My inner 5 year old is smiling uncontrollably, the adult in me is a bit embarrassed!
I've been holding onto this birthday card for a few years, I'm surprised it still works!
I always thought it would be funny to rig my prop / movie room so that when you enter, it plays the Star Wars theme. So while I was waiting for the paint to dry on R2, I figured I'd try and get it to work.
First, I opened up the card.
It took a while to figure out how to wire this, the problem is the card is made to play when opened and stop when closed. I wanted it to play the whole way through as soon as the door was opened, and not stop until completely finished. I needed to solder the main activation contact permanently down, then found two spots on the board that when the circuit was completed, it played the whole song. I then soldered two leads off the board.
I used a little plastic baby food container to put the speaker into, this helped amplify the sound.
I bent the leads to the side so that when the door is opened, the two wires on the door will make contact with these, completing the circuit and activating the sound.
This is not the final product, I just wanted to use some painters tape to make sure the rig worked, and it worked great! I'll mount this with some Velcro and paint it the same color as the wall and paint the wires white.
Here's video of how it works and sounds.
Star Wars Home Theater Audio.MPG - YouTube
The only bad thing is that it goes off when the door is closed, but no big deal. Also, if I get tired of hearing it, which I am sure will happen before the night is over, all I need to do is gently bend one of the wires so it misses.
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