Smart Wireless HARDWARIO IoT Kit MP3 Player

I wanted to have built-in sound system with some playlists so I can play any of them any time I wanted. I used HARDWARIO IoT Kit because of its integration with Blynk and Node-Red. Thanks to that I can control everything wirelessly.

You can use this project to play songs or if you add PIR Module you can do some sound traps etc.

Basically you can do anything that includes sound with this and thanks to HARDWARIO IoT Kit it is easily made and manageable.

1. Build Hardware

Connect Core Module and Power Module together. Then connect 5V Power Adapter to Power Module

Wire in MP3 module as shown below. It uses UART communication. I used ports P0 on Core Module for RX on MP3, P1 for TX, VDD for VCC and of course GND to GND. Last thing you will need is SD card that is between 2GB and 32GB, just format it to FAT32 or FAT filesystem.

Warning: some modules have wrong description at RX and TX port so if you are experiencing some issues with the functions of the device. Try to switch these two.

2. Load Audio Files to SD Card

MP3 Module works best with MP3 audio files. So just upload your favorite music playlist, some sound effects or whatever you want it to play.

You can play directories or individual songs. For playing directories you need to make directories with specific names like “01” or “05” etc. With this naming it’s possible to play whole directories just by one command in Node-Red.

3. Flash firmware

• Download HARDWARIO Playground.
• You can see documentation page on how to flash the firmware with HARDWARIO Playground.
• You will need the bcf-radio-music-player firmware for this project.

3. Pair the Core Module

You need to pair the Core module with the Radio dongle that you are using, follow the instructions below to see how it is done.

The same thing will go if you are using a Raspberry Pi as a server, just access the Raspberry through the IP address instead of the Playground

• Connect your USB Radio Dongle to your computer.
• Open HARDWARIO Playground

• Click Start Pairing the LED on the dongle should start blinking
• Connect the device that you want to pair into your computer or insert the batteries.
• Wait for the device to appear in the table
• It should add the device with the Alias: mp3-player:0
• Click Stop Pairing

5. Import Function

Open Node-RED in the Playground or Raspberry Pi and import the flow from my gitHub in the Menu -> Import -> Clipboard. Do not forget to hit "Deploy" in the top right corner to apply the changes.

This flow is all set up for complete control of MP3 module. Play, Pause, Play directory, Set volume etc. Open "Dashboard" tab and you can control it by buttons and sliders.

6. Blynk Integration

This project is ready for Blynk integration. How to set up Blynk with your HARDWARIO Playground is described in this guide.

Follow the guide if you want to make your own blynk app. If you want to use the one specified for this project in the Blynk app click this Icon and scan the QR code bellow.

Everything in Blynk project is connected to Dashboard in HARDWARIO Playground so you can control it from both applications without any problems. You can customize names of folders in Blynk app for better orientation in your SD card.

In second picture first Index will play folder "01" on SD card, second index will play "02" folder on SD card and so on.

7. Enjoy Music

Now plug in 3.5mm jack to your sound system and play any MP3 file that you want.

Summary

Make your home more comfortable with some music playing in background when you get home, place some sound traps that triggers when someone passes by the PIR motion sensor, or make something completely different with this solution.

I will be happy for any suggestion or idea about this project.

Feel free to ask and I will try to answer any question.

• Visit HARDWARIO page on hackster.io for more interesting projects or go directly to their website
• Go to HARDWARIO documentation to learn more about their modules and other possibilities of the platform.
• Try more firmware from HARDWARIO Playground or write your own, it is easy to start.
• Because everything is Open source you can get all firmware on GitHub, get some inspiration and try to make your own applications.
• Get your own HARDWARIO Hub to replace your computer in this project so you have always access to your applications.
• Check out more applications that can be used with HARDWARIO IoT Kit in Integrations section.