How to make a light switch play a sound.

[markronz]

I have recently made myself a very cool, extremely, delightfully nerdy bathroom.  See here.   I'm now trying to come up with some little touches to really push it over the top.   The thing I'd really like to do, is to figure out how to make a little sound effect play when I turn the lights on in the room.   I have no idea if this is possible, but it seems like with all the Arduino stuff and everything else out there, that there's probably some way to make this happen.   Anyone have any ideas for me, or any things for me to look into further?

[SavannahLion]

They had these about twenty years ago. Light switches that would play a MIDI-like sound when switch on or off. I forget which. Hackaday or Make are reasonable sources for PIC or AVR based projects that play back sounds. I think Sparkfun sells a module that can read and play back sounds from a SD card.

I would take care grabbing power from mains but it wouldn't be too hard for a controller to play audio on start. Not sure of the timing though. Alternatively a light sensor would work nicely.

[markronz]

Thanks SavannahLion.  I guess I will have to dig around some more.  I was secretly hoping someone was going to just come out and say "why of course!  this simple, cheap item can do that for you!"  but of course, nothing is ever that easy.   The light sensor thing might be a good idea though...

And pinballjim, I'm not that young, 31.  But definitely young at heart.  I'm just a man who loves my gadgets and I love the little details.

[markronz]

I think I may have found something of interest!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Light-Sensor-Talking-Voice-Recorder-Craft-Music-Sound-/250462742215?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a50be26c7
That could work!   I might just have to pick one up and play around with it!

[SavannahLion]

I only remember them. I have no idea if they're even made anymore. I saw them in a catalogue that sells all sorts of ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- to lonely housewives. My mother-in-law gets it still and it was exactly as I remember it. Dildos and butt triming underwear, splatter guards and grease strainers. They still sell the famous roll of flower seeds and that thing you fit between double beds to make a larger bed. All sorts of weird stuff. Too bad I can't remember the catalogue name.

I remember three or so. Might have been more, not sure.

[lanman31337]

Get crazy old school.  Hook up a cassette boom box to the switch so you can play some Def Leppard as you brush your teeth.

[drventure]

Check this place out

http://stores.ebay.com/bigDAWGS-greetings?_trksid=p4340.l2563

They have a 200 second MP3 player that's light triggered.

I was looking for something exactly like this 3 years ago for my cabinet.

Just replace the light sensor with a switch (or a relay) and you're done!

Actually, for the bathroom application, that's not even necessary

[drventure]

They even have one that supports 5 buttons to play 5 different tracks.

Interesting....

[markronz]

Man!  I should have looked around more earlier before purchasing that thing earlier.  I liked something from ebay, which is coincidentally from the same ebay user that you just mentioned.  One of the multiple button ones may have been better suited.  But we'll see if I can make mine work.    Now, if I were to go with a button type device, I wonder how I would hook that up to a light switch...

[drventure]

No, for what you're doing, I'd definitely go with the Light activated version.

Looks like that 3 batteries could be easily swapped out with a 5vdc power supply to get rid of the battery requirement too.

[markronz]

My main priority was the sound playing when turning on the lights.  But I was also thinking about playing the "tube sound" that you hear when Mario goes into a tube, when you flush the toilet.  So for that particular use, a button one might be easier.   One thing at a time though I guess.   

[lanman31337]

You could wire in a leaf switch to the toilet mechanism... oh the possibilities.

[Donkbaca]

The sound would get old and annoying quickly, my bet is that this is what sets the wife off...

[DaOld Man]

My main priority was the sound playing when turning on the lights.  But I was also thinking about playing the "tube sound" that you hear when Mario goes into a tube, when you flush the toilet.  So for that particular use, a button one might be easier.   One thing at a time though I guess.   

Now that would be different.

[Dervacumen]

I love the koopa troopa walking on the towel rack.

And a green toilet pipe will be classic.  You can easily wire up a leaf switch to a small recorder taped to the back of the tank for the sound.

[drventure]

The sound would get old and annoying quickly, my bet is that this is what sets the wife off...

Too true. But if it's in the can next to a game room, where it's primary use would be by people in the game room, that might be fun.

[Donkbaca]

it would be fun the first half dozen times you heard it, after that, not so much

[markronz]

The sound would get old and annoying quickly, my bet is that this is what sets the wife off...

Too true. But if it's in the can next to a game room, where it's primary use would be by people in the game room, that might be fun.

Yeah this is the bathroom in my basement off of my game room.   I don't think I'll get annoyed with it, but if I do, I can just shut it off until company comes over.   And the toilet making the Mario tube noise was actually my wife's idea!  So it won't set her off.

Anyway, I just wanted to give a little update, and also to ask one other question.    The light activated one that I posted earlier, and purchased, would work in theory, however the sound kind of sucks on it as you would expect.    So I hacked it so that rather than use the provided mic that it wires into the speaker port on my computer.   Then I also hacked it so that it would play through a set of old powered speakers I had.    Even with both these things, the sound still sucked.   I asked the BigDawgsGreetings people about it.   They were super helpful.   The cheaper device I purchased was just that, cheap.   It couldn't handle noises like the Mario 1-up sound because of the high frequencies.  It did ok with other things, but not great.   But they suggested that I use one of their other USB devices.   The same one that DrVenture suggested below.  They said that these devices are the ones that play the most HQ sound.   So I plan on using this one for the light activated one, when I turn the lights on in the room.   And I plan on using this one along with a leaf switch for the toilet noise (the Mario tube noise).   The BigDawgsGreetings people also told me that for the USB devices, if I removed the batteries, I would be able to power them via the USB cable.   So I think I will do that, so that I can plug them in and remove batteries from the picture entirely (since it's more of a permanent placement of them anyway).   So all I would have to do is unplug them if I wanted to shut them off.   Oh, and they stress the importance of removing the batteries because they could burst if you don't.  Anyway, I'm on my way!

Now for one question.  Being that I just hacked up my powered speakers already, I was thinking I would still use them.   Since there are two noise devices, can I still use the speakers for both?  Would I just attach both sets of wires to the speaker set?  I just didn't know if it would cause any problems wiring up two devices to the same speakers.  Doesn't seem like it would to me, but what do I know?  If anyone has any idea, let me know.