Electronic components for Wind-Up (dynamo) Radio.

AidanOBoyle

Hi all,

I am looking for a supplier to provide me with the internal components for a Wind-Up (dynamo) radio for a project I'm working on at the moment.

I'm having problems sourcing these, mostly because of the number of units I need. I need 10 units for prototyping and up to 200 units for the final project. It's not a big enough order for a large manufacturer to deal with and too many for me to adapt existing radios that can be bought off the shelf.

Is there anyone who could point me towards a supplier or could supply these themselves?

Any help would be appreciated!

Aidan.

DublinDilbert

What component exactly are you looking for?

Do you have a specification for each component you need?

Cheeble

Can you be more specific? Which components are you having trouble sourcing?

Cheeble-eers

Edit: cinders & ashes! beaten by two minutes

AidanOBoyle

Hi, thanks for the replies.

I'm actually looking for someone who can specify and supply all the internal components necessary for the radio. I don't have a background in electronics so I'd prefer not to get into assembling components myself.

Ideally, I'd like to be able to get the components assembled and mounted on one board so it can be dropped into the housing that I'm producing separately.

Does this make anything clearer?!

Cheeble

Hi Aidan,

Is it a standard consumer type radio i.e. AM/FM, or something a bit more specialised?

These might give you some ideas:

http://www.rapidonline.com/Educational-Products/Projects-Robotics/Curriculum-Based-Projects/AM-radio-project/35911

http://www.quasarelectronics.com/radio-receivers.htm

http://www.amazon.com/Radio-Trainer-requires-assembly-advanced/dp/B000FMQ37C

Cheeble-eers

DublinDilbert

AidanOBoyle wrote: »

Hi, thanks for the replies.

I'm actually looking for someone who can specify and supply all the internal components necessary for the radio. I don't have a background in electronics so I'd prefer not to get into assembling components myself.

Ideally, I'd like to be able to get the components assembled and mounted on one board so it can be dropped into the housing that I'm producing separately.

Does this make anything clearer?!

You still haven't specified what components you need.

How are you designing the external housing, without consideration of the internal workings?

Why not source a complete wind up radio??

AidanOBoyle

Thanks Cheeble for sending those on! They're really helpful.

DublinDilbert, as for a list of components, this is the best spec I can provide (as I said, my background isn't in electronics):

FM radio receiver with a speaker and amplifier. Must have volume and tuning controls. Must be powered by a hand-cranked dynamo and should have a rechargeable cell or large capacitor to store the charge generated. Must have an antenna, although the housing is to be made of sheet metal so this may act as the antenna.

The external housing is quite simple and has been designed with consideration of the internal parts. I've pulled apart a couple of wind-up radios and adapted them to my needs to get to this point in the project. There's buckets of space within the housing and I only really have two fixed locations for internal parts. Everything I need will fit inside the housing without problems. It's just getting someone to supply it is difficult.

I don't want to go down the route of buying off the shelf radios and stripping them down to get parts for the final units. It's really messy, it's easy to damage the components while doing it, adapting the parts isn't ideal and it generates a huge amounts of plastic waste. Also, it's a pretty expensive solution.

DublinDilbert

How well does the final product have to work? Are you looking for a very long playing time?

Your not really going to get all the stuff you need off the shelf, your going to need some knowledge of the electronics/workings.

From a cost point of view it will still probably be cheaper to buy radios and take them apart, even if you need 200 of them. I'd be surprise if you could source something for in or around €10/unit in them volumes.

FarmerGreen

Project definition and a budget, I reckon.
25000+?
Why in the heck are we doing this?

AidanOBoyle

Obviously if has to work reasonably well and have decent enough sound quality. If the radio played for 3 mins after 30 seconds of winding that would be perfectly acceptable to me.

From a cost point of view i'm still not convinced that taking apart an existing product is the best solution. I have to factor in the cost of my time on the project also and carefully opening the radios and reconfiguring them would be a slow process. Do this for 200 units and you soon have a problem. This is before you take into account disposal of the waste generated and equipment that would have to be bought to do the task.

To be honest if I could find someone who would do them for €10 per unit I'd be happy enough. My problem is finding a supplier who'll work with such small numbers.