Question for electronics dudes

[nighthawk]

I use an Ipaq 2210 in the car for my satnav and scammerea evasion,but i find the volume from the built in speaker a little too low when driving at +30mph or with the stereo on at a reasonable level.

The Ipaq sits in a universal cradle, and the charging lead is one of those Y types, where by 1 end plugs into the power socket, 1 end plugs into the ipaq and the other tail attaches to the royaltec GPS mouse.

I want to keep the GPS mouse as I can also use it with my laptop, so that ruled out the amplified solutions as they tend to have built in GPS etc.

I want to create an external solution to the problem using an audio feed from the Ipaq's headphone socket to an amplified speaker.

This is where i need some ideas

Do the speakers used in car phone kits receive a line level feed and amplify it them selves, or does the black box amp it up?

the other option was to aquire one of those cheap universal phone kits and canabalise it for the speaker.

Any ideas ?

thanks in advance

[dilbert]

I'm not familiar with your particular scenario, but if you're going to cannibalise soemthing else, you're not far from designing your own.

The data sheet that follows is typical of the sort of device found in portable speaker solutions.

www.semiconductors.philips.com/acrobat_download/datasheets/TDA1013B_CNV_2.pdf

If you're feeling keen with a soldering iron, it's not a bad way to go. This component will take a line level, and drive a speaker, it has a built in volume control.

The only thing you need to think about is decoupling and power supply. For the power supply, it doesn't get much easier than automotive applications.

Edited to add:

The circuit you need is on page 9.

>> Edited by dilbert on Thursday 14th April 22:40

[parrot of doom]

2 options:

Cassette with flying lead, plug lead into ipaq, stick cassette into car stereo, bingo loud annoucements (but no music)

or:

www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=6510&TabID=1&source=15&WorldID=&doy=14m4



There is also a Scandanavian company that makes muting boxes and such, I can't for the life of me remember where though.

>> Edited by parrot of doom on Thursday 14th April 22:57

[dieselnut]

A universal set of cheap amplified PC speakers could be a simple way, most run from a 12V transformer and will happily take 10-15 volts from your car electrical system without noise. You can them hide them out of the way...

Depends on your electron herding level of expertise

[nighthawk]

Thanks for the replies guys, after 16years playing with car's and their electrics i've no objection to a bit of soldering and finding suitable power and earth points.

It's a wee project to alivate the boredom more than anything, but top priority is paying as close to £0 as possible

I can't use the cassette option because I've not owned a cassette or player for years

What ever I cobble together must be small(ish) and readily removeable an as unobtrusive as possible.

As it's only for satnav from my Ipaq it doesn't need to be super high tech or ear splittingly loud...although it'll sometimes end up fitted to a 135T350 transit, so above whisper will be handy.

i'll take a peek at the project in that link as soon as I get 5mins spare.....with a maplin store 10mins away it could be a goer......if the price is right

[parrot of doom]

www.pocketgpsworld.com/qubit-sound.php

www.qubit.dk/

Thats what I was looking for

>> Edited by parrot of doom on Friday 15th April 19:49

[mybrainhurts]

What's a dude...?