Doggo Boop Alert

My daughter wanted an alarm for her dog to push whenever it wanted to go out to poo. If you are a dog in Alaska your poo options are many and immediate. Call of the Wild CGI Alaskan dogs no longer require this daily bonding with their owners. Being a Matt Berry fan in his wonderful new show: Year of the Rabbit I couldn't resist the voice file alert. This is a simple 3D print project that relies on the workings of the toaster: https://www.instructables.com/id/Toast-Talker/

There is really very little to building this thing. The Icstation Sound Module is a nice unit that seems to work well. (I receive no free endorsements or money from any products.) On checking the power control I found that it draws no mA when the song is completed so the battery should last a very long time. It states that it is not compatible with iOS but I had no trouble downloading mp3 files to it from my Mac. Make sure you strip out the Chinese opera that's included as a demo. The microUSB when plugged into your computer shows up like a drive so just drop it in. Leave the on/off switch to on position. There is a volume adjustment but it is plenty loud.

1. Large Arcade Button with LED - 60mm White Adafruit $6

2. Icstation Recordable Sound Module Button Control 8M MP3 WAV Music Voice Player Programmable Board with Speaker $10.00

3. uxcell Power Supply DC 3.7V 650mAh 652540 Li-ion Rechargeable Lithium Polymer Li-Po Battery $6.00

This was a fun project to design with Fusion 360. There are three STL files included above. I will also include a link to my Thingiverse page: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4233935. All were sliced in Cura and printed without support in PLA -- Grey. All parts were painted with RustOLeum MultiColored Textured paint which gives them a sandy appearance. The top part of the main stack was designed with a lot of sound holes for the speaker mount.

The player unit is mostly wired up but you need to make a couple of changes. The pushbutton that is included with the uint must be exchanged for the Arcade switch. Cut the pushbutton off leaving the wires long and strip them again. The arcade switch has two connections on it. Connect both wires to the connectors on the tabs for the arcade switch. Ignore the connectors for the LED light in the switch it will not be used. The 3.7 v lipoPoly battery that you bought has to be connected to the "3.7V" pair of pads on the board. They are clearly marked + -. The long wires that are included on the board go to the other power opening pads that require 5V and should be ignored and cut off.

The build is again really easy. Paint the parts with the colors you want and let them dry. The arcade switch is mounted through the hole in the roof and the large nuts and washer hold it into position. The speaker is then hot glued into a good position for its output to be pointed out through the side holes. Be careful not to drip hot glue onto the speaker surface. The base plate is designed for the circuit board and the lipo battery to be mounted vertically with the charging hole located strategically under the miroUSB port on the PCB. Again these can be hot glued or use E6000 for slower but more hearty results. The base plate is then superglued to the poop tower. The Boop button is then glued to the top of the arcade switch. First dismantle the clear cover on the arcade button and reattach it with E6000 glue firmly. Then proceed to attach the 3D printed nose button to the now better attached arcade button surface top. Use E6000 glue and be careful not to overdue it and put glue into the switch housing and screw it up.

I have no idea how to get a dog to tap the button. But Amazon sells a bunch of similar alarms that just ring a bell and Im sure there are some instructional videos online. Again the micro USB charging port will allow you to charge the battery and when you get sick of Matt Berry (never!) you can upload something else just as bowel moving.