Bluetooth Ammo Can Speaker

My roommates and I love to play sand volleyball at our apartment complex, and nerighbors always join in.

Of course we like to listen to music while playing, but the speakers we had just weren't loud enough, so I decided to make some.

Overall project cost around 60 dollars I think, I can get a complete parts list with prices if you would like. The speakers work great, and people always come up to me and ask about them.

Bought a .50 caliber ammo can off of amazon and some cheap car speakers. The speakers were only $14, but they had 3000 reviews averaging 4 stars. They sound great, and can handle quite a bit of power.

After measuring out where the center of the circles should be, I used a hole saw to cut the speaker circles out. Each speaker also has 4 screw holes for mounting, and using the given template, I drilled those out too. (not pictured)

I bought a blue LED pushbutton switch on amazon. It's made of solid metal, has a waterproof seal, and lights up a beautiful blue when powered. The amazon description of the product has a wiring diagram, but I recommend testing the connections before soldering and applying heat shrink tubing.

I decided to add a voltmeter to the speaker build for two reasons: the blue LED light looks great, and it doubles as a battery indicator. The one I used in my build is different than the one pictured above, but very similar.

I used a Dremmel with a cutting wheel to cut out the rectangle for the voltmeter. After sanding the edges of the new hole, the voltmeter just snaps in.

The heart of this project is the amplifier board. I found this one on amazon for about $15. It's Bluetooth compatible, and can drive two speakers. I bought the 25 Watt model, although I wish I had bought the 50 Watt. On full volume, the 25 W version distorts the signal and doesn't sound great. Luckily I hardly ever need the speakers playing on full volume. I used hot glue to secure the amplifier to the inside of the ammo can......it's not pretty, but it works.

The battery I chose is a 12 Volt 7 aH sealed lead acid battery. These types of batteries are rechargeable, and they last quite a long time. To recharge it, I bought a cheap trickle charger off of amazon. To secure the battery to the ammo can, I used a couple strips of Velcro.

The wiring is pretty straight forward. A barrel connector is needed for the power supply to the amplifier, and heat shrink tubing is a must. I also bought some connectors for the battery terminals.