DIY Bluetooth phone handset?

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Scodiddly

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 18, 2004
Messages
941
Location
Libertyville, IL USA
OK, so I'm not planning on actually building my own Bluetooth stuff, but stealing the guts out of one of those silly-looking Borg earpieces all the idiots are wearing these days.

You see, I just recently found this little gem:
handset-raw.jpg


My recently acquired cell phone does sound reasonably good (but great), but it's also a little inconvenient to get the tiny little speaker up to my ear, etc. Plus there's the matter of DIY street cred, which I've gotten behind on.

So my basic plan is to buy a fairly cheap Bluetooth earpiece or headset, get the innards out, and fit them into this handset. The speaker will likely be compatible right out of the box, if it's anything dynamic. I'll most likely have to replace the old-style handset mic with the electret that'll come with the Bluetooth stuff. Then just the one answer/hangup button, which seems to be the typical setup.

Anybody try this already?
 
Good-looking idea indeed!!!

The speaker will likely be compatible right out of the box, if it's anything dynamic. I'll most likely have to replace the old-style handset mic with the electret that'll come with the Bluetooth stuff.

If the BT-set is the in-ear type (i.e. very-low-power), there is a chance that you'll need a small bit of extra "power" amplifier (like one opamp) to drive the speaker in the handset. But you have plenty of room for a NiMH-battery in that handset - you could probably also power the BT-set from this - would run longer on a charge.

For the mic, I thinh it might be the easiest to just stash the complete BT-set in the mic-end of the unit, using it's already built-in microphone as-is. That way you get around soldering the tiny capsule.

Jakob E.
 
Right now my main worry is about the antenna, since the handset seems to be made of aluminum. But good point about the speaker. I was figuring on being able to fit in a couple AAA batteries or a even a 9v if needed.
 
A little Google work seems to indicate that the Motorola HS820 is a popular headset for this sort of thing. One guy had the guts built into an old-school "brick" cell phone, another used a Nintendo controller. So I guess that's my next task, to find one of those puppies.

I took the back off the handset - not a lot of empty space! I could fit a couple AAA batteries in there, replacing a big leaf switch operated by the "squeeze to talk" handle on the phone. On the other hand the HS820 has a charger and everything, so I really don't need to make a lot of extra space.
 
Dropped by Radio Shack and found a Motorola H300 on clearance for some $40. My guess is that if you're not afraid to solder stuff to SMT boards then just about any little Bluetooth headset would be fine. This one was cheap and runs off a single AAA battery, which means I ought to be able to stuff a AA battery in the handset and get a longer battery life.

I'm going to test it for a day or two before voiding the warranty. If anybody here catches me wearing it between calls, please shoot me ASAP.
 
Hmm... I'm going to need some small, cool, and surface/hole mount buttons. Three of them, for the main button plus volume up/down. I was originally thinking about using the big "squeeze to talk" plate, but the leaf switch takes up space I'm going to need for the battery. Any suggestions? I'm also going to need an LED, but I already know how I'm going to do that.
 
Wow - over a year before I finished the damn thing. :?

Anyway, it's done. The hard part was just getting buttons to line up with holes without sticking. Still room for improvement there. I managed to fit everything inside - buttons up by the earpiece, guts in the middle, AAA battery in the mouthpiece where it's easy to change. Connecting everything to the original Bluetooth earbug was easy, though on a very tiny scale. The tactile switches for the buttons were glued to the circuit board, but I was able to pry the switches apart and just solder to what remained. The handset speaker works just fine connected in place of the earbug speaker, and I'm using the tiny electret mic that came with the earbug.

Now I just need a phone with better Bluetooth implementation so I can make practical use - right now if I've got the handset connected the phone will only ring in the handset earpiece. I guess they assumed that I'd be happy wearing a dorky Bluetooth Borg implant around full-time, which is of course a bad assumption.
 
The belt clip is the all-too-important touch. :green: :thumb:

I would like to see people's reactions in popular shopping mall. :wink:
 
bravo! that looks very cool.

btw, you can mod a old school handset to work with a cellphone via corded connection very easily. these pokia people were selling them, they changed their name:
http://www.hulger.com/

all you need to diy is the little connector that mates to the cellphone and an old phone + cord. reterminate one end of the cord and you are done. I used one of these for a while for cell calls when I was at home. (I have been land-line free since 2000). I found the audio quality far superrior to the built in crap and the peace of mind that the RF source was at least 6 ft from my brain is bonus. I should build another one of those.

mike
 
[quote author="mikep"]bravo! that looks very cool.

btw, you can mod a old school handset to work with a cellphone via corded connection very easily. these pokia people were selling them, they changed their name:
http://www.hulger.com/

all you need to diy is the little connector that mates to the cellphone and an old phone + cord. reterminate one end of the cord and you are done. I used one of these for a while for cell calls when I was at home. (I have been land-line free since 2000). I found the audio quality far superrior to the built in crap and the peace of mind that the RF source was at least 6 ft from my brain is bonus. I should build another one of those.[/quote]

Yeah, that's where I started - about 3 years ago I had a (work-provided) cell phone which didn't sound that good at all, and having seen the Pokia site I hacked together a similar rig with an old handset and a wired cell phone earbud kit. Worked great, but stayed with the phone. I figured that if I had to do it again, I'd go Bluetooth so I wouldn't have to figure out yet another new connector when I changed phones every couple years.

What's really nice about this handset stuff is that it just works better - better sound in your ear, and not having to shout to cover the distance to the cell phone mic. It's possible to have a more civilized conversation with a quiet voice.
 
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/cellphone/8928/

bluetooth_retro_handset_new.jpg


ThinkGeek Bluetooth Retro Handset
$29.99
Dial "B" for Bluetooth
. . . . . We have taken the ever-popular Retro Handset and updated it to connect to your cell phone using Bluetooth technology. That's right! No more tangled up phone cord. Now people will think you're really crazy talking into a old-time handset connected to... nothing. Oh, and speaking of nothing, there's nothing out there quite like this handset because this product is a ThinkGeek original design, only available here. How 'bout them blueberries?
 
Actually, the Bluetooth project I hope to take on someday doesn't involve any soldering (gasps from the crowd)

374913040_961fe551f5.jpg


It's to turn one of these things into a gesture-based wireless DAW controller. Apparently there's a complete .NET API to allow access to all the Wiimote functions from a Windows application. I just need to figure out how to "talk" to Sonar and Adobe Premiere Pro.

Too few hours and too much fun to be had. :)

--Bob
 
Hey stickjam,
FYI as wiiremotes use bluetooth, if you get you computer to see it (Macs can see it without a problem) then you could feed it easily in something like MAX MSP. MAX can do anything with the information!
 

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