This repository describes the general needs to build the Bloop-Box hardware
- The three boards (Mainboard, Tailboard, LED-Board)
- Case
- Power Supply
- Speaker
- Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W with header pins
- NFC-Reader
- Cables
- RGB-LED
- some screws depending on your case design
The best choice is the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W since it is small form factor and uses less power than the bigger ones. The Zero 1 does not work since it has no 64 bit support.
Any other Raspberry Pi that supports a 64 bit OS should work as well but keep in mind that you need a much bigger case for those and also might have to use a bigger power supply.
The Raspberry Pi also needs the standard male header pins to connect the Mainboard to it.
The reader we use in our boxes is a cheap and common board named "RFID-RC522" - looking that up should give you the correct one since it is a very common part for use with Raspberry Pi and microcontrollers.
You can see the needed pinout in the documentation of the Mainboard. Most important is the used chipset - another chip would mean a rewrite of the client software. If the pinout of your reader is different you will have to adapt with the cable.
You need some cables for the internal connections. Everything uses cheap JST PH compatible connectors. The NFC-reader uses a JST XH compatible connector because of the wider hole spacing.
All cables are connected 1:1
- 4 pin JST PH to PH cable for the LED-Board
- 8 pin JST PH to PH cable for the Tailboard
- 8 pin JST PH to XH cable for the NFC-Reader
- 2 pin JST PH cable for the speaker
We use the original Raspberry Pi 4 power supply for our boxes since it is stable and has a USB-C plug already but any power supply that delivers stable 5V with at least 2A should be fine.
Any generic 4Ω 3W speaker will do. We use 2" speakers in our boxes. Just make sure it is a full spectrum speaker to get proper sound out of it.
The LED-Board needs the LED soldered in after delivery. Use any standard 5mm Common Anode RGB-LED. Do not use Neopixels or similar - just a dumb LED.
LEDs with opaque casings are preferred unless you want to put your own diffuser on top.