I am no expert by any means, but I think you can continue to use them as speakers for broadcast etc, just by turning off the wake word then turning it back on again So I adapted the usual code and pre uploaded to a board, now just waiting for a delivery of a couple of second had minis, I have 2 up and running, but if this works I will adjust the code on them too.
I’ve just asked PCBWay to give me price breaks for 10 and 20 as well, based on my original quote for 5.
I would be interested in a couple of these too.
Out of interest, does anyone know if the timer function is still precent when using these? My wife uses it for timing cooking all the time.
Not like it does with Google at the moment though I’m sure it could be achieved if HA can understand ‘set light to 10%’ it should be possible to set a timer.
@ChrisThomas do you think it’s still feasible to go through with this with the numbers interested? How would you request payment / get them sent out? Is there a third party they could be put up for sale on (without making profit if that’s a concern when it comes to selling the design) ?
I’ve requested a quote from PCBWay for 10, 20 and 30 assembled PCBs and am waiting to receive the quote. Time to manufacture is stated as 25-30 days, delivery when I’ve used them previously has been a couple of weeks.
Over the weekend I’ll send a request to JLCPCB.
I’ll post the details of both quotes here and we’ll then plan ahead.
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I have a reply from PCBWay but am having trouble with JLCPCB, many parts are not in their inventory with the same name so I’m going through them today/tomorrow.
PCBWay cost for fully assembled PCB (USD) 10 - 493.63, 20 - 804.32 and 30 - 553.36. I asked for shipping cost to UK but that’s not in the quote. From memory it’s in the order of USD30-40. Shipping then from me to a UK address I’m rounding to £5 each order for material and postage.
So in principle the (max?) unit cost are for an order of 10 £41 each, 20 £33 each and 30 £15 each. These very rough numbers based todays exchange rates and me shipping single PCBs and some rounding…
On a personal note I wouldn’t pay £41 or £33 but I’m happy to pay £15 per unit. So is there a possibility of getting 30 UK based people together?
EDIT: tidied up my typing errors
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Hi Chris, many thanks for looking into this. I’m of the same opinion, around £15 per unit is a reasonable cost for this project.
When you say 30, do you mean for 30 units or 30 people? I would be interested in min of 3, up to 5 if you don’t get enough interest.
Edit: The only other thing to consider if import VAT, which will probably work out an extra 20% on top.
I’d happily pay £15 for a unit + £5 postage.
@ha_anton Ah VAT! Can’t see this getting through with it unfortunately. So a potential 20% on top of the numbers above.
Order quantity of 30 units.
I’d take 3 at the £15-20 price mark. Anything more than £20 per unit including shipping and VAT means it’s not really worth it.
I’ve done a relatively quick attempt to get the JLCPCB parts list updated and it’s coming out in the same ball park as PCBWay.
As PCBWay have already build these I’m going to prioritise PCBWay. Unless I’m really bored over the weekend and want to stare at a screen comparing parts…
I’d be interested at getting 2 at any of the costs or 3 at £15
A quick update
PCBWay: There were some major discrepancies on the price breaks on the quote I received so I’ve asked for clarification.
JLCPCB: I’ve updated the parts list and waiting for them to confirm the parts list before they quote for the same quantities as PCBWay.
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The JLCPCB option is far too difficult, I’d need to source some of the components separately, so I’m going with PCBWay.
I think I’ve identified all the issues, now trying to negotiate a better price. As things stand, with current exchange rate AND assuming that I have to pay VAT, then the unit costs works out around £23 per unit and not £15, which is a real b**mer!
For shipping I’m looking at cardboard boxes, to protect the PCBs better, that I think can take 3 units. Shipping then would be around £4 per order.
A quick count of eveyone who has expressed an interest I believe there’s enough interest for an order, but what are peoples thoughts on the price?
It’s within my budget for the project, I’m still a firm yes for 2 units.
Out of curiosity to anyone has used one of these before… Is there any reason it couldn’t be fitted into a gen 1 mini? Does it flat out not fit or would it just require a couple of small changes to the shell?
I have a gen 1 with a broken mic that I’d prefer to sacrifice than one of the working gen 2s!
@burg93 I have a GEN 1 and a GEN 2, the PCBS are different. It’s definetley not a simple drop in but I felt that it could be made to fit with a bit of persuation. Having said that it was a simple camparison and I did not try and fit the GEN 2 pcb into the GEN 1 housing.
It’s a good thing to find out though! If time permits I’ll give it a try.
I’m saying this without any research so might be very mistaken but I reckon I could get it to fit as long as the components on the gen 1 actually work with the board i.e. speaker and light connectors…
Either way I’d still be interested in sacrificing a gen 2 speaker if it comes to it. I’ve not been keeping track too much but are there any known major limitations at the moment with the board and HA voice? Sounds like the board no longer needs your own local sever running with the esphome config (unlike the original project) and wakeword runs fine - although not locally at the moment unless microwakeword is now confirmed working? I just want to make sure that it’s likely to support any future HA voice changes coming up but I think it will.
That price is still good with me for 3.