them to stay working or do you want weak solenoids that get hot and don't open?

If you try and cheap out on a system that needs to pump air dynamically into water then yeah I'd imagine it isn't going to work well. Are you making a deliverable or are these one time use things just for yourself?

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6 minutes ago, emosun said:

I mean do you want them to stay working or do you want weak solenoids that get hot and don't open?

If you try and cheap out on a system that needs to pump air dynamically into water then yeah I'd imagine it isn't going to work well. Are you making a deliverable or are these one time use things just for yourself?

Three time use prototypes for about 15 min each to eventually make a deliverable for next year. The prototyping budget got wasted by some ah that said they knew what they were doing but turns out that was a lie.

 

I have 57,38€ left for the valves for 4 of them. I hope nothing breaks otherwise it's end of story.

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5 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Three time use prototypes for about 15 min each to eventually make a deliverable for next year. The prototyping budget got wasted by some ah that said they knew what they were doing but turns out that was a lie.

 

I have 57,38€ left for the valves for 4 of them. I hope nothing breaks otherwise it's end of story.

well that sucks

why not get one good valve and make sure it works , then go over budget and get the other 3 if it does.

If they eventually will be paid units you only need a single one to work before overspending on the others. you'll eventually get your investment back if they work , but you won;t get anything if they don't

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2 minutes ago, emosun said:

well that sucks

why not get one good valve and make sure it works , then go over budget and get the other 3 if it does.

If they eventually will be paid units you only need a single one to work before overspending on the others. you'll eventually get your investment back if they work , but you won;t get anything if they don't

The issue is I am working for a non profit as a assistant as my secondary job. Going over budget is hell in terms of bureaucracy. I geuss worst case I could opt for 1 good and then have a couple bad ones that just do the interactions in a lot less intervals?

 

Full honesty here. I'm not an engineer of any kind I did study that for a year and know the basics and have made some fun projects but I'm well out of my depth here and basically am subbing whilst they are looking for a replacement.

 

But if it doesn't work so be it. Then it just will miss that feature for now.

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2 minutes ago, jaslion said:

But if it doesn't work so be it. Then it just will miss that feature for now.

worst case senario , just stick a pot on them or slider in the software so they can just change the interval the solenoid activates on the fly so it looks like it's going to the beat.

they made placeebo music lights in the 1970s that flashed/changed patterns to whatever music you wanted , but turns out the flashing and patterns were random and peoples brains just filled in the gaps and assume they were linked to the audio.

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17 minutes ago, emosun said:

worst case senario , just stick a pot on them or slider in the software so they can just change the interval the solenoid activates on the fly so it looks like it's going to the beat.

they made placeebo music lights in the 1970s that flashed/changed patterns to whatever music you wanted , but turns out the flashing and patterns were random and peoples brains just filled in the gaps and assume they were linked to the audio.

Got a link to that expiriment? Sounds like a fun read and a great human exploit to use here.

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12 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Got a link to that expiriment? Sounds like a fun read and a great human exploit to use here.

I thought it would be easier to find but i'm having a hard time finding it atm.

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